Ivic, C (2019) Macbeth: the British play. In: British Shakespeare Association Conference, 16-20 July 2019, Swansea, Wales, UK.
Abstract
Dominant readings of Macbeth within the context of Jacobean union debate posit a playwright and a play in line with James's desire for Anglo-Scottish union yet giving voice to English anti-union rhetoric: in short, the political thrust is less a union than an incorporation of a Scotland that requires and beseeches English support. This paper argues that Macbeth is a more accommodating text: although it evacuates a sense of Scottish nationhood, it does so less to deny Scottish independence than to re-imagine community under James VI and I. Such an imagining can be traced in the play's commitment to a new language of nationhood, evinced, for instance, in Macduff's use of 'birthdom', a word coined by Shakespeare, to signify nation.
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PE English P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) |
| Divisions: | School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jun 2019 15:05 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Apr 2022 15:44 |
| URI / Page ID: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/12262 |
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