Macbeth - William Shakespeare - So You Haven't Read

So You Haven't Read the cursed story of Macbeth?! Well, pull up a seat and get ready for some epic Shakespearian burns, mystical tales, and of course death! As we break down and explain just what happened in Macbeth and the superstition around it.

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♪ Intro music: "Coffee Beans" by Mike Wuerth
♪ Outro music: "So You Haven't Read Theme" by Tiffany Roman

#SoYouHaventRead #Macbeth #Shakespeare

[Wintermute]

Fun fact: JRR Tolkien hated this play. He though that the "no man of woman born" twist should've been a woman killing Macbeth, inspiring Eowyn. He also thought the "forest" marching towards the castle should've been actual trees, inspiring the Ents.

[anttibjorklund]

There's also another version of the origin of the curse of this play: it was so popular that every time a playhouse started to "go under" financially, the powers that be began to put on showings of this play to turn around their fortune. Over time the play began to be associated with bad fortune.

[pisoprano]

Here’s how the “No man of woman born” loophole was explained to me in school: “born” was understood to be a very active verb on the part of the mother—“bearing” a child refers to the work that a woman has to do to push the child out of her body. So if she didn’t do all that labor herself, she didn’t actually “bear” the kid.

[briangarrow]

You mistakenly called the moving forest- ferocious fauna. You should have used ferocious flora.

[gabrielaubry]

Fun Fact: J.R.R. Tolkien hated the part of McDuff being born from a c-section as counting as "not of woman born", so he fixed it in his own way: when the Witch-king of Angmar, whom "no living man can hinder", is slain by Éowyn, a woman who disguised herself as a man to join the battle with her father, the King of Rohan.

[thetribunaloftheimaginatio]

The reasons "The Scottish Play" is considered cursed are pretty simple, actually... there are several scenes that take place at night (IE low-light stage-conditions) and that involve swordplay. Many of the special effects required to pull off the supernatural mumbo-jumbo can be dangerous if you're not careful. And the play is fairly inexpensive to produce, making it VERY popular with theater-owners in financial dire straits. Combined, you've got a perfect storm of reasons for the superstitious and cowardly to regard "The Scottish Play" as "cursed."

I mean... Akira Kurosawa wound up transplanting the story to Sengoku Jidai Japan, and turned Toshiro Mifune into a human pincushion in the final scene to no ill effect to the actor... yeah, in the version told in "Demon-Spider Castle"("Throne Of Blood" in the West), the "forest rising up" against the protagonist took the form of... arrows. LOTS of arrows, hewn from branches of the trees surrounding the titular castle where the wicked daimyo who murdered his predecessor to gain the rank on the advice of his wife makes his defiant last stand. And instead of a trio of witches, the prophecy is delivered by a single sinister yokai.

[Fleance_Snowflower]

Ah yes, "The Scottish Play". When I was in it, the determination was that the name could be said when it is in the script during rehearsals without incurring "the curse" but outside of literal scenes, it was determined that the principle character and their spouse would be referred to as "the dude" and "mrs. the dude" respectively... good times

[edmundthespiffing]

“Hot potato, orchestra stalls, Puck to make amends!”

[Pinch nose]

[bethmarriott]

I love this play; reading Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett also offers a delightful humour perspective on it and so many Shakespeare/fairy tale tropes that i now can't read MacBeth without thinking of Pratchett, and Tolkien's Ents and Eowyn just being Tolkien refusing to accept Shakespeare not having enough imagination 🤣

[Dinuial]

I went to a play with some friends, there was a poster for Macbeth in the lobby which I pointed out because of the curse. One of my friends said "What? Macbeth?" That night, a lamp blew out, there were sound glitches, a prop was lost, and the following monday the friend wo had said "Macbeth" aloud was cut from the play he was in rehearsals for.

[alexanderweston]

Disney was genius for using this story along with midsummers night dream as story arches in Gargoyles.

[pjlusk]

The other proposed explanation for the curse that I've heard links back to something else you mentioned: its status as a crowd pleaser. It might have got its reputation because its a well-known, relatively easy to stage play that is safely in the public domain, which means it frequently gets staged by failing theater companies right before they go under. It's also got a bunch of stage fighting, which might get a careless actor in a failing company hurt through inattention to safety precautions.

[KaiserAfini]

I remember what initially made me research more about this and A Midsummer Night's Dream was the Gargoyles show. They captured the feel of the characters well, yet gave them a unique reinterpretation that build some of the show's most powerful moments.

[joshuawells]

You say, "the Scottish Play, " the first thing the comes to mind is Blackadder Series 3. They make an entire running gag of this in one episode.

Also an interesting fact I learned from a recent semester abroad - because Macduff placed the crown on Malcolm's head, it became a matter of constitutional law that in medieval Scotland, a member of Clan Macduff had to be the one who put the crown on the King of Scots; head during the coronation. Thus when Edward I took power, he seized all the Macduff. Fortunately, one was able to get away for the coronation of Robert the Bruce.

[TheGuardianofAzarath]

I read MacBeth in school. I LOVED the Gargoyles integration of MacBeth's story, that show made him an immortal antihero.

[PK-Radio]

I. Literally. Just did a 5 part essay on Macbeth
Like, literally just turned it in

[mckennarogers]

My granny thought Lady Macbeth didn’t manipulate Macbeth into anything, rather, she was tired of hearing him whine about it and said, “omg just do something about it!” Now everyone paints her as a villain

[imsomnilar]

Just started reading Macbeth for Gsce English, amazing timing!

[jawzdeadeye]

I do like that the person in the Coffee Shop/ playing Macbeth is dressed and has hair and facial hair like Macbeth from Disney's Gargoyles. :)

[Thegadgetman]

(yelps) "Hot potato, off the shores, Puck will make amends." (tweak)

Or however the middle bit goes.