1 00:00:00,470 --> 00:00:04,950 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim & 2 00:00:04,950 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: Mild from Aaron Menke. Listener discretion advised. The Tragedy of 3 00:00:12,539 --> 00:00:17,700 Speaker 1: Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most famous works, and with 4 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: very good reason. As SNL's Stefan might say, this play 5 00:00:23,980 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: has everything. Sleepwalking queens, witches torturing kings with prophecies, ghosts 6 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 1: ruining dinner parties, imaginary daggers, forests that move, and murders 7 00:00:37,380 --> 00:00:42,500 Speaker 1: so bloody that your guilty hands won't scrub clean. Sleep 8 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: No More, an immersive version of the play, was a 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: hit show in New York City for. 10 00:00:48,470 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 2: Over a decade. allowing theatergoers to wander freely through the 11 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:58,500 Speaker 2: events of the play, with action and intrigue and semi-nude 12 00:00:58,700 --> 00:01:04,460 Speaker 2: actors waiting around every corner. Macbeth is a cultural mainstay, 13 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,740 Speaker 2: thanks to its bold imagery and heightened action, with a 14 00:01:08,780 --> 00:01:12,940 Speaker 2: central role meaty enough to attract major talent for over 15 00:01:13,060 --> 00:01:18,590 Speaker 2: four centuries. Everyone from Orson Welles to Denzel Washington has 16 00:01:18,670 --> 00:01:21,940 Speaker 2: lined up to take a stab at the role of Macbeth, 17 00:01:22,500 --> 00:01:27,780 Speaker 2: a character so supernaturally charged that even speaking his name 18 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,860 Speaker 2: out loud in a theater is believed to bring catastrophically 19 00:01:33,020 --> 00:01:37,940 Speaker 2: bad luck. I'm hoping that the room where I record 20 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:43,470 Speaker 2: a podcast doesn't count. But what about the real man 21 00:01:43,550 --> 00:01:49,250 Speaker 2: who inspired the play? the real Macbeth ruled Scotland from 22 00:01:49,250 --> 00:01:57,150 Speaker 2: 1040 to 1057, seizing the throne through violence and eventually 23 00:01:57,330 --> 00:02:01,460 Speaker 2: losing it the same way. How much of his actual 24 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 2: story made it into Shakespeare's text? Viewing the life of 25 00:02:05,860 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 2: a king who lived a thousand years ago through the 26 00:02:08,660 --> 00:02:12,989 Speaker 2: lens of a playwright working at the midpoint between then 27 00:02:13,250 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 2: and now tells us as much about the era in 28 00:02:17,700 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 2: which the play was written as it does the era 29 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:27,270 Speaker 2: it depicts. Because just like the real medieval Scottish King Macbeth, 30 00:02:27,950 --> 00:02:32,620 Speaker 2: Shakespeare had an agenda of his own. I'm Dana Schwartz, 31 00:02:32,970 --> 00:02:41,149 Speaker 2: and this is Noble Blood. By and large, Shakespeare's version 32 00:02:41,290 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 2: of Macbeth is the primary version of the story that 33 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 2: most folks are familiar with. There are probably plenty of 34 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 2: people who imagine that Macbeth, like Romeo or Hamlet, was 35 00:02:55,180 --> 00:02:59,900 Speaker 2: an entirely fictional figure and not based on someone specific 36 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,410 Speaker 2: from history. That's a testament to the enduring power of 37 00:03:04,490 --> 00:03:09,950 Speaker 2: Shakespeare's work. as well as the spotty documentation we have 38 00:03:10,090 --> 00:03:15,769 Speaker 2: of that particular period in history. The real Macbeth lived 39 00:03:16,030 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 2: in the 11th century, right in the middle of the 40 00:03:19,380 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 2: Middle Ages, and much of what we know about his 41 