 Hello dear learners, welcome to today's program. I am Dr. Pallavi Kukui of Padmanad Kohai Bharat School of Humanities, Tishta Kanda Handik State University. I shall take up Unit 9 from the Channel English course, Semester 1 Block 2. The Unit is titled William Shakespeare Macbeth, where we shall discuss the background of the play. First, I shall start with the table of contents, starting with the learning objectives, followed by introduction, background of the play Macbeth, and a few questions to check your progress and the references. Coming to your learning objectives, after going through the video, the learner will be able to gain an insight on the background of the play Macbeth. To provide you with an introduction to this particular play, the tragedy Macbeth was written and performed in the Globe Theater in 1606. However, it was only in the year 1623 that the first folio was printed. An interesting aspect about the play is that it is the shortest play by William Shakespeare, yet it is considered to be the most intense of the Shakespearean tragedies. Macbeth is based on the real events from the life of Macbeth, the 11th century king of Scotland. One of the main motives of Shakespeare in writing Macbeth was to examine and look into the nature and evils of political ambition that exists in a monarchical state. Now coming to the background of the play Macbeth, it is believed that Shakespeare had borrowed the subject of the play from another play written by Thomas Middleton. The play was performed in front of King James I, who is believed to be a descendant of the real Banco, also portrayed as one of the significant characters in the play. Macbeth, in the manner of his other major tragedies, such as King Lear, Hamlet and Othello, is one of the most intriguing plays of Shakespeare. This provides the readers an insight into the complexities of political relationships in an ambition-driven society. Shakespeare had read numerous accounts of Macbeth, principally from the chronicles of Hollenshire. Hollenshire's historical accounts provided the primary source for many of Shakespeare's historical dramas. According to Hollenshire's account, Macbeth and Banco conspired to assassinate King Duncan, the erstwhile ruler of Scotland. This incident provided the base for the tragedy that was woven into an interesting narrative. The play tells us about Macbeth and Banco, who are the generals of King Duncan, returning after a successful battle against rebels of the kingdom. On the way, they came across the three witches who predict that Macbeth will be assigned an important position in the kingdom and later would become the king. According to their prophecy, Banco's successors will also become kings, although he would never be one himself. Shakespeare mentions some of the ideal qualities of a king in Act 4 of Macbeth, where Maccom speaks of, quote-unquote, justice, verity, temperance, stapleness, bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness, devotion, patience, courage, fortitude. Macbeth possessed none of these qualities and his greatest vice was his pride and unquenchable thirst for power. The play Macbeth was a success during its time and it continues to be re-enacted on the stage even today. There have been several adaptations of the play that have been made in other forms of narratives such as films all across the world. Now let us quickly come to your questions to check your progress. Question number one, which play is considered as the shortest one by William Shakespeare? Question number two, whom was the play Macbeth originally based on? Question number three, what was the primary source in which William Shakespeare found accounts of Macbeth? Question number four, provided gist of the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare? Question number five, what are some of the desired qualities of an ideal king? Here are the references. I hope you will also refer to the English graduate self-learning material that is SLM, gel English block 2 unit 9 semester 1. With this, we come to the end of this video. Thank you dear learners.