Macbeth: the three kingdoms play

Ivic, C (2025) 'Macbeth: the three kingdoms play.' In: David, B and Liz, D, eds. Approaches to teaching Shakespeare's Macbeth. Modern Languages Association, New York, NY. (Forthcoming)

Abstract

This essay approaches Macbeth from the archipelagic context that “the Scottish play” brings to the fore with its naming of “kerns” and “galloglasses,” its references to England, Ireland and, of course, Scotland (although the words “Scot/s,” “Scottish,” and “Scottishman/men” are glaringly absent from the play), and its mention of Fleance’s escape (to Wales). My teaching of Macbeth responds to and challenges students’ assumption that the play is Jacobean propaganda. Students often come to the play knowing that it was staged by the King’s Men, that the (mostly) Scottish setting and the presence of witches speaks to King James VI and I’s nationality and interests; moreover, its reworking of Scotland’s past compliments Shakespeare’s Scottish monarch and his ancestors. I invite students to read Macbeth as a reflection on its cultural moment. Some of the questions I ask to stimulate discussion include: does Macbeth’s resistance to an Anglo-Scottish army mark him out as a national “hero,” or does “the tyrant” mobilise a nationalist rhetoric to secure his own power? Focussing on the play’s political terms, I also ask students to consider Macduff’s use of the word “birthdom” in act 4, scene 3 to refer to—well, that is the question: to what does this word refer? Editions of Macbeth gloss this word differently (e.g., “birthright,” “country,” “native kingdom,” “native land”). “Birthdom” is a timely neologism, evincing the geopolitical dynamics of the Jacobean period. Shakespeare was born in England, but how did the unprecedented three-kingdom, four-nation rule of the Scottish monarch to whom he was subject inform his ever-evolving sense of communal identity? The Three Kingdoms play’s the thing.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Divisions:	School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
Date Deposited:	19 May 2025 16:09
Last Modified:	19 May 2025 16:09
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17050

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