https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz en-us 2017-10-10 07:56:48 UTC 2019-01-29 20:21:24 UTC hello@padlet.com gaiaminutoli1 https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195476129 The Reformation in England was a gradual process.
Henry VIII made himself head of the Church in 1533 but he remained a Catholic in his belief.
Bloody Mary, his daughter, was a fanatic Catholic and during her reign (1553-1558) Protestants were savagely persecuted
England returned to mild form of Protestantism with Elizabeth I.
She was unmarried and childless, so her opponents hoped her cousin Mary Queen of Scots would bring England back to the old religion.
Many attempts were made to assassinate Elizabeth so in 1587 the Queen had Mary executed.
In 1603, after Elizabeth's death, King James VI of Scotland (Mary's son) ascended the English throne as King James I (the first Stuart) unifying the two kingdoms. He continued to tolerate Cathlolics although they were subjected to extra taxation.
The last Catholic assassination attempt was the so-called Gunpowder Plot in 1605. Guy Fawkes with a group of other dissidents planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament along with the king and his ministers on November 5th.]]> 2017-10-10 08:00:56 UTC https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195476129 gaiaminutoli1 https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195483252 When Shakespeare came to London in about 1587, England was preparing to face an invasion from Spain. An enormous Armada - the largest fleet that ever gone to sea -  sailed into the English Channel in 1588, but bad weather, bad organisation and the superior skill  of the English sailors led to a catastrophic defeat for the Spanish.
The defeat of the Armada fostered a surge of national pride and confidence, which contributed to the great literary Renaissance that flourished in the final decades of the century, and had its greatest expression in the genious of Shakespeare.
After the defeat of the Armada, English sailors and explorers began to develop the colonies that would form the basis of the British Empire in the next two centuries.
Officially Elizabeth disapproved of these activities, but she took half the treasure for herself and encouraged English settlement in America.
Colonisers included sir Walter Raleigh, who brought tobacco back to England, and who tried without success to settle Virginia, named after Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.
From 1562 on, English traders also took part in the slave trade, transporting slaves from West Africa to the Americas ]]> 2017-10-10 08:28:16 UTC https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195483252 gaiaminutoli1 https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195489241 During the Wars of the Roses - the long civil war that ended in 1485 - the authority of the law had been almost completely eroded by the anarchic behaviour of the nobles.
Exhausted by civil war, the country welcomed the centralisation of power that took place under the Tudor kings and queens.
Their concept of order was based on the theory of degree: the hierarchical structure of society. At the head was the monarch, then the nobles, the gentry and so on, down to the labourers and artisans who have no voice or authority. This was not a democratic society. Elizabeth ordered sermons to be preached in all parish churches on the god-given nature of the social hierarchy.
Shakespeare shared this love of order and harmony, and this horror of violence and anarchy, though it is hard to know if he was sincere or simply echoing official policy.
This was a period of growth and social mobility. The development of trade and industry meant that many people became rich, so that according to famous economist M. Keynes "we were just in a financial position to afford Shakespeare at the moment when he presented himself".
The gap between rich and poor became wider. As the population grew, living conditions for the poor got worse, unemployment increased, poverty and starvation became more common.
While the rich built magnificent houses and dressed in silk, the poor ate rough bread made from rye and barley and dressed in leather and wool.]]> 2017-10-10 08:50:36 UTC https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195489241 gaiaminutoli1 https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195615967 The Globe was rebuilt and it was there that Macbeth had its first public performance, probably in 1606.
Yet It was first performed by the King's Men at King James I's Court. The play certainly reflects many of James's interests, and may even have been written especially for him.
It was a new play, but the story was an old one and James knew it well. It was about his ancestors, Banquo and Fleance, through whom he had inherited the throne of Scotland.
Shakespeare found the story in The Chronicles of Scotland, by R. Holinshed. However he made many changes. For example in the true story, Banquo joined Macbeth in killing Duncan but it would be tactless  to suggest that James was descended from a regicide. So Shakespeare's Banquo is innocent.
Elements that James I would have appreciated are: the Scottish setting, the family tree of the Stuarts, witchcraft, a reference to the recent events of the"Gunpowder Plot" and the English titles to the King's supporters (at the end of the play Malcom gives all his supporters the title of "earl").
Richard Burbage, Shakespeare's star actor, played Macbeth at the Globe.
Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, about 2,100 lines.
Macbeth, like other plays set in primitive Britain, would have been played in contemporary dress. It was only 1772 that, for the first time, an actor called Macklin adopted the tartan and kilt for Macbeth.

Many of Shakespeare's plays were circulated in pirated copies sometimes printed and known as quartos because of the size of the paper used.
But this did not happen to Macbeth: there is no quarto. The played first appeared in the Folio, a complete edition of his plays produced in 1623, seven years after his death.]]> 2017-10-10 14:25:13 UTC https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195615967 gaiaminutoli1 https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195678306 Duncan - the King of Scotland (about 1034)
He is the embodiment of the Elizabethan belief that a king was appointed as God's deputy on earth and was himself  almost divine.
Malcom - Duncan' elder son.
Macbeth - a mighty and ambitious warrior, one of the leaders of Duncan's army.
Lady Macbeth - Macbeth's wife. She is even more ambitious than her husband and has few moral scruples.
Banquo - Macbeth's co-commander in Duncan's army.
Macduff - a Scottish nobleman
Ross - another Scottish nobleman
The witches - Three witches or supernatural phenomena. They are related to the three Fates in classical mythology.]]> 2017-10-10 15:55:41 UTC https://padlet.com/gaiaminutoli1/dlarzrkafwwz/wish/195678306