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Lord Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis and quickly the Thane of Cawdor, is the title character and main protagonist in William Shakespeare's Macbeth (c. 1603–1607). The character is loosely based on the historical king Macbeth of Scotland and is derived largely from the account in Holinshed's Chronicles (1577), a compilation of British history.
Ambition is a character trait that describes people who are driven to better their station or to succeed at lofty goals. It has been categorized both as a virtue and as a vice. The use of the word "ambitious" in William Shakespeare 's Julius Caesar (1599), for example, points to its use to describe someone who is ruthless in seeking out ...
[132] [133] [134] In Macbeth, the shortest and most compressed of Shakespeare's tragedies, [135] uncontrollable ambition incites Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder the rightful king and usurp the throne until their own guilt destroys them in turn. [136] In this play, Shakespeare adds a supernatural element to the tragic structure.
[citation needed] Critics often cite The Tempest and Macbeth, for example, as having been written after 1604. [ 121 ] The exact dates of the composition of most of Shakespeare's plays are uncertain, although David Bevington says it is a 'virtually unanimous' opinion among teachers and scholars of Shakespeare that the canon of late plays depicts ...
The "thesis statement" comes from the concept of a thesis (θέσῐς, thésis) as it was articulated by Aristotle in Topica. Aristotle's definition of a thesis is "a conception which is contrary to accepted opinion." He also notes that this contrary view must come from an informed position; not every contrary view is a thesis. [3]
The traditional origin is said to be a curse set upon the play by a coven of witches, angry at Shakespeare for using a real spell. [2] One hypothesis for the origin of this superstition is that Macbeth, being a popular play, was commonly put on by theatres in financial trouble, or that the high production costs of Macbeth put theatres in financial trouble.
"On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" is an essay in Shakespearean criticism by the English author Thomas De Quincey, first published in the October 1823 edition of The London Magazine. It is No. II in his ongoing series "Notes from the Pocket-Book of a Late Opium Eater" which are signed, "X.Y.Z.". [ 1 ]
Actors also avoid even quoting the lines from Macbeth before performances, particularly the Witches' incantations. Outside a theatre and after a performance, the play can be spoken of openly. If an actor speaks the word "Macbeth", or quotes the play, in a theatre other than in performance, they must perform a ritual to remove the curse.