7 seconds intro music.
Hi everyone, thanks for tuning in to In Plain Terms the podcast for anyone looking for an easy and fun way into Shakespeare’s plays. I was lucky enough to grow up going to see a Shakespeare play for free every summer from the age of six, and I happened to love it from the get go, but I know I’m rather unique in that, so I wanted to offer a fun way in for those of you who aren’t so sure on the Bard. I will be breaking down the plays, briefly talking about some of the themes brought up in the play, and giving a bit of detail on the top insults in the play. All while making some terrible jokes and just having a good time.
Today I’ll be starting off with Macbeth, because everyone has to battle with that bloody Scottish King for their GCSEs, and he’s a character that took me a long time to come to terms with. When I was a teenager, I hated Macbeth, the character and the play. The Macbeths were evil, and bloody and power-hungry, WHY on earth would I like them. But as I grew up I realised, they are some of Shakespeare’s most relatable characters. I mean who hasn’t wanted something, and I mean WANTED something so badly you would do almost ANYTHING to get it…The new game console all your friends have, that Ferrari you saw last week in London, that JOB that would absolutely MAKE your career. We’ve all been there, we’ve all weighed what we would and wouldn’t do, and while I’m sure VERY few of us would actually commit murder, I’m sure we would do whatever it took (within reason) to get it.
So before I go too in depth, let’s just get the story broken down and out of the way. Along the way I’ll explain some of those old annoying words too.
Beginning: Macbeth runs into some witches who tell him he’s gonna be king
Middle: Macbeth kills a bunch of people to become and remain king
End: Lords of Scotland get fed up with Macbeth being a tyrant king, and kill him.
SO: BEGINNING, the witches. We start with the Weird sisters, and while all Potterheads know them as the band that played at the Tri-Wizard ball…here the term Weird means Fate, a nod to the three Greek fates. The weird sisters summon Macbeth. Cut to the King talking about the recent battle and the betrayal of the current “Thane” (scottish nobleman), and a bloody Sergeant tells the story of Macbeth’s heroic feats (then kicks the bucket). Then we see Macbeth and Banquo meet up with the witches (fates), who hail him thane of Glamis and Cawdor, which of course shocks and confuses him. WHAT THE HEC?? I mean I know I’m the thane of Glamis, but I’m pretty sure the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then they tell him he’s gonna be a King, and tell Banquo his children are gonna be Kings. Again…WHAT?? Now anyone who has studied Ancient Greece or… read Percy Jackson should know by now, that whenever anyone tells your fortune, they like to keep it vague, and let you fill in what you like. ANNOYING MUCH?
Then, of course Ross and Angus, two of the King’s men arrive on the scene and they address Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor, and explain to him the story of the current Thane’s betrayal and his promotion. This stirs (excites) Macbeth and gets him thinking about how true what the witches said was, and what is to come for him, HOWEVER he has to hide his thrills from everyone else in case he reveals his “black and deep desires” ie his MUUURRDEROUS PLAAAANNNSSSS. (Banquo remains, it seems, unshaken by the witches news, and tells Macbeth to forget about what the witches said). The King then officially promotes Macbeth and a few other people, including naming his kids (Malcolm and Donalbain) as his heirs. Macbeth sees this as an obstacle, one that he forgot in all his excitement.
Next we see Lady Macbeth reading a letter from her husband, telling her about everything that has happened. She, like Macbeth is enthralled, excited, at the concept that he could be king (making her Queen) but she worries he is too “full o’ the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way” basically, he is too nice to actually MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!! He would want to go about things the RIGHT way, like most of us. She thinks she can persuade him to do things her way…THE EEEVIL WAY!!! Then she basically summons evil spirits to take away all her conscience so she can do what she has to, to take the crown!
Macbeth arrives, with King Duncan to their castle, (cause everyone who was anyone at that time had a castle, they didn’t have flatscreens and cars to spend their money on…soooo…a big castle was the logical next option), and there’s a big party, which provides a great excuse for the Macbeths to get everyone drunk so they can kill Duncan and blame someone else. Macbeth, just as his wife predicted tries to back down from the plan, saying the King had favoured him lately, and he didn’t want to betray him. However, Lady M basically drops the bomb on him that she would, if she had to KILL HER OWN BABY if she had promised to, so he has no excuse (the word emasculated is often thrown around in response to this speech). I mean talk about scary and powerful. I wouldn’t want to get in her way! Nor did Macbeth, clearly.
