With excerpts from the introduction to the Austi Classics edition

Apple Original Films tv+ released a cinematic version of Macbeth in 2022 with Macbeth played by Denzel Washington. A short trailer is here:

A longer trailer is here:

A trailer of the 2015 film with Michael Fassbender is here:

The Tragedy of Macbeth is great cinema. However, lesser known to modern audiences is that the meaning and significance of Macbeth in Shakespeare's time is built on the earthshaking Gunpowder Plot. For its impact on the English population, the Gunpowder Plot could be compared with the 9-11 terrorist attack. The key difference is that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled by the authorities which prevented any damage, whereas 9-11 wasn't foiled by the authorities and the damage intended by the terrorists and those who supported them was actually inflicted. Similarly, the popular conception of witches in Shakespeare's time could be likened to terrorists of the 21st Century – everyone talks about them, is afraid of them, and does horrible things to anyone suspected of being one. Both the themes of 9-11, i.e. the Gunpowder Plot, and terrorists, i.e. witches, run through the play Macbeth which would have made the play gripping viewing in its time. Moreover, in Shakespeare's time, theatre could only be performed by troupes with a royal licence to perform. Of course, Shakespeare's company had such a licence, making any gunpowder and witchcraft even more sought after for entertainment and interest.

The Gunpowder Plot lives on today in 'Guy Fawkes night' which is on the fifth of November. Guy Fawkes night continues commemoration of the foiled Gunpowder Plot in honour of King James I's divine sanction to rule. The group of hackers known as 'Anonymous' use the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol. The Guy Fawkes mask as used by the group of hackers known as 'Anonymous' is a reversal for it symbolises the anti-authority current in the thinking of the Gunpowder Plotters.

So what exactly was the Gunpowder Plot?

The Gunpowder Plot

In 2022, the Gunpowder Plot comes live to London. A trailer is here:

The Gunpowder Plot was hatched due to tension between the English government and the Roman Catholic Church dating back to the split between the Church and the English government under Henry VIII. Laws under Queen Elizabeth I and King James I provided that Catholic priests found in England were arrested and executed. Jesuits were a class of zealous Catholic priests who also worked as missionaries for the Catholic cause in England.

Under the severe anti-Catholic laws, Jesuit missionaries in England took great personal risk, and worked through underground networks, giving sermons and conducting mass in secret.

In order to target the anti-Catholic English government, in sympathy with the plight of Catholics in England, a plot was hatched in 1604 to blow up the House of Lords during the opening of parliament. The plan was devised by Robert Catesby a Northamptonshire gentlemen associated with Jesuits, and if successful would kill King James I, Prince Henry the heir to the throne, and many courtiers, lords and members of parliament.

A house neighbouring the old Palace of Westminster, where parliament was held, was rented by another plotter Thomas Percy, cousin to the 9th earl of Northumberland, to tunnel into the foundations of the palace, laying gunpowder and detonating it. However, the walls were too thick to make enough progress in tunnelling before parliament was due to open.

Fortuitously for the plotters, the plague hit London, delaying the opening of parliament to November 1605. Also, in January 1605, a vault beneath the House of Lords became available and was rented by Percy. About 900kg of gunpowder was brought at night in 1605 to place directly under the House of Lords.

An anonymous note to William Parker, Lord Monteagle probably from a plotter, Francis Tresham, warned Parker to stay away from the opening parliament. The note said:

My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care for your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift of your attendance of this Parliament, for God and man hath concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow, the Parliament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good and can do you know harm, for the danger is past as soon as you have burnt the latter: and I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.

Parker reported the letter to some of King James's councillors who informed the king. The word 'blow' in the intercepted note suggested to King James I that there was gunpowder involved as his own father was killed by gunpowder. An initial sweep of the palace on 4 November did not uncover any clues even though Guy Fawkes was seen in the vault and asked about a large pile of firewood; the gunpowder was hidden behind the firewood. Fawkes replied that it belonged to Percy. When Monteagle expressed surprise that Percy was renting the vault and noted that he was Catholic, James ordered another, late-night, search of the premises and the gunpowder was found.

Woodgraving from the 19th Century showing Guy Fawkes being apprehended by officers of King James I in front of the firewood which hid the gunpowder in the basement of the House of Lords, England.

To celebrate the plot's discovery, James ordered bonfires to be set and bells rung on 5 November as common forms of celebration. On 10 November, William Barlow, bishop of Rochester, preached a sermon on the plot in St Paul's Churchyard with space for up to 6000 people. Official thanksgiving services were ordered in all parish churches.

King James I zealously promoted the eleventh hour discovery of the Gunpowder Plot as a sign of divine providence. The event established the king's credentials as protestant champion at a time when he was under fire from both some Catholics, who had expected some tolerance, and puritans who were disappointed that the Hampton Court Conference (1604) had not led to the reform of the church. It also fed into growing anti-Catholic feeling amongst the general population. A bill was introduced in the House of Commons in January 1606 to establish an annual thanksgiving, which quickly became law.