00:03:23,180 --> 00:03:28,940 Speaker 2: early years amounts to a collection of educated guesses. In 42 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,310 Speaker 2: Nicholas Boyder Acheson's excellent book Macbeth, Man and Myth, he 43 00:03:34,370 --> 00:03:39,050 Speaker 2: states that The scarcity of 11th century sources has often 44 00:03:39,090 --> 00:03:47,250 Speaker 2: made historians dependent on later material, particularly medieval chronicles. Not surprisingly, 45 00:03:47,410 --> 00:03:52,670 Speaker 2: the mythological elements present in the chronicler's accounts of Macbeth 46 00:03:53,050 --> 00:03:58,090 Speaker 2: and his reign have often been incorporated, consciously or subconsciously, 47 00:03:58,570 --> 00:04:05,820 Speaker 2: directly into historical analyses. So here's what we know. The 48 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:11,820 Speaker 2: real Macbeth was most likely born in 1005, the son 49 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 2: of the Mormare of Moray. Moray was a province in 50 00:04:16,940 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 2: medieval Scotland, a tactically crucial area that functioned in part 51 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:28,950 Speaker 2: as a buffer zone against invading Viking territories. Mormares, or 52 00:04:29,270 --> 00:04:34,570 Speaker 2: High Stewards, played similar roles as earls, which meant that 53 00:04:34,650 --> 00:04:39,350 Speaker 2: Macbeth's father held great power over his domain, which was 54 00:04:39,490 --> 00:04:42,870 Speaker 2: large and distinct enough to feel like a world of 55 00:04:42,950 --> 00:04:48,659 Speaker 2: its own within Scotland. His mother's identity is murkier. She 56 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:53,979 Speaker 2: was most likely a relative of Malcolm II, then King 57 00:04:54,080 --> 00:05:00,109 Speaker 2: of Scotland, although how closely is unknown. Some sources claim 58 00:05:00,250 --> 00:05:05,190 Speaker 2: that Macbeth's mother was Malcolm's illegitimate daughter, but there's nothing 59 00:05:05,390 --> 00:05:11,230 Speaker 2: concrete to back that up. Little is recorded of Macbeth's childhood, 60 00:05:11,690 --> 00:05:15,779 Speaker 2: but it isn't hard to imagine. A boy of noble birth, 61 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,500 Speaker 2: groomed from an early age to one day take his 62 00:05:19,580 --> 00:05:24,060 Speaker 2: father's place, trained in fighting and hunting as a matter 63 00:05:24,100 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 2: of course. It's very possible he spent time at Malcolm's 64 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:32,010 Speaker 2: court as a child, but whether he was there as 65 00:05:32,089 --> 00:05:36,270 Speaker 2: the son of a nobleman or possibly the king's own 66 00:05:36,410 --> 00:05:42,229 Speaker 2: grandson remains unclear. What is certain is that he shadowed 67 00:05:42,410 --> 00:05:46,310 Speaker 2: his father closely and that war was never far from 68 00:05:46,370 --> 00:05:52,420 Speaker 2: his thoughts. In medieval Scotland, military capability was a prerequisite 69 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:58,670 Speaker 2: for leadership. With pressure both external and internal, any leader 70 00:05:58,830 --> 00:06:03,050 Speaker 2: worth his title had to be prepared to defend it 71 00:06:03,570 --> 00:06:11,210 Speaker 2: by any means necessary. In 1020, Macbeth's father was killed 72 00:06:11,350 --> 00:06:16,710 Speaker 2: in a dynastic dispute, quite possibly by his nephews, ready 73 00:06:16,770 --> 00:06:20,589 Speaker 2: for a power grab of their own. At this time 74 00:06:20,690 --> 00:06:25,310 Speaker 2: in Scottish history, titles were passed down between branches of 75 00:06:25,370 --> 00:06:30,690 Speaker 2: a family in a system of alternating succession. In all likelihood, 76 00:06:30,860 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 2: the teenaged Macbeth fled for his safety, and it's here 77 00:06:35,900 --> 00:06:39,219 Speaker 2: that he appears in the historical record for the first 78 00:06:39,420 --> 00:06:46,550 Speaker 2: time alongside King Malcolm II. Macbeth's murderous cousins took their 79 00:06:46,620 --> 00:06:50,430 Speaker 2: turn with the title of Mormare of Moray, but their 80 00:06:50,490 --> 00:06:55,469 Speaker 2: luck didn't hold. One cousin died in 1029, the other 81 00:06:55,550 --> 00:07:00,650 Speaker 2: followed in 1032. The last one died violently and almost 82 