MIDDLE: The Macbeths go on a killing spree
SO they Kill Duncan and they frame two servants, and they are OFF to the races. Duncan’s two kids run away, afraid that people think it was them who planned this, and the Macbeth’s evil plot has begun. While all this is happening, the first Knock Knock joke is invented. In the middle of the night, Macduff and Lennox arrive at the door, and the drunken Porter starts off answering some of his own knock knock jokes, and then starts on some bawdy jokes (kids bar your ears) about men and drinking and sex.
*(for more on this, tune in to the extras at the end of the podcast)*
At this point, Macbeths are a bit jittery, but WHO CARES??? THEY PULLED OFF A MURDER, and Duncan’s kids have fled, so WOOOHOOO who gets named King and Queen?? YOU GUESSED IT!! The MACBETHS. And they are ROCKIN the crown. But PROBLEM. Remember when the witches said that Banquo’s kids would be kings? Well that doesn’t sit well with the royal couple. So Macbeth, who is now FULLY into this whole being a murdery king thing hires two murderers (cause he’s king now he can’t get his hands dirty) to go kill Banquo and his kid Fleance.
They managed to get Banquo, but true to his name, Fleance FLED….geddit? Whether or not Shakespeare named him that on purpose is not a matter for this podcast. Meanwhile the Macbeths are holding a dinner party. During which Macbeth receives the news that Banquo has been slain but his kid escaped. Now Banquo was one of Mac’s best mates, but also the only thing at this point barring him from his desires, so this news doesn’t go down great, and Macbeth begins to lose his mind juuust a little bit. He starts to see Banquo’s ghost at the dinner party. Lady M plays the happy host, and tries to make excuses for her husband’s INSANE behavior, while Macbeth keeps jumping up and running around as Banquo’s ghost chases him around the dinner table, sits in his spot, and causes general chaos for Macbeth, the only one that can see him.
I mean IMAGINE seeing the ghost of your best mate, who you had killed earlier that day, sitting at your dinner table in front of all your subjects. I mean pretty freaky. And there were no Ghostbusters back then to call and take care of him either. What would you have done?? Poor Lady M is at her wits end, she finally dismisses all of their subjects so she can sort him out properly.
Now, if you have gone to see a production of Macbeth, they often cut the Hecate scene (side note, Hecate is the queen of the witches), but it is important for the story, and kind of fun. Hecate comes on all pissed off because the three witches did not include her in their fun with Macbeth. She is all “what are you doing with this guy you know he doesn’t love you no matter what you’ve done for him. He cares for no one but himself and his Wife”
And off she goes off in a huff, after telling the witches exactly what she wants them to do, and then goes herself to gather all the things that she needs to end Macbeth in a horrible terrible way. Because who doesn’t love a gorey death scene.
ENDING: MALCOLM GETS PAYBACK
SO!! Everything that happens from here on in is basically the end of Macbeth’s reign or rather the beginning of the end of it. Basically Macbeth has gone too far and people are starting to notice. the death of one guy isn’t too crazy I mean sure you know, kids kill their Dad’s for power, it’s happened before, it will happen again, but Banquo’s death, and Macbeth’s crazy behavior at the dinner party, is starting to get people a little bit suspicious to say the least.
Now here’s the bit you all will remember from every time people quote Macbeth, “DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE”. Also the opening song when Harry arrives at Hogwarts in the third film. This is the spell they were planning two scenes ago with Hecate. Macbeth arrives AANNDD wants to know what the HECATE is going on with his future, and what do they give him?? MORE Ghosts HA!!!! As you can imagine, that goes down really well (not). The first ghost/apparition tells him to beware Macduff. The next ‘Apparition’ tells him “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”. He then sees a child with a crown on holding a tree that tells him not to fear until “Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.” Basically you don’t have to worry until these woods move and attack you.
It’s safe to assume Macbeth pictures something akin to the Ent’s in Lord of the Rings, and thinks NAAHH that will never happen (Clearly he hadn’t seen the films). And with that the witches and the Apparitions disappear, and he runs into Lennox. And Macbeth is all ‘Hey man did you see those witches I was just talking to??’ And Lennox is like ‘Nah man, I dunno what you’re talkin about’….probably thinking…is he gonna lose his shit again…should I run away??? BUUUT, Lennox stays and tells him that Macduff, his one possible threat, has fled to England. Macbeth is now thinking, OOOOKKAAY well I’m gonna have to kill him cause I was just told he was a threat, and we know how Macbeth feels about threats.