Guy Fawkes was arrested and tortured by his body being stretched on the rack until the limbs were almost pulled out of their sockets to force him to reveal the names of the other conspirators. The conspirators were all arrested, tried, convicted and executed by hanging, drawing and quartering which was the punishment for traitors of the crown. Those convicted were dragged by horse on a wooden frame to the place of execution while being abused by crowds who gathered to watch. The convicted would then be hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead. In most cases, the condemned would receive the short drop method of hanging so that the neck did not break. Still alive, he was dragged to the quartering table and, if unconscious, water was splashed to wake them up. The condemned would then be emasculated and disembowelled with the genitalia and entrails burned before their eyes. Finally the condemned was beheaded and the body quartered, or broken into four parts. Quartering was sometimes done by tying the limbs to four horses which would were spurred to run in a different direction. The resulting body parts were then put on display in different parts of the country for all to see.

At many of these gory executions of Catholics, there were people in the crowd who believed the condemned to be martyrs and they rushed forward for the clothing of the condemned as a holy relic of a saint. Henry Garnet the last of the plotters to be tried had a great deal of public sympathy. In fact, it is doubtful that Garnet was involved in the plot at all. His crime was to learn of the plot when taking confession, which he did as a Jesuit priest, and not to tell the authorities. However, Garnet went to great lengths to try to persuade the plotters to abandon their plan. None of that matters to the authorities who were keen to make an example of this leading Jesuit. When he was hanged, the crowd rushed forward and grabbed his legs to ensure that he died by hanging and was saved the ignominy and agony of being emasculated and disembowelled while still alive.

Macbeth - a gunpowder and witchcraft play

Shakespeare's Macbeth was written in the aftermath of the foiled Gunpowder Plot to honour King James I, and was written to be performed at court before King James I.

Macbeth is laced with compliments to the King. Naturally, Shakespeare makes reference to the King's Scottish ancestry, life, and known legacy, which had been influenced by attempts to assassinate the King especially the recent Gunpowder Plot also known as the Gunpowder Treason.

When Lady Macbeth implores Macbeth to 'look like th' innocent flower / But be the serpent under't' (Act I Scene 5) to encourage her husband in murdering Duncan, she describes the Gunpowder Plot medal. To commemorate discovery of the Gunpowder Plot and expulsion of the Jesuits from England, a silver medal was struck in Holland with the image of a snake amongst flowers in embossed detail.

Gunpowder Plot medal struck in 1605 described by Lady Macbeth, 'an innocent flower with a serpent under it'.

Jesuits were known to be artful at equivocation. They had to be – being a religious order they could not commit the sin of lying, but at the same time when arrested they could not reveal the whereabouts of their fellow Jesuits who would be put to death.

Henry Garnet a leading Jesuit in England was known as a leader in the art of equivocation. Garnet wrote Treatise on Equivocation as a guide for his fellow Jesuits when arrested to avoid sinning by lying but also to avoid giving any information that might help the authorities locate and arrest other Jesuits. The fact that Garnet wrote the treatise was used by the authorities as evidence that Jesuits were doing the work of the devil and deserved death.

The theme of equivocation runs through the play, and is most poignant with the Porter acting as the devil welcoming into hell an equivocator, Henry Garnet without using the name Garnet. Garnet is known to have refused to confess even before being hung and so was said by the authorities to have died unrepentant and therefore to have gone straight to hell. The Porter says, 'Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven'. (Act II Scene 3)

The heads of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators were placed on spikes outside parliament. Similarly, Macbeth was beheaded with his head put on display.

King James I was a prolific writer. Shakespeare would have had access to his works and, in any case, James' beliefs were widely known. James' beliefs on witchcraft were published in James' Daemonologie, and Shakespeare was able incorporate them into the play. The fear of witches not an obscure academic interest of King James. Witchcraft was a crime in England and often women considered troublesome were accused of witchcraft and executed. Through Daemonologie and a sermon on Revelation, King James I said that the kingdom of evil lies close to Christendom – meaning that even certain of those who are priests, such as Jesuits, are on the side of evil. Moreover, the association between the Jesuit order and witchcraft extends back into the 16th Century when the Jesuits were founded, and the association between the Jesuit order and witchcraft was live in the public mind during Shakespeare's time.

James I's parents were both killed in regicides, and there were several violent attempts on his life from within England. Given James' strong and widely known views on witchcraft, it is natural that Shakespeare placed the three meddlesome witches within Scotland to help encourage an ambitious Macbeth to commit regicide.

Macbeth the warrior

The character Macbeth only had the options he did due to courage bolstered by Lady Macbeth, and the fact that he had already risen so high by his valour in battle.

The play being full of action, as well as being deeply internal and psychological, also gives producers the opportunity for gripping action, which several have grasped.

I hope you enjoy this edition of Macbeth.

Available at Amazon

Buy it at Amazon UK here , at Amazon United States here , and at Amazon Australia here.

Dan Abramson
Sydney Australia
January 2017 updated April 2022