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 2: certainly at the hands of his cousin Macbeth, a son's 83 00:07:04,820 --> 00:07:10,700 Speaker 2: delayed revenge for his father's death. Macbeth claimed the Moormare 84 00:07:10,740 --> 00:07:16,220 Speaker 2: ship for himself and married his cousin's widow, Grouch. She 85 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,970 Speaker 2: brought with her a child from her first marriage, a 86 00:07:20,030 --> 00:07:25,770 Speaker 2: boy named Lulach. Macbeth adopted him, eventually naming the boy 87 00:07:26,010 --> 00:07:30,170 Speaker 2: as his heir, a detail that suggests that Macbeth and 88 00:07:30,250 --> 00:07:35,950 Speaker 2: Gruach never had any children of their own during their marriage. Then, 89 00:07:36,170 --> 00:07:41,900 Speaker 2: in 1034, King Malcolm II died, most likely in battle. 90 00:07:42,500 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 2: He left no sons, but the throne passed to his 91 00:07:46,380 --> 00:07:52,700 Speaker 2: grandson Duncan. breaking with the tradition of alternating succession and 92 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:58,540 Speaker 2: ushering the practice of primogeniture, direct inheritance down the bloodline. 93 00:07:59,340 --> 00:08:03,350 Speaker 2: Duncan hadn't earned his crown so much as he'd inherited it, 94 00:08:04,020 --> 00:08:08,230 Speaker 2: and his reign shows it. By all accounts, he struggled 95 00:08:08,310 --> 00:08:11,990 Speaker 2: with the title of king and struggled to maintain the throne. 96 00:08:12,850 --> 00:08:18,350 Speaker 2: Trouble pressed in from every side. Viking raids came in 97 00:08:18,450 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 2: from the sea, while Northumbrian forces attacked from the south. 98 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:29,020 Speaker 2: Whether Macbeth fought at Duncan's side during these conflicts or 99 00:08:29,140 --> 00:08:33,300 Speaker 2: stayed quiet out in Moray isn't clear. What is clear 100 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:38,250 Speaker 2: is where his attention was fixed. On the throne that, 101 00:08:38,710 --> 00:08:43,210 Speaker 2: by his own reckoning, should have been his. it wouldn't 102 00:08:43,250 --> 00:08:46,829 Speaker 2: be long before he would take matters into his own hands. 103 00:08:50,510 --> 00:08:55,709 Speaker 2: Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as a brave general in Duncan's army, 104 00:08:56,230 --> 00:09:01,050 Speaker 2: a loyal subject whose murderous ambitions are drawn out thanks 105 00:09:01,130 --> 00:09:05,059 Speaker 2: to his wife and a trio of witches whose prophecies 106 00:09:05,179 --> 00:09:10,059 Speaker 2: pull him down a dark and, ultimately, spoiler alert, fatal path. 107 00:09:10,970 --> 00:09:15,069 Speaker 2: In reality, Duncan was a, for lack of a better phrase, 108 00:09:15,670 --> 00:09:21,059 Speaker 2: chronic bag fumbler, racking up defeats across the country and 109 00:09:21,179 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 2: putting the entire kingdom at risk. A king who couldn't 110 00:09:26,020 --> 00:09:30,179 Speaker 2: defend his borders in an age where martial success was 111 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 2: basically a prerequisite for legitimacy was a king whose grip 112 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:40,530 Speaker 2: on the throne was growing weaker by the year. and Macbeth, 113 00:09:41,050 --> 00:09:45,070 Speaker 2: whether watching from Moray or from within Duncan's own camp, 114 00:09:45,750 --> 00:09:51,220 Speaker 2: was ready to make a move. In Macbeth, Man and Myth, 115 00:09:51,740 --> 00:09:58,630 Speaker 2: Aitchison lays out three factors that likely drove Macbeth toward regicide, 116 00:09:59,210 --> 00:10:02,179 Speaker 2: and together the factors paint a picture of a man 117 00:10:02,620 --> 00:10:07,450 Speaker 2: who saw the throne as a rightful claim finally being asserted. 