William Shakespeare: Macbeth

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Pornpitcha Watanasumritkij

EC4, Work AssignmentII

William Shakespeare: Macbeth

In English Renaissance period, there was a number of revolution in many fields that play vital roles in English history. One of them is a change on literary field in the late of English Renaissance age, especially in Shakespeare’s time, a lot of his works and plays completely change a foundation on English literature ever. What I am presenting in this paper are about Shakespeare himself and his one of famous plays- Macbeth. I will represent you about these topics; The period that Shakespeare spent his life, his biography includes of his works and plays, and the the last one is the darkest and most powerful tragedy of him- Macbeth. In that time England was under the Tudors, Shakespeare lived during the Elizabethan era. And this will be the beginning point.

First of all, Queen Elizabeth I was one of England’s ablest monarchs and the long-ruling queen of England for her forty-five-year-reign. She claimed the throne in 1558 after the death of Queen Mary I. Her majesty was born in 1533 and eventually died in 1603. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Unfortunately, the princess declared illegitimate when she was only two years old after her mother was beheaded. Moreover, the report from English Renaissance and Reformation literature’ scholar of University of Chicago (1999), Janel Mueller, represents that after Elizabeth crowned Queen of England and Ireland, there was a issue which is her feminine as gender as sovereign of England. However, she proved herself to Parliaments and her citizen that even she is a female, she governed her country with relative prosperity and stability, also handled with difficult circumstances. She regarded as shrew, wise, and just (Sommerville, n.d.). Many historians described her reign as “The golden period in English history” because in her epoch has many revolution in a lot of fields. For examples, she moderated more in government and when parliaments disagreed with her, she always stay clam and argue cautiously and prudently, her famous quote was “video et taced” which means “ I see, and say nothing”. Nevertheless, the battle between parliament and royal monarchy ended with the parliament still under control of royal absolutism. In addition, she was tolerated in religious turmoil and finally could deal with it. She was protestant and established “Elizabethan Settlement” (Alchin, 2012). Another huge change was in military, even she born with womanhood, she was so brave enough to lead the army fought against Spanish threatened invasion and defeated them in Armada wars (Gelb, 2002). In my opinion, as an ordinary woman, her extremely talents and skills, especially, to compromise in both political and religious spheres are astonished me. I can said she was good at wielding her power with balance and effectiveness, I has no doubt why Elizabethan era was so prosperous. Excluding above all, the famous thing in this era was the flourishing of English arts and drama led by such great playwrights- William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. However, I will mention only about Shakespeare’s life ace in the next paragraph.