So a lot of important happens in this next scene, sow prick up your ears. First, Macduff’s mate Ross comes and tells his wife that he has fled, and she is like, “well that’s rude” and she then explains to her son what’s happening, and tells him his dad’s a traitor. The kid says some wise stuff about there being more liars and traitors than honest men, and then a random guy comes in and warns Lady Macduff that danger is coming and to make like a Shepherd and get the flock outta there. And literally two seconds later the murderers come and kill her and her baby and her son. Side note to a great Shakespearean insult here one of the murderers replies to Macduff jr’s attempt to defend himself by saying “what you EGG”, but more on insults later.
So this next scene….let’s talk about it cause it is a bit heavy. It’s literally just two people on the stage bemoaning (bitching about) the current state of Scotland. Sound familiar? Sound like EVERY DAY ON THE NEWS?? #currentaffairs! They talk about how Macbeth is a tyrant, and cruel, and how even if they kill him it wouldn’t make things any better cause it will just make him look like a victim. So next time you read or listen to the news, just think of this moment. Then something interesting happens. Malcolm starts talking about how terrible a king he would be, how he loves women too much (and not in a good way), and how he would take all the land away from the nobles, steal all their jewellery and a few other awful things.
Macduff:, oh CRAP, is this really the future of Scotland, RIGHT THAT’S IT I’M DONE I’M GOING BACK TO ENGLAND AND STAYING THERE.
Malcolm turns around with NAHHH man I was just kidding, I was just testing you. To make sure I could trust you.
Then Ross, the guy who was just visiting Lady Macduff arrives on the scene. He first tells Macduff that his family are all safe, but Macduff is like hold on dude, something’s wrong here you aren’t giving me all the deets…out with it. And after A LOT of pushing he tells him that his family have been viciously slaughtered. To which Macduff replies (among other words) “All my pretty chickens?” SO THERE WE HAVE IT PEOPLE THE EGG CAME BEFORE THE CHICKEN!!! Anyway This convinces Macduff to finally DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS TYRANT KING, and he begins gathering forces in England and Scotland to fight against Macbeth.
This next scene is my favourite, but maybe that’s just cause I’m an actor, and this is such a powerful scene to perform as Lady Macbeth. It’s her turn to lose her shit, and she is SOOO much cooler when she loses it than her husband is. Here you have another famous line from the play: “Out out Damn Spot”. She sleepwalks and tries to wash her hands to get rid of the blood on them. Guilty conscience much?? Obviously she, like her husband, is hallucinating (seeing imaginary things). The doctor comes on and watches her, and he, along with her Gentlewoman realise that she and Macbeth were definitely responsible for killing Duncan, and that she’s lost her mind.
NEXT is the “good guys” preparing for battle. A bunch of Scottish lords (Lennox, Menteith, Caithness, and Angus) are hanging around and gossiping about the King as they wait for the next move. They know Macbeth is starting to panic and he “feel[s] his secret murders sticking on his hands”. They say basically anyone who is fighting for him is doing it simply because they are told, and not because of any loyalty they feel for him.
I mean we’ve all been there, doing what we are told JUUUST because we were told, not because we want to. I mean that’s basically what homework is isn’t it….well…for the most part, except this, this is FUN!! So basically what these guys are saying is that there are now enough people that reaallly hate Macbeth to actually go to war against him, without it looking like a minority uprising. Think PEOPLES MARCH but obviously with much more violence and fewer cardboard signs. Guys, i’m telling you this is ALL RELEVENT STUFF!!!
So two big things happening in this next scene. One, is a servant reporting to Macbeth about the English forces that are moving against him. I’d seriously hate to be that guy. He doesn’t even let the poor servant finish his sentence, and interrupts him with “GEESE, VILLAIN” clearly he’s not a happy CAMPER (and impatient to boot). Then he says “I’ll fight till from my bones my flesh be hack’d” I mean a bit overkill mate…but still, EPIC LINE, like imagine going into battle and saying that.
Then the Doctor comes on to update him on his wife. The doctor is like Mate, she is sick in the head not the body, I can’t do anything. FYI There was no such thing as a psychiatrist back then, doctors thought putting leeches on someone would cure them of most illnesses (and they wondered why the plague took out most of London). Again Macbeth doesn’t take this well and tells him to scour the land to find a cure. I mean he may be a heartless Son of a Bench when it comes to a lot of things, but he does care about his wife…so that’s something.