118 00:10:08,190 --> 00:10:13,309 Speaker 2: The first was dissent. Macbeth was of noble blood, a 119 00:10:13,410 --> 00:10:18,550 Speaker 2: member of the aristocratic ruling dynasty of Moray and very 120 00:10:18,630 --> 00:10:24,220 Speaker 2: possibly a grandson of Malcolm II. Under the old system 121 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,900 Speaker 2: of alternating succession, he would have been a serious contender 122 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 2: for the throne in his own right. It was only 123 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:37,060 Speaker 2: Malcolm's decision to break with that tradition and hand the 124 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:41,590 Speaker 2: throne directly to his grandson Duncan that had shut Macbeth 125 00:10:41,710 --> 00:10:44,930 Speaker 2: out of the running in the first place. The second 126 00:10:45,070 --> 00:10:51,679 Speaker 2: factor was marriage. Macbeth's wife, Gruoth, was herself of royal blood, 127 00:10:52,220 --> 00:10:57,260 Speaker 2: a descendant of earlier Scottish kings, and her lineage brought 128 00:10:57,380 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 2: its own claim to the throne into their union. Whether 129 00:11:01,220 --> 00:11:05,150 Speaker 2: she pushed him toward the crown the way Shakespeare's Lady 130 00:11:05,210 --> 00:11:10,030 Speaker 2: Macbeth famously does is impossible to know with any certainty, 131 00:11:10,690 --> 00:11:13,970 Speaker 2: but it's easy enough to imagine the two of them 132 00:11:14,470 --> 00:11:19,810 Speaker 2: as like-minded forces. each recognizing in the other the same 133 00:11:19,990 --> 00:11:26,740 Speaker 2: ambition and each encouraging it. Like their dramatic counterparts, theirs 134 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:30,319 Speaker 2: may not have been a marriage built on romance so 135 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:35,940 Speaker 2: much as on shared appetite. The third factor was simpler 136 00:11:36,380 --> 00:11:42,490 Speaker 2: and frankly more brutal, royal and martial qualities. As Aitchison 137 00:11:42,650 --> 00:11:47,820 Speaker 2: puts it, quote, early Scottish kings were first and foremost, 138 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:55,090 Speaker 2: war leaders, end quote. Duncan's repeated military failures had made 139 00:11:55,140 --> 00:12:00,229 Speaker 2: it painfully, publicly clear that he wasn't up to the task. 140 00:12:00,890 --> 00:12:05,370 Speaker 2: And in Macbeth's mind, there was a straightforward way to 141 00:12:05,550 --> 00:12:10,130 Speaker 2: prove that he was taking the throne by force and 142 00:12:10,290 --> 00:12:14,290 Speaker 2: holding it the way a king is supposed to. Murder 143 00:12:14,470 --> 00:12:19,420 Speaker 2: for political gain, was nothing new in Scotland by this point. 144 00:12:20,020 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 2: It was practically a tradition of its own. It had 145 00:12:23,580 --> 00:12:28,219 Speaker 2: already claimed Macbeth's father, who likely had been killed by 146 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,980 Speaker 2: his own nephews in pursuit of the very same kind 147 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,490 Speaker 2: of advancement. Macbeth had grown up in a system of 148 00:12:36,570 --> 00:12:41,780 Speaker 2: that logic. Now he was ready to use it. After 149 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 2: a failed raid into Durham added one more embarrassment to 150 00:12:46,300 --> 00:12:52,439 Speaker 2: Duncan's record, Duncan headed north into Moray, Macbeth's own province. 151 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:57,699 Speaker 2: Had he heard rumblings of Macbeth's ambition and was looking 152 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,660 Speaker 2: to nip it in the bud, or was he simply 153 00:13:00,740 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 2: looking to offload some of his shame by punishing some 154 00:13:05,110 --> 00:13:10,730 Speaker 2: underling who didn't support him strongly enough? Either way, Duncan 155 00:13:10,970 --> 00:13:16,429 Speaker 2: died in battle in 1040, almost certainly at the hands 156 00:13:16,610 --> 00:13:22,430 Speaker 2: of Macbeth, who then took the throne. No record survives 157 00:13:22,590 --> 00:13:28,030 Speaker 2: of Macbeth's coronation, but it almost certainly followed the pattern 158 00:13:28,170 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: of the time, with Macbeth marking the transfer of power 159 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:37,420 Speaker 2: by taking his seat on the Stone of Destiny, a 160 00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 2: block of red sandstone that was featured in coronations of 161 00:13:42,260 --> 00:13:49,090 Speaker 2: Scottish and later British monarchs for centuries. Not much is 162 00:13:49,190 --> 00:13:54,790 Speaker 2: known about the reign that followed. Later accounts describe Macbeth 163 00:13:55,010 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 