Understanding Macbeth: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents

then he for fear of Banquo, his old companion, that he should beget kings but be no king himself, he contrived the death of Banquo and caused him to be murdered on the way as he rode. The next night being at supper with his noble men whom he had bid to a feast to the which Banquo should have come, he began to speak of noble Banquo and to wish that he were there. And as he thus did, standing up to drink a carouse to him, the ghost of Banquo came and sat down in his chair behind him. And turning about to sit down again saw the ghost of Banquo, which fronted him so that he fell into a great passion of fear and fury, uttering many words about his murder, by which when they heard that Banquo was murdered, they suspected Macbeth.

Then Macduff fled to England to the king's son, and so they raised an army and came to Scotland and at Dunsinane overthrew Macbeth. In the meantime, while Macduff was in England, Macbeth slew Macduff's wife and children and, after in the battle, Macduff slew Macbeth.

Observe also how Macbeth's queen did rise in the night in her sleep & walk and talked and confessed all & the doctor noted her words.

With few written records about Jacobean stage history or specific details about the appearance of Shakespeare's plays, reconstructing early productions of Macbeth requires creative detective work and a vivid imagination. What most researchers have discovered is the importance of the plays themselves as a record of performance. Carefully rereading the fines of Macbeth can be the best way to determine how actors may have presented it almost 400 years ago.

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