How millions of teenagers are writing about women and power on Monday 13/06/24 at 09.00

As the clock strikes 09.00 on Monday 13/06/24, millions of teenagers across the nation will be writing about a famous play.? One that presents women, who are ambitious for power, as unnatural, devilish, and fiendish.

Hi Sam Plant , you talked about the layers and layers of subliminal indoctrinations we are all exposed to from a young age, year after year, down the ages.? So, on the morning of the English Literature GCSE examination, I thought it would be interesting to share some analysis of the play many will be writing about; including its key themes of ambition, power and gender.

Macbeth is an amazing play, the language is so beautiful; and as Judy Dench once said, ‘’we quote Shakespeare all the time, perhaps without knowing it…there is a way of him summing up, what is completely sufficient for what your emotion is’’

Shakespeare’s influence down the ages is immeasurable.? Some say he practically invented the English language. ?Previously regarded as a simple language, he was inspired by Latin, and created a beautiful diction for example? ‘multitudinous seas incarnadine’ evocative, visceral, practically organoleptic.

Millions of 15/16 years olds will be writing essays as the clock strikes 9am.? To be awarded the top grades, here are some of the observations they are taught to make:

Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in support of King James I; who came to the throne after Queen Elizabeth I.? She had been a popular queen; so in demonising? the key female character Lady Macbeth and her evil quest for power, the audience is reminded that female power is unnatural and ‘’fiend like’’ Male power is righteous, the Divine Right of Kings is restored with James I

Lady Macbeth had to rid herself of femininity to attain power ??‘’Unsex me here; And fill me, from crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty’’ which links to the theme of gender in the play.? The Jacobean audience would have been reminded that women and power is an oxymoron, an unnatural subversion of the Great Chain of Being.

Macbeth is presented as a complex character, he is a noble valiant warrior ‘’well he deserves that name’’ whose weakness is being manipulated by women... Lady Macbeth and The Witches. ??Students sitting the exam will have been taught to consider if Macbeth would have murdered King Duncan without the influence of these women.???

Lady Macbeth is presented as evil and manipulative ‘'Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear’’ Women were thought to be ownable property, and could only attain power by manipulating men, husbands, fathers.

In the play, the agents of evil and the supernatural are women, the three witches. ?During Jacobean times, witches were thought of as terrifying and real; in fact King James believed witches had attempted to murder him at sea.? The use of ’'Three’’ was important because it symbolised their evil misappropriation of the Holy Trinity against a ‘’thunder lighting and in rain’’ backdrop. ?Basically they were the devil incarnate.

In the end, the righteous Malcolm valiantly recaptures the Holy Trinity from the evil witches ?‘'by the grace of Grace,?We will perform in measure, time and place’' the tricolon bringing rhythm and relief…the natural order has been restored.?

Lady Macbeth, who shared with her husband a ‘’vaulting ambition which o’er leap’d itself And falls on the other’’? gets her final comeuppance for seeking power.? She is overcome with guilt, goes mad, commits suicide and goes from her husband’s equal and ‘‘dearest partner in greatness’’ to isolated and irrelevant ‘’she should have died hereafter’’ Her death is a mere inconvenience.

So there you have it.? Macbeth is a powerful play, with the women seeking power characterised as evil, against God and nature itself.? They suffer the consequences for eternity.?? Students today are writing about them over 400 years after the first performance. The story has been studied generation after generation.? The text I studied was my Father’s from his school, my son will be in the examination hall at 09.00 writing his paper.

So I wonder, is Macbeth a ‘’tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing’’? or is Judy right about Shakespeare ‘’we quote Shakespeare all the time, perhaps without knowing it’’ invoking the sense that we are forever indoctrinated by this famed and elegant writer.

We have come a long way since 1606, however, we’re not there yet, and ‘’tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace’’.? So Sam Plant , thank you, your honest and thought provoking contributions on this subject will surely help speed things up!

Note: Macbeth quotes in bold

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