2: alternately as a tyrant and as a benevolent ruler, and 164 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:05,210 Speaker 2: the truth likely sits somewhere in between. Those accounts are 165 00:14:05,290 --> 00:14:09,349 Speaker 2: shaped as much by who's doing the describing and when 166 00:14:10,010 --> 00:14:13,660 Speaker 2: as they are by what Macbeth actually did while he 167 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:18,680 Speaker 2: held power. What does seem clear across the patchy record 168 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 2: is that Macbeth was a patron of both the church 169 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:27,390 Speaker 2: and the arts and an experienced war leader who understood 170 00:14:27,530 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 2: exactly what the throne demanded of him. By the standards 171 00:14:31,700 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 2: of the time, Macbeth may well have been a competent king. 172 00:14:36,700 --> 00:14:40,800 Speaker 2: But for all of his strengths, Macbeth failed to finish 173 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:45,070 Speaker 2: the one piece of business that might have secured his 174 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:50,510 Speaker 2: reign for good. That piece of business? Eliminating the competition. 175 00:14:52,490 --> 00:14:58,250 Speaker 2: Duncan's sons, Malcolm III and Donald, were still young boys 176 00:14:58,350 --> 00:15:02,160 Speaker 2: when their father was killed, again likely at Macbeth's hands, 177 00:15:02,660 --> 00:15:06,140 Speaker 2: and Macbeth tried to have them hunted down and killed 178 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,980 Speaker 2: before they would grow into substantial threats. The boys escaped 179 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 2: and spent years in exile, waiting for their moment to 180 00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 2: even the scales. There is a dark symmetry here. Macbeth's 181 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,979 Speaker 2: own rise to power is believed to have possibly been 182 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,800 Speaker 2: fueled by a need to avenge his father's murder. Now 183 00:15:29,900 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 2: the sons of the man he'd killed were carrying out 184 00:15:33,860 --> 00:15:39,140 Speaker 2: the same grievance, with the same eventual reckoning waiting in 185 00:15:39,180 --> 00:15:44,010 Speaker 2: the distance. As the boys grew up, Malcolm was able 186 00:15:44,090 --> 00:15:48,810 Speaker 2: to mount a legitimate opposition against Macbeth, which came to 187 00:15:48,890 --> 00:15:54,230 Speaker 2: a head at the Battle of Dunsinane in 1054, also 188 00:15:54,350 --> 00:15:59,630 Speaker 2: sometimes remembered as the Battle of the Seven Sleepers. Malcolm 189 00:15:59,830 --> 00:16:03,650 Speaker 2: did not fight alone. He had the backing of Seward, 190 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:08,820 Speaker 2: Earl of Northumbria, acting on behalf of Edward the Confessor, 191 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:15,380 Speaker 2: then King of England. This was outside military muscle that Macbeth, 192 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 2: isolated in his own kingdom, simply could not match. Macbeth 193 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,980 Speaker 2: was defeated and retreated north to his home territory of Moray. 194 00:16:26,620 --> 00:16:31,020 Speaker 2: In the aftermath, Malcolm took control of the south, and 195 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:36,340 Speaker 2: Scotland was effectively split in two, with each man holding 196 00:16:36,380 --> 00:16:41,800 Speaker 2: down his half of a broken whole. The split lasted 197 00:16:41,820 --> 00:16:48,970 Speaker 2: three years. In 1057, Macbeth was finally killed by Malcolm's 198 00:16:49,090 --> 00:16:53,890 Speaker 2: forces at the Battle of Lumpinan. His stepson Lula, the 199 00:16:53,950 --> 00:16:57,510 Speaker 2: boy he had adopted and raised as his own, was 200 00:16:57,630 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 2: crowned king in his place, but the reign was brief. 201 00:17:01,860 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 2: Malcolm defeated him the following year, and in 1058, Scotland 202 00:17:07,900 --> 00:17:14,179 Speaker 2: was reunified under King Malcolm III. Malcolm went out the 203 00:17:14,220 --> 00:17:19,260 Speaker 2: way he had come into power, bold and bloody, but 204 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 2: his legacy would be something that no one could have predicted. 