 Hello first-rate tutors. I am going to tell you three things that you can do with your exam with Macbeth No matter what the question in order to get top grades We're going to start in with the easy bit Macbeth is a cautionary tale steal that dialogue because it's going to give you words that score you marks Who is it advising all the nobles who are watching the play? Yes, this play is not put on at the globe like Shakespeare's other place Oh, no, King James has paid the megabucks to have this put on at St. James's Palace his court And who is there all the nobles of England? They want to get in with the king They want to ingratiate themselves with him top vocabulary there steal it And so he has invited them all to watch this play, but it is a cautionary tale telling the nobles I know you don't like this Scottish guy coming to be king I know some of you think there are people in your families who should be king because Queen Elizabeth died without an heir So it was contentious and Shakespeare was saying well There's no point doing that because I'm going to show you this tale of the best and he is going to come to a Tragic end not only is he going to die not only is he's going to go to hell But when he becomes king the whole experience will turn to ash in his mouth He will not enjoy a single moment of it. He will lose his mind and ladies and gentlemen not ladies Gentlemen of the audience this is going to happen to you if you think about trying to get rid of King James So it's all political propaganda to support King James's right to the throne. Okay Now that's the cautionary tale Now we have Now we have Shakespeare sucking up and gratiating himself remember that word to King James He says oh, I know that King James is absolutely obsessed with witchcraft King James actually persecuted witches in scotland and so Shakespeare says How can I get that into my play so he introduces the witches But Shakespeare is a genius dramatist So although the witches come along and they say oh Greater than Macbeth yet not so great to Banquo and happier than Macbeth But not so happy What they're getting at is they are prophesising The future and trying to mess with Macbeth's mind and Banquo's mind They never tell any character to do anything evil all that evil is inside Macbeth He thinks of murder straight away straight away as soon as he gets this prophecy, doesn't he he doesn't Hear it from the witches. They never say, you know, it'd be a really good idea to get rid of Duncan. Oh, no No, that is Macbeth's idea and Shakespeare loves this inner psychology That's why Shakespeare keeps hallucinating stuff like the dagger hearing this voice that he's murdered sleep Because it is his own mind that leads to his destruction