**Why should you read "Macbeth"? - Brendan Pelsue โ€” Transcript & SRT | SozAI** Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/why-should-you-read-macbeth-brendan-pelsue-transcript/ ## Full Transcript โ€” Download SRT & Markdown 00:06 Speaker A There's a play so powerful that an old superstition says its name should never even be uttered in a theater. 00:15 Speaker A A play that begins with witchcraft and ends with a bloody severed head. 00:21 Speaker A A play filled with riddles, prophecies, nightmare visions, and lots of brutal murder. 00:29 Speaker A A play by William Shakespeare, sometimes referred to as The Scottish Play, or The Tragedy of Macbeth. 00:38 Speaker A First performed at the Globe Theater in London in 1606, Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. 00:46 Speaker A It is also one of his most action-packed. 00:48 Speaker A In five acts, it recounts the story of a Scottish nobleman who steals the throne, presides over a reign of terror, and then meets a bloody end. 00:59 Speaker A Along the way, it asks important questions about ambition, power, and violence that spoke directly to the politics of Shakespeare's time. 01:08 Speaker A And continue to echo in our own. 01:12 Speaker A England in the early 17th century. 01:13 Speaker A Was politically precarious. 01:16 Speaker A Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 without producing an heir. 01:23 Speaker A And in a surprise move, her advisors passed the crown to James Stewart, King of Scotland. 01:31 Speaker A Two years later, James was subject to an assassination attempt. 01:35 Speaker A Called the gunpowder plot. 01:38 Speaker A Questions of what made for a legitimate king were on everyone's lips. 01:43 Speaker A So Shakespeare must have known he had potent material when he conflated and adapted the stories of a murderous 11th century Scottish king, named Macbeth. 01:52 Speaker A And those of several other Scottish nobles. 01:56 Speaker A He found their annals in Holinshed's Chronicles, a popular 16th century history of Britain and Ireland. 02:03 Speaker A Shakespeare would also have known he needed to tell his story in a way that would immediately grab the attention of his diverse and rowdy audience. 02:10 Speaker A The Globe welcomed all sections of society. 02:13 Speaker A Wealthier patrons watched the stage from covered balconies. 02:18 Speaker A While poorer people paid a penny to take in the show from an open air section called the pit. 02:24 Speaker A Talking, jeering, and cheering was common during performances. 02:29 Speaker A There are even accounts of audiences throwing furniture when plays were flops. 02:35 Speaker A So Macbeth opens with a literal bang. 02:38 Speaker A Thunder cracks and three witches appear. 02:41 Speaker A They announce they're searching for a Scottish nobleman and war hero named Macbeth. 02:49 Speaker A Then fly off while chanting a curse that predicts a world gone mad. 02:56 Speaker A Fair is foul and foul is fair. 03:00 Speaker A Hover through the fog and filthy air. 03:05 Speaker A A scene later they find Macbeth and his fellow nobleman Banquo. 03:10 Speaker A All hail Macbeth, they prophesized. 03:14 Speaker A That shalt be king hereafter. 03:18 Speaker A King, Macbeth wonders. 03:21 Speaker A Just what would he have to do to gain the crown? 03:25 Speaker A Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, soon chart a course of murder, lies, and betrayal. 03:30 Speaker A In the ensuing blood bath, Shakespeare provides viewers with some of the most memorable passages in English literature. 03:38 Speaker A Out, damn spot, out, I say. 03:42 Speaker A Lady Macbeth cries when she believes she can't wipe her victim's blood off her hands. 03:49 Speaker A Her obsession with guilt is one of many themes that runs through the play. 03:56 Speaker A Along with the universal tendency to abuse power, the endless cycles of violence and betrayal that define political conflict. 04:03 Speaker A As is typical with Shakespeare's language, a number of phrases that got their start in the play. 04:09 Speaker A Have been repeated so many times that they now feel commonplace. 04:14 Speaker A They include the milk of human kindness, what's done is done, and the famous witches spell. 04:23 Speaker A Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble. 04:30 Speaker A But Shakespeare saves the juiciest bit of all. 04:33 Speaker A For Macbeth himself. 04:36 Speaker A Towards the end of the play, Macbeth reflects on the universality of death and the futility of life. 04:43 Speaker A Out, out, brief candle. 04:46 Speaker A He laments. 04:48 Speaker A Life's but a walking shadow. 04:51 Speaker A A poor player that's struts and frets his hour upon the stage. 04:57 Speaker A And then is heard no more. 05:00 Speaker A It is a tale told by an idiot. 05:03 Speaker A Full of sound and fury. 05:07 Speaker A Signifying nothing. 05:10 Speaker A Life may be a tale told by an idiot. 05:13 Speaker A But Macbeth is not. 05:16 Speaker A Shakespeare's language and characters have entered our cultural consciousness to a rare extent. 05:22 Speaker A Directors often use the story to shed light on abuses of power, ranging from the American mafia to dictators across the globe. 05:30 Speaker A The play has been adapted to film many times. 05:33 Speaker A Including Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, which takes place in feudal Japan, and a modernized version called Scotland PA. 05:42 Speaker A In which Macbeth and his rivals are managers of competing fast food restaurants. 05:48 Speaker A No matter the presentation, questions of morality, politics, and power are still relevant today. 05:54 Speaker A And so, it seems, is Shakespeare's Macbeth. 05:58 Speaker A Did you enjoy this lesson? 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