205 00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 2: The legend of Macbeth would actually begin before Shakespeare, back 206 00:17:31,340 --> 00:17:35,830 Speaker 2: when the Scottish monarch was still alive. Macbeth had begun 207 00:17:35,910 --> 00:17:40,790 Speaker 2: to be mythologized during his own lifetime. Seizing a throne 208 00:17:40,970 --> 00:17:44,190 Speaker 2: through violence and losing it the same way was dramatic 209 00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:48,650 Speaker 2: enough material on its own without the poetry. And while 210 00:17:48,730 --> 00:17:53,390 Speaker 2: Macbeth did have an arguably legitimate claim to the throne, 211 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,140 Speaker 2: the manner in which he asserted it was the kind 212 00:17:57,180 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 2: of story that practically begged to be retold and embellished. 213 00:18:02,700 --> 00:18:08,900 Speaker 2: Over the following centuries, early medieval writers, Viking sagas, and 214 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 2: no small amount of political propaganda slowly distorted Macbeth's legacy. 215 00:18:16,390 --> 00:18:23,889 Speaker 2: chroniclers started folding in supernatural elements where, hem, none had existed. 216 00:18:24,910 --> 00:18:30,850 Speaker 2: Political rivalries were recast as moral melodramas, with clear villains 217 00:18:31,010 --> 00:18:35,810 Speaker 2: and clearer lessons. And because history tends to be written 218 00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:40,850 Speaker 2: by the winners, much of this retelling laid the groundwork 219 00:18:40,910 --> 00:18:45,710 Speaker 2: for a narrative that favored Malcolm's line. the one that, 220 00:18:46,090 --> 00:18:49,730 Speaker 2: by the time anyone was writing anything down in earnest, 221 00:18:50,310 --> 00:18:54,929 Speaker 2: happened to still be sitting on the throne. By the 222 00:18:54,990 --> 00:19:01,160 Speaker 2: time Macbeth's story finally reached Shakespeare, the king was approaching 223 00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 2: slenderman status, the stuff urban legends are made of. Shakespeare's 224 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:13,550 Speaker 2: primary source for his play was Hollandshed's Chronicles, itself already 225 00:19:13,900 --> 00:19:19,909 Speaker 2: steps removed from anything resembling a contemporary record. Macbeth the 226 00:19:19,950 --> 00:19:26,330 Speaker 2: play is estimated to have first been performed in 1606, 227 00:19:26,390 --> 00:19:30,780 Speaker 2: during the reign of James I of England, who also, 228 00:19:31,140 --> 00:19:36,659 Speaker 2: not incidentally, was James VI of Scotland, and who shared 229 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:41,540 Speaker 2: his own curious connections to earlier figures in this same saga. 230 00:19:42,390 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 2: Listeners of this podcast will be all too familiar with 231 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:55,820 Speaker 2: King James I, the witch-hater Bible-commissioning, male-companion-keeping son of Mary 232 00:19:55,880 --> 00:20:00,070 Speaker 2: Queen of Scots. He also happened to be a descendant 233 00:20:00,210 --> 00:20:03,930 Speaker 2: of Malcolm II, which put him on the winning side 234 00:20:04,070 --> 00:20:09,060 Speaker 2: of this particular family drama. And if that weren't enough 235 00:20:09,180 --> 00:20:13,959 Speaker 2: material for a playwright to work with, the Gunpowder Plot, 236 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:19,430 Speaker 2: a conspiracy aimed squarely at killing James and toppling his government, 237 00:20:19,790 --> 00:20:24,190 Speaker 2: had taken place just the year before. All of this 238 00:20:24,290 --> 00:20:29,210 Speaker 2: goes a long way toward explaining Shakespeare's artistic choices. A 239 00:20:30,180 --> 00:20:36,570 Speaker 2: play featuring prophecy-wielding witches? and a plot to assassinate a 240 00:20:36,650 --> 00:20:41,369 Speaker 2: Scottish king was exciting theater that just so happened to 241 00:20:41,410 --> 00:20:46,669 Speaker 2: be tailor-made for the witch-hunting Scottish man with the best 242 00:20:46,830 --> 00:20:50,139 Speaker 2: seat in the house. Though, to