Macbeth in context by Discovering Literature – British Library

Explore more Discovering Literature articles

discovering_literature — 2025-04-14 15:17:31 UTC

Explore 100 of our best loved articles, perfect for teachers of Years 10–13.

‘Unsex me here’: Lady Macbeth’s ‘hell broth’

discovering_literature — 2025-04-14 15:19:02 UTC

Sandra M. Gilbert considers how Lady Macbeth in her murderous ambition goes beyond prescribed gender roles, but in doing so only succeeds in monstering herself and becoming a parody of womanhood, until madness again confines her to feminine helplessness.

Manhood and the ‘milk of human kindness’ in Macbeth

discovering_literature — 2025-04-14 15:19:06 UTC

The tragedy of Macbeth revolves around the question of what it means to be a man, argues Kiernan Ryan.

Character analysis: Lady Macbeth

discovering_literature — 2025-04-14 15:19:11 UTC

Focusing on characterisation, language and imagery, Michael Donkor analyses Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5 of Macbeth, and considers how this scene fits into the play as a whole.

Character analysis: The Witches in Macbeth

discovering_literature — 2025-04-14 15:19:15 UTC

Looking at context, language and form, Carol Atherton provides a close analysis of the Witches in Act 1, Scene 3 of Macbeth.

Macbeth and Shakespeare's linguistic innovation

discovering_literature — 2025-05-12 14:12:23 UTC

In Macbeth, Shakespeare coins an extraordinary number of words and phrases, including 'assassination', 'unsex' and 'stealthy'. David Crystal shows how these linguistic innovations help express the action and atmosphere of the play and the troubled psychology of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Conjuring darkness in Macbeth

discovering_literature — 2025-05-12 14:12:32 UTC

Much of Macbeth is set at night, yet its first performances took place in the open air, during daylight hours. John Mullan explores how Shakespeare uses speech and action to conjure the play's sense of growing darkness.

Macbeth in context: teacher's resource pack. Agency and blame

discovering_literature — 2025-05-12 14:14:38 UTC

Focusing on ideas of agency and blame, this pack is full of activities using rich sources from the British Library to explore themes of kingship, witchcraft, marriage and Shakespeare's use of sources in Macbeth.

Macbeth in context: teacher's resource pack. Gender

BL_Learning_7 — 2025-05-19 20:51:29 UTC

Focusing on the contrasts of gender in the play, this pack gives ready-to-teach ideas for bringing Macbeth to life, through rich sources from the British Library. Unfortunately, the hyperlinks do not currently work, due to a cyber-attack in 2023.

Professor Emma Smith's Approaching Shakespeare podcasts

BL_Learning_7 — 2025-06-19 09:25:30 UTC

Each lecture in this series focuses on a single play by Shakespeare, and employs a range of different approaches to try to understand a central critical question about it.

Explore more articles on Shakespeare and Renaissance writers

BL_Learning_7 — 2025-10-27 10:23:02 UTC

Examine rich subject matter from Juliet's eloquence to misunderstanding in Othello.