Shakespeare

“Macbeth”
Sources/Versions/Productions
 Sources

• "Macbeth and Banquo encountering the witches" from Holinshed's Chronicles (1577)[4]

• Macbeth has been compared to Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Both Antony and Macbeth are
fighting for a throne and have a 'nemesis' to face to achieve that throne. For Antony, the nemesis is
Octavius; for Macbeth, it is Banquo. Also, both plays contain powerful and manipulative female
figures: Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.
• Shakespeare borrowed the story from several tales in Holinshed's Chronicles, a popular history of
the British Isles known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
• In Chronicles, a man named Donwald finds several of his family put to death by his king, King Duff,
for dealing with witches. After being pressured by his wife, he and four of his servants kill the King in
his own house. In Chronicles, Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to support the kingdom in the face
of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo meet the three witches, who make exactly the same
prophecies as in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot the murder of
Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a long, ten-year reign before eventually being
overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. The parallels between the two versions are clear.
• However, some scholars think that George Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia matches
Shakespeare's version more closely. Buchanan's work was available in Latin in Shakespeare's day. [
 More Sources overall..
• Shakespeare's chief source for Macbeth was Holinshed's Chronicles (Macbeth), who based
his account of Scotland's history, and Macbeth's in particular, on the Scotorum Historiae,
written in 1527 by Hector Boece.
• Other minor sources contributed to Shakespeare's dramatic version of history, including
Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, and Daemonologie, written in 1599 by King James I.
• Macbeth's words on dogs and men in Act 3, scene 1, (91-100), likely came from Colloquia,
the memoirs of Erasmus (edition circa 1500).
• The plays of Seneca seem to have had great influence on Shakespeare, and, although no
direct similarities to the work of Seneca can be seen in Macbeth, the overall atmosphere of
the play and the depiction of Lady Macbeth can be attributed to the Latin author. 
 Macbeth on Screen
• William Shakespeare's Macbeth has been screened numerous
times, featuring many of the biggest names from stage, film,
and television.
 