be fair to Shakespeare, 243 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:55,300 Speaker 2: much of the mythology surrounding Macbeth, the witches included, was 244 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 2: already baked into the story long before it reached him. 245 00:20:59,820 --> 00:21:04,350 Speaker 2: Shakespeare wasn't inventing the legend, so much as giving it 246 00:21:04,550 --> 00:21:11,490 Speaker 2: its final, most indelible shape. Whatever the mix of inherited 247 00:21:11,570 --> 00:21:16,390 Speaker 2: myth and timely flattery that produced it, the resultant play 248 00:21:16,590 --> 00:21:21,200 Speaker 2: was a hit, and an enduring one. Macbeth has been 249 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 2: performed steadily over four centuries now, and the title role 250 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:30,920 Speaker 2: remains one of the great benchmarks for actors on stage 251 00:21:31,060 --> 00:21:35,619 Speaker 2: and on screen. The play even carries its own superstition. 252 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:42,090 Speaker 2: Actors traditionally avoid saying its name inside a theater, referring 253 00:21:42,170 --> 00:21:47,150 Speaker 2: to it instead as the Scottish play. I continue this 254 00:21:47,230 --> 00:21:51,750 Speaker 2: episode really hoping that doesn't apply to me here. Plays 255 00:21:51,810 --> 00:21:56,720 Speaker 2: and podcasts are different, right? There's no clear origin for 256 00:21:56,780 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 2: The Curse, but it's probably some combination of the play's 257 00:22:01,180 --> 00:22:05,360 Speaker 2: dark subject matter and the genuinely high risk of injury 258 00:22:05,780 --> 00:22:11,780 Speaker 2: built into its stage combat and very physical role. However 259 00:22:11,940 --> 00:22:16,859 Speaker 2: the legend started, the superstition only added another layer of 260 00:22:17,020 --> 00:22:21,719 Speaker 2: lore onto a story already built from layers of it. 261 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 2: Acheson puts it best, the life of the historical Macbeth 262 00:22:28,180 --> 00:22:33,179 Speaker 2: was every bit as eventful, violent, and intriguing altogether as 263 00:22:33,260 --> 00:22:38,919 Speaker 2: dramatic as that of the tragic character portrayed by Shakespeare. 264 00:22:39,500 --> 00:22:43,680 Speaker 2: That this should be the case despite the severe limitations 265 00:22:44,190 --> 00:22:49,129 Speaker 2: imposed by the sparse contemporary source material is all the 266 00:22:49,170 --> 00:22:55,129 Speaker 2: more remarkable. When you line it all up, It's easy 267 00:22:55,230 --> 00:22:59,230 Speaker 2: to see why we still talk about Macbeth, a real 268 00:22:59,310 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 2: man who clawed his way to a throne he believed 269 00:23:02,910 --> 00:23:06,500 Speaker 2: was rightfully his, only to lose the throne the same 270 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 2: way he won it. A wife whose own royal bloodline 271 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,250 Speaker 2: gave her just as much of a reason to want 272 00:23:13,290 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 2: the crown as her husband did. A dead king's sons, 273 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 2: exiled as boys, who spent years waiting for the exact 274 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,060 Speaker 2: kind of reckoning their father's killer understood better than anyone. 275 00:23:26,940 --> 00:23:30,300 Speaker 2: And over five and a half centuries, all of that 276 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:35,160 Speaker 2: got filtered through chroniclers with their own agendas, sagas with 277 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:41,400 Speaker 2: their own flourishes, and finally through a playwright writing really 278 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,550 Speaker 2: for an audience of one. A king who hated witches, 279 00:23:46,050 --> 00:23:49,689 Speaker 2: who had just survived an attempt on his own life, 280 00:23:50,390 --> 00:23:53,930 Speaker 2: and who happened to share a bloodline with the winning 281 00:23:54,109 --> 00:24:00,310 Speaker 2: side of the story. Simply put, Macbeth is an irresistible story, 282 00:24:00,830 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 2: and a fascinating example of the game of telephone that 283 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,740 