I mean I have to say Shakey was ahead of his time in thinking about mental health he says “Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased…and with some sweet oblivious antidote cleanse the stuff’d bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart?” DEEEEP guys! He’s literally saying IS THERE NO FREAKING MEDICINE FOR her MIND??? This is a solid 300 years before any understanding of “a diseased mind” came to light. (Anyone interested can look up Clifford Beers in 1908)
So now we move back to the soldiers marching against Macbeth. Malcom, Macduff, Lennox, Ross, Seyward and his son, (The Earl of Northumberland) leading the English Soldiers. Nothing really exciting happens here except that they pass through Birnam wood, and decide to hide themselves behind branches from the trees…SOUND FAMILIAR????
Soooo, while Birnam wood is marching back, at the castle, Macbeth is going on about having forgotten the taste of fear, I think he’s a little too hopped up on adrenaline, that is till he hears a woman scream, and a servant comes to deliver the worst news. “The queen my lord is dead”. He then speaks a lamentation that gives me chills every time, when it is done right. He touches on how short life can be, and then it’s over and there is nothing. It’s grim I know but powerful and poignant. (bad rhyme gag?) Then a messenger comes to tell him that he saw Birnam wood begin to move. OOOOOHH MACBETH IS GETTING PIIIISSSEEEDDD. I mean he just lost his wife, and then ONE OF THE TWO IMPOSSIBLE THINGS the witches told him to fear was coming true.
HOME STRETCH GUYS!! If you are still listening, WELL DONE, rewards to be reaped for hanging in. We are gonna combine the final scenes cause they are really all one scene, but for stage purposes Shakey split them up. So first we have the Soldiers with Macduff throw down their branches to reveal themselves. Macbeth is really having a day…or even a week, or even a year….budumbum. Then the Young Seyward, (Earl of Northumberland’s son who is probably around 16) decides goes up against Macbeth. Now aaanyone who has seen a superhero film knows that the first one to take on the big baddie never wins. Either the hero comes into the rescue just before the villain strikes the final blow, or….yeah you know. So poor baby Earl bites off more than he can chew with Macbeth, and is taken out real quick.
Finally Macduff shows up on the scene, and at this point Macbeth feeling prettty good about himself, he is all MATE YOU CAN’T BEAT ME!! I CAN’T BE TAKEN OUT BY ANYONE OF WOMAN BORN. Ohhh he thinks he’s so clever and brilliant. His day is finally turning around…uunnntill Macduff says “Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d” (aka he was delivered by C-section… Which makes sense… Sorta, I told you fortune tellers are trixy)
Cue Macbeth: OH CRAP!
So Macbeth is killed off stage, Macduff carries his head back on as proof that he has defeated the tyrant! YAAYY GOREY DEATH!! Malcolm is then crowned King and Scotland lives happily ever AFTER, well, not exactly but we aren’t doing a history lesson are we?
PHEW WE DID IT!! We made it through all of Macbeth in under 30 minutes. SO what do we take from this?? Tyranny is bad, don’t listen to people telling your fortune, (there’s always a catch,) and there are so many more situations throughout all of time and history similar to Macbeth, NOW GO FORTH MY PRETTY CHICKENS AND FIND THEM.
OOOKAY welcome to the INSULTS section of our podcast where I explain some of the insults in Macbeth, ones you can find on the internet, and ones yet to be explored.
First up:
“You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.” (Act 1, Scene 3) When Macbeth first meets the witches, he thinks they are so ugly and hairy that they can’t be women. This is the most likely origin of the the modern day witch that we see in cartoons, with warts and hairs growing out of them. Perhaps this is why women are so concerned about facial hair too, thanks Shakespeare! (Clearly Shakespeare didn’t have Hermione Granger as a guide for what witches look like)
next…
WHAT YOU EGG, Act 4 scene 2 this one is self explanatory, little Macduff jr tries to defend himself against the murderers but they call him an egg, basically fragile and unable to defend himself.
“Thou Cream faced loon” (Act 5 Scene 3) A servant comes to tell Macbeth that there are 10,000 soldiers outside the castle, he’s likely looking slightly pale, as Macbeth continues on to say “where got’st thou that goose look?”
“Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver’d boy.” (Act 5 Scene 3) Basically get some colour in your cheeks and find some bravery you chicken.
I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST!!!
THE KNOCK KNOCK JOKE!! Yes it’s true this is the first knock knock Joke in recorded history. Not exactly an insult but really funny if you know what he is talking about.
SO the porter hears knocking at the gate and thinks, ya know, whoever does this in hell would grow old turning that key, he’d turn it so many times (cause so many people go to hell) Then he pretends to be said gatekeeper
And thus it begins knock knock! Whose there in the devil’s name and he talks about a farmer who killed himself cause he ran out of grain, an equivocator which is basically a two faced liar, who commited treason, an English tailor who cheated people by skimping on their fabric, then he decides that Scotland is too cold to be hell, so he’s had enough, otherwise he would have done one for every profession.