• Performances
• Macbeth, 1908 film directed by J. Stuart Blackton.
– William V. Ranous as Macbeth
– Louise Carver as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (USA, 1916 B&W, Silent, )
– John Emerson
– Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Macbeth
– Constance Collier as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (USA, 1948)
– Orson Welles director and as Macbeth
– Jeanette Nolan as Lady Macbeth
 …More Macbeth!!
• Hallmark Hall of Fame Macbeth (USA, TV, 1954, imdb)
– Maurice Evans as Macbeth
– Judith Anderson as Lady Macbeth
• Hallmark Hall of Fame Macbeth (1960, imdb) Emmy Award-winning remake, featuring an all-
British supporting cast, and filmed on location in England and Scotland.
– Maurice Evans as Macbeth
– Judith Anderson as Lady Macbeth
• Play of the Month: Macbeth (UK, TV, 1970; USA, TV, 1975)
– John Gorrie director
– Eric Porter as Macbeth
– Janet Suzman as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (USA and UK, 1971)
– Roman Polanski director
– Jon Finch as Macbeth
– Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (1978 TV drama) (UK, 1978) film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 
Other Place production.
– Trevor Nunn, director
– Ian McKellen as Macbeth
– Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (UK, 1981)
– Arthur Allan Seidelman director
– Jeremy Brett as Macbeth
– Piper Laurie as Lady Macbeth
• BBC Television Shakespeare Macbeth (TV, UK, 1988) - Released in the USA as part
of the "Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare" series.
– Jack Gold director
– Nicol Williamson as Macbeth
– Jane Lapotaire as Lady Macbeth
• The Animated Shakespeare Macbeth (TV, Russia and UK, 1992)
– Nicolai Serebryakov director
– Brian Cox as the voice of Macbeth
– Zoë Wanamaker as the voice of Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (UK, 1997)
– Jeremy Freeston and Brian Blessed directors
– Jason Connery as Macbeth
– Helen Baxendale as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (TV, UK, 1998)
– Michael Bogdanov director
– Sean Pertwee as Macbeth
– Greta Scacchi as Lady
 Up Today….
• Macbeth (Video, UK, 2001). Film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan production.
– Gregory Doran director
– Antony Sher as Macbeth
– Harriet Walter as Lady Macbeth
– Richard Armitage as Angus
• Macbeth (Australia, 2006) film set against the backdrop of a violent gang war in 
Melbourne, Australia.
– Geoffrey Wright director
– Sam Worthington as Macbeth
– Victoria Hill as Lady Macbeth
• Macbeth (UK, 2010) television adaptation of stage production
– Rupert Goold director
– Patrick Stewart as Macbeth
– Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth
 Adaptations
• Joe MacBeth (UK, 1955) is a film noir resetting of the story as a gang war in Chicago
– Ken Hughes director
– Paul Douglas as Joe MacBeth
– Ruth Roman as Lily Macbeth
• Throne of Blood (a.k.a. Cobweb Castle or Kumonosu-jo) (Japan, 1957) is an adaptation of the Macbeth story to a
Japanese setting.
– Akira Kurosawa director
– Toshirō Mifune
– Isuzu Yamada
• The first series of The Black Adder (TV, UK, 1983), written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, is a parody of
Shakespeare's plays, particularly Macbeth, Richard III andHenry V.
• Men of Respect (USA, 1991) is a retelling of the Macbeth story as a Mafia power struggle in New York, in modern
English, but closely tracking the original plot.
– William Reilly director
– John Turturro as Mike Battaglia
– Katherine Borowitz as Ruthie Battaglia
• Scotland, Pa. (USA, 2001) is set in and around a fast food restaurant in the 1970s.
– Billy Morrissette writer/director
– Maura Tierney as Pat McBeth
– James LeGros as Joe "Mac" McBeth
– Christopher Walken as Lieutenant McDuff
– Kevin Corrigan as Anthony "Banko" Banconi
– Andy Dick, Timothy "Speed" Levitch, and Amy Smart as the three bohemians
• Maqbool (India, 2004) is a Macbeth adaptation set in the Mumbai underworld.
– Vishal Bhardwaj director
– Irfan Khan as Mian Maqbool (the Macbeth character)
– Tabu as Nimmi (the Lady Macbeth character)
• ShakespeaRe-Told Macbeth (UK, TV, 2005) is a modern adaptation by Peter Moffat,
set in a Glasgow restaurant.
– James McAvoy as Joe Macbeth
– Keeley Hawes as Ella (the Lady Macbeth character)
– Richard Armitage as Peter Macduff
•  
• Teenage Gang Debs (USA, 1966), setting the theme around a teenage girl who joins
a street gang.
– Sande N. Johnsen director
– Diane Conti as Terry (the Lady Macbeth character)
 Theatrical performances within films
• Another way in which film-makers use Shakespearean texts is to
feature characters who are actors performing those texts,
within a wider non-Shakespearean story. In Opera, the 1987
Italian giallo horror film written and directed by Dario Argento
 and starring Cristina Marsillach, Urbano Barberini, and Ian
Charleson; young opera singer Betty (Marsillach) is reluctantly
thrust into the lead role in Verdi's Macbeth. During her first
performance, a murder takes place in one of the opera boxes.
Mysterious murders continue throughout the film as Betty is
stalked and those around her meet their unfortunate end.
During the final performance of the opera, the killer is revealed,
and Betty must confront her past in a terrifying climax.
 Raphael Holinshed
• Raphael Holinshed,  English chronicler, remembered chiefly because his Chronicles enjoyed great
popularity and became a quarry for many Elizabethan dramatists, especially Shakespeare, who found,
in the second edition, material for Macbeth, King Lear, Cymbeline, and many of his historical plays.
• Short Biography, facts and interesting information about Raphael Holinshed - the life of one of the
famous people who lived during the Medieval times
Famous as the Medieval Author of Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland
• Short Biography about the life of Raphael Holinshed of England
The following biography, short history and interesting facts provide helpful information for history
courses and history coursework about the life and history of Raphael Holinshed a famous Medieval
character of historical importance who lived during the Middle Ages:
• Country of Origin / Nationality: English
• Lifetime: c1529 - 1580
• Born: He was born in about the year 1529
• Family connections : He was the son a Cheshire family who were wealthy enough to ensure that he
was well educated
• Died: Raphael Holinshed died c1580
• Accomplishments and Achievements or why Raphael Holinshed was famous: Author of Holinshed's
Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland
 References
• Holinshed, Raphael. Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, 5. 
     London: J. Johnson, et al, 1808.
• www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbet.

• www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare

• www.city.ac.uk/people/.../george-buchana.