Speaker 2: medieval history can be prone to. The myth didn't replace 284 00:24:09,820 --> 00:24:12,500 Speaker 2: the man so much as it grew out of him. 285 00:24:12,990 --> 00:24:18,400 Speaker 2: with each retelling adding one more layer of drama, or magic, 286 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,940 Speaker 2: to a life that, it turns out, hardly needed the 287 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,940 Speaker 2: embellishment in the first place. At one point, Abraham Lincoln 288 00:24:28,190 --> 00:24:33,070 Speaker 2: even declared Macbeth his favorite play. But, to be fair, 289 00:24:33,430 --> 00:24:40,040 Speaker 2: O Mary hadn't been written yet. That's the story of 290 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:44,270 Speaker 2: the real Macbeth, but keep listening after a brief sponsor 291 00:24:44,310 --> 00:24:49,780 Speaker 2: break to hear about the strange and legendary pilgrimage Macbeth 292 00:24:49,960 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 2: took to mainland Europe during his lifetime. One of the 293 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,780 Speaker 2: more curious footnotes of Macbeth's reign, and one that is 294 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:10,060 Speaker 2: not represented in Shakespeare's play, is his pilgrimage to Rome. 295 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 2: By modern standards, this was an enormous undertaking. Weeks of 296 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:21,770 Speaker 2: travel across hostile and unpredictable terrain, through foreign courts and 297 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,909 Speaker 2: uncertain alliances, just to reach the seat of the church. 298 00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 2: And yet Macbeth was hardly unusual in making the trip. 299 00:25:30,580 --> 00:25:35,020 Speaker 2: Plenty of 11th century kings did the same, treating the 300 00:25:35,100 --> 00:25:38,639 Speaker 2: journey to Rome as something close to a rite of passage, 301 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 2: a way of connecting their earthly crown to something larger 302 00:25:43,180 --> 00:25:48,140 Speaker 2: and more permanent than themselves. But why did Macbeth go 303 00:25:48,260 --> 00:25:52,159 Speaker 2: to Rome? Was this a genuine act of faith? A 304 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:56,490 Speaker 2: man who had finally grasped the destiny of he believed 305 00:25:56,550 --> 00:25:59,469 Speaker 2: was owed to him, making good on the debt to 306 00:25:59,530 --> 00:26:04,390 Speaker 2: God for getting him there? Or was it political maneuvering 307 00:26:04,890 --> 00:26:08,880 Speaker 2: dressed up as devotion? A trip to Rome would have 308 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 2: put Macbeth directly in front of the church's highest authority, 309 00:26:13,940 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 2: an opportunity to align himself with Christendom's power structure and 310 00:26:19,300 --> 00:26:23,750 Speaker 2: claim a kind of divine sanction from that no amount 311 00:26:23,830 --> 00:26:27,929 Speaker 2: of fighting at home could buy him. For a king 312 00:26:28,050 --> 00:26:31,790 Speaker 2: whose claim to the throne, however legitimate by the old rules, 313 00:26:32,190 --> 00:26:37,330 Speaker 2: had been seized through violence rather than inherited peacefully, that 314 00:26:37,450 --> 00:26:41,370 Speaker 2: kind of blessing might have been worth the journey all 315 00:26:41,630 --> 00:26:51,420 Speaker 2: on its own. Noble Blood is a production of iHeartRadio 316 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 2: and Grim & Mild from Aaron Manke. Noble Blood is 317 00:26:55,020 --> 00:26:58,879 Speaker 2: hosted by me, Dana Schwartz. Writers for Noble Blood are 318 00:26:58,940 --> 00:27:03,770 Speaker 2: Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick, Paul Jaffe, Natasha Lasky, and me, 319 00:27:03,850 --> 00:27:07,850 Speaker 2: Dana Schwartz. The show is edited and produced by Jesse 320 00:27:07,890 --> 00:27:13,590 Speaker 2: Funk and Gnomes Grippen, with supervising producer Rima Ilkayali, and 321 00:27:13,670 --> 00:27:18,180 Speaker 2: executive producers Aaron Manke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. For 322 00:27:18,220 --> 00:27:22,210 Speaker 2: more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 323 00:27:22,609 --> 00:27:25,899 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.