Macbeth
as a Royal Play
In the summer of 1606, Shakespeare sat contented
as King James I, rapt with awe, watched Macbeth. Shakespeare
had wanted such a reaction from the King who used to fall asleep during
plays. In fact, his very purpose for writing
Macbeth was to honor his new King from Scotland. The legend
of Macbeth and his deeds was told to James constantly
during his childhood because he had a direct claim to the story.
He was one of Banquo's foretold descendants to sit
on the throne of Scotland.
Many of the events that occur in the play
have a direct correlation to James. The fact that this play deals
with
treachery and deceit is due to the constant attempts to assassinate
James. One reason Macbeth might start out as
the Thane of Glamis is because James was once held hostage by this
very thane. The thane's wife was a reported
witch whose meddling caused the delay of James’ marriage. Another conspiracy
was by one of his favorites, Lennox.
Lennox used and manipulated the king to fill his own pockets.
To understand some of the content and the very reasons
that Macbeth was written, it seems important to know
the facts surrounding the life of James. Macbeth was written
at a time when England was experiencing a love affair
with all things Scottish due to the new King.
James was born on Wednesday June 19th, 1566.
The son of Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, he was the
heir to the throne of Scotland and had a legitimate claim to the throne
of England. There were rumors that he was
illegitimate. The man that was rumored to be his actual father
was taken out of his mother's chambers a few weeks
before he was born and stabbed to death. Some believe that this
was done in the queen's sight to prompt a miscarriage.
The queen's husband was murdered by a man
who was rumored to be her lover, in early 1567. Fear
of an uprising
from the people made Mary place James in the custody of the Earl of
Mar. Later that year, the queen married Brothwell,
the murderer. She never saw her son again. She was captured
and forced to abdicate. The crown went to her son.
On July 29th, 1567, James was crowned King at the age of thirteen months.
He started his education at the age of four. He
led a very sheltered childhood. He had a few playmates, none of which
were female. During his young years, he began to express his
views of male superiority. As he grew, he started to express more
and more of his views including his conviction that the king should be
an absolute monarch and that he ruled by divine right. He believed
that the king should be master of church as well as state.
James’ feelings toward women were forged mostly
by events regarding his mother and aunt, Queen Elizabeth of England.
James joined against his mother and with England. He did so on the
agreement that his mother would not be killed. Later word that Mary
would be executed reached James. He threatened to end the league
with Elizabeth and her England if his mother was murdered. Mary was
killed any way for being a supposed member of a conspiracy to kill Elizabeth.
James did nothing in retaliation.
In 1589, he married Anne of Denmark. They
married by proxy on August 20th. On her way to meet him in Scotland, Anne's
ship went off course due to a horrible storm and then ended up in Oslo.
Witches came to him and told him that
the devil had made them send the storm. This was one of the events
that sparked James' early fascination with witches.
He later wrote a book on witchcraft and how to punish witches.
On February 19th, 1594, his first of nine children
was born. Prince Henry was supposed to be his heir. As the
young Prince grew, the two spent very little time together. He wrote Basilicon
Doron, which translated means “the Kingly Gift.”
This book was an instruction for the young prince on how to be a good
king.
In 1603, James became the King of England.
He had many enemies and endured much racism. There were plots to
kill him at every turn, the most famous of which was the Gunpowder
plot which has its roots in the religious tumults and intolerance of the
time. James was a Protestant. When he was first crowned, the Catholics
thought that James would be tolerant because his mother, Mary Queen of
Scots, was Catholic. Their expectations were short lived. He
once said
of the Catholics that he was so far from favoring their superstitious
religion that if he thought his son would tolerate it
after his death, he would have him buried before his eyes. Due
to this saying and others like it the Catholics devised the Gunpowder plot.
The plot seems to have formed in the mind of Thomas Percy who in 1603 told
his friend Robert
Latesby that he planned to kill the King. This sparked a plan in Latesby's
mind. He told four men of his plan in May
of 1604. This small infamous group that would go down in history
was made up of his cousin, Thomas Winter, his
friend, John Wright, Percy, and the notorious Guy Fawkes, who is still
burned in effigy yearly. The plan was to place gunpowder barrels
under Parliament House. When the King opened the House on November 5th,
the gunpowder
would explode. It would kill not only the King, but the Queen,
Prince Henry, bishops, and nobles. They began to work in
May of 1604 by renting a house next to the Parliament building and
digging a tunnel directly under the House of Lords.
This proved to be tedious and time consuming. Later they discovered
that the house next to theirs had a cellar that ran
directly under the Parliament. They bought it and tore the wall
that adjoined the two foundations down. Fawkes carried approximately
20 barrels of gun powder into the cellar and was never caught. The
amount of people involved tripled.
One conspirator, afraid for his brother-in-law, betrayed the plot.
The conspirator wrote a letter informing his borther-in-law
of the explosion. The night before the event was to take place there
was a search of the property. The King's men found the barrels and
tortured the conspirators.
Accomplishments of James' reign range from being
the founding King of a new world to publishing the Bible. Art
and literature thrived under his reign. He became the patron
of Shakespeare's troop, which came to be known as the
King's Men. He was the founding monarch of the United States.
His most well known contribution was the publication
of The King James Bible.
The king suffered from several physical ailments.
His legs were handicapped. His tongue was too large for his mouth.
He suffered from arthritis, inability to sleep, and kidney pain,
to name a few of his problems. He also suffered from severe depression
due to the death of his wife in 1619 and the death of Prince Henry in 1612.
All in all, James’ death seemed to
be more of a release from troubles than a horrible event. He passed
away at the age of 59 on March 27, 1625 at
Theobolds Park in Herts, England. He was buried at Westminster Abbey.
Unlike many Scottish monarchs, King James
died in his bed at peace with his subjects and foreign countries. He
also passed Royal power on, intact, to an adult son,
which was also quite unusual.
