Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)

Before you start this reading exercise, be sure you know who’s who.

Using the words and real names in the panel, can you complete this information about Macbeth?

About the play Macbeth

This play is about good and bad rulers, and how people ………………………..¹ terrible deeds when . ………………..² by ambition or power. Macbeth himself is a loyal and strong Scottish nobleman who has shown great courage in battle. After meeting three ………………………³ on a lonely heath, he starts to believe what they tell him about his future and this encourages both his desire and ambition to become king. A later meeting with the witches …………….⁴ him, wrongly, that he will escape ………………………..⁵ for what he does.

………………………..⁶ was written in about …………………⁷ by William Shakespeare, when the King of …………………..⁸ was James Ist*, who was also King ………………………..⁹ VIth of ………………………..¹⁰. This same King James was ………………………..¹¹ from ……………………..¹², who is one of the characters in the play. Many characters in the play existed in reality in 11th century Scotland, (around 1050) – for instance Banquo, ………………………..¹³, Macbeth, and Duncan were all real people, all members of ………………………..¹⁴ noble families who wanted to rule in Scotland.

During the first production of Macbeth there were so many ………………………..¹⁵ that a certain superstition arose about it in the theatrical world, leading to a convention that continues ………………………..¹⁶ today among actors. The tradition is never to mention the ………………………¹⁷ name of the play (Macbeth) (to avoid having ………………¹⁸ luck), but instead to refer to it as ‘the Scottish play’. Macbeth was the last of Shakespeare’s four great ………………………..¹⁹, (the others being ………………….²⁰, King Lear and Othello).

* As with all royal titles, James Ist is spoken as James the First (just as Elizabeth II is pronounced Elizabeth the Second).

to be descended from – to be related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the past

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