When he lets in Macduff and Lennox in he starts on how alcohol is GREAT for having sex, but also terrible. It makes you WANT to have sex, but it takes away your ability to PERFORM when having sex. This goes on for a while until Macbeth comes to greet the Lords.
WELCOME TO THE GCSE STUDY GUIDE SECTION OF MY PODCAST
Skip this if you are past this part of your life and are really just in this for the fun, this is where I’ll get a bit heavy and analytical.
So for all you students out there taking Macbeth for your GCSE’s let’s knock out some of the themes you are going to find throughout the play. The COOOL thing about Shakespeare is YOU can take from it what YOU find. Yes there are themes throughout that are obvious, but you can find your own takeaways if you want (or if you don’t have to find particular ones for your GCSE exams). You can see Lord and Lady Macbeth as the ULTIMATE power couple, or you can see Macbeth as the ruler of all, or as just using the people around him to help him get what he wants. Shakespeare didn’t write his plays to be read and analysed in a classroom, he rewrote stories that had been told time and time again throughout history. He just jazzed them up and put them on a stage for all of London to see. It was only after he died that they were written down by his actors. Of course he was influenced by the time like we all are. We can’t help it, but
I’m sure you heard me throw the word tyrant out there a lot in the summary, and what do tyrants love above everything? POWER! EEVERYONE loves power. It’s what makes the world go round. Power struggles can be seen everywhere from the primary school playground, who is the leader of the clique, to whoever is leading the country. Trump has been named a tyrant, but you can easily just go back to Hitler, or anyone who has killed for power, English history is littered with people like that (or just look at Voldemort). All these people have been equated to Macbeth, BUT SHOCKER It is Lady Macbeth who seems to be more keen for the power at the start, and more willing to do whatever it takes to get it. She is the one who convinces Macbeth to do what is needed. THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU PUT WOMEN IN CHARGE PEOPLE!!!
This leads me to my next theme which is Gender roles. You have some pretty cool, powerful women in this play, and given that this is lonnggg before women were considered people. The three witches, and the queen of the witches Hecate are what some would call the puppetmasters (credit to Dr. Annie Pluto for giving me that term) of the play. They tell Macbeth about being Thane of Cawdor, and about being King, which sets in motion the events of the play. Macbeth is not the author of his own fate. Next his WIFE not him decides that the only way forward is to kill the King, setting about the next set of events that make them King and Queen. Macbeth is constantly emasculated by his wife. This if of course just after the time that we had a badass Queen on the throne, Her royal Highness Queen Elizabeth I, this is of course before we had badass queens like Beyoncé, and Ellen, and SO many more. Macbeth doesn’t loooove being emasculated, do you notice Lady Macbeth says ALOT less when they are crowned King and Queen. All her hard work to get the throne, and she is cast aside as Macbeth finds his confidence. He promises her ‘greatness’ in the beginning to pull her in (though in my opinion I think she was all ready and raring to go, but that’s just based on the productions I have seen).
Another theme you can see throughout the play is the concept of two faced-ness (okay I dunno if that’s a word, but for my purposes it is). THe word ‘Equivocator’ is thrown around a lot throughout the play, and the concept even more so. The word as defined in David and Ben Crystal’s Shakespeare’s Words is ‘a trader in double meanings’. Basically a two faced liar, someone who says one thing but means something completely different, today’s equivalent would be a ‘snake’. Urban Dictionary defines snake as ‘Someone who you think is sincere and really nice, but then turns out to be a backstabber’. Macbeth does this when he pretends to be loyal to the King, but then literally stabs him. The witches do it when they tell Macbeth that none of Woman born shall harm him. The only way you could be born was ‘of woman’, obviously the witches meant that she wasn’t born ‘naturally’.
There are plenty more themes, but I’m not going to give you AAALL of them, you have to find them yourself, but ya know what I’ll give you a few more, but without going in depth. You have treason/overthrowing a ruler (Gunpowder Plot), Masculinity (can also be seen as Gender roles, but also more to mine there)
Interview Questions:
What does Accessible Shakespeare mean to you? What drew you to Shakespeare in the first place? (Family, a show, an actor)
What about Macbeth do you think is Relevant today?
What do you wish younger audiences would take away from Macbeth, beyond simply an appreciation for Shakespeare.
