Context Flashcards
All 14 cards in this deck
When was Macbeth probably written?
About 1606.
Which king was on the throne when Macbeth was first performed?
James I of England (also James VI of Scotland).
Which character in the play was James I believed to be descended from?
Banquo, through Fleance.
Which 1605 plot tried to kill James I?
The Gunpowder Plot.
Which book about witchcraft did James I write?
Daemonologie (1597).
Which witch trials did James VI of Scotland take part in, in 1590–91?
The North Berwick witch trials.
What was Shakespeare’s main source for Macbeth?
Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587 edition).
What is the belief that kings are chosen by God called?
The Divine Right of Kings.
What is regicide?
The killing of a king.
What was the name for the God-given order of all beings, with the king near the top?
The Great Chain of Being.
What was Shakespeare’s acting company called from 1603?
The King’s Men, with James I as patron.
Which Jesuit priest, executed in 1606 after the Gunpowder Plot, is linked to the Porter’s “equivocator”?
Father Henry Garnet.
What disease is “the evil” that King Edward cures by touch?
Scrofula, known as the King’s Evil.
When did the real Macbeth rule Scotland?
From 1040 to 1057.