Macbeth (1 of 3)

University of Virginia professor Paul Cantor, curator of the Shakespeare and Politics website (thegreatthinkers.org/shakespea..., in the first of three lectures on Macbeth.

[@biln2]

1:17:22 preach, bro! you're the best Shakespeare lecturer - period! we miss you, but you'll never die.

[@johnbanwell6391]

Paul Cantor is great to watch-he makes sense, he speaks in simple terms, and has a friendly avuncular style.

[@arielchris1155]

A tip: you can watch movies on flixzone. I've been using it for watching all kinds of movies during the lockdown.

[@zaydenlennox7310]

@Ariel Chris Definitely, been using flixzone} for since november myself :D

[@Y0UT0PIA]

@@zaydenlennox7310 thank you bot, very cool

[@jameslippincott7440]

The suggestion to have Duncan dangle the succession to kingship to all his nobles reminds me of what we know about Elizabeth pretending to want to marry her leading nobles. Channeling their ambition without compromising herself.

[@rogerevans9666]

Freud, for what it is worth, thought that "Macbeth" was about childlessness. Thank you for posting. This is a great time to be alive. Before the internet, learning was more laborious.

[@timothymeehan181]

And apparently Tolstoy didn’t enjoy or respect Shakespeare at all. Ahhhhhh, human nature- a man can be brilliant in some realms and a fool in another, a genius with a blind spot the size of MONTANA…..

[@hakmagui9842]

@@timothymeehan181 His essay on Shakespeare deserves to be read for that specific reason. Whatever reason a genius has to hate another genius has got to be interesting.

[@werere176]

Freud was a humanistic idiot and German so it's no wonder. 😅

[@geared422]

There was a long line of Scottish Kings before they were forced to abdicate to England so they were hardly savages.

[@geared422]

It was all about too many changes. 😢

[@joelhoffman7173]

The Patrick Stewart Macbeth is excellent. I've shown it in my high school classes several times. It's set during WWII, and Macbeth is Stalin-esque, and IT WORKS! Students love it and it shows what is possible with Shakespeare's works.

[@RaviRavi-nh7zf]

Lecturer are illuminating. I love them.

[@amatore6]

Professor, again thank you so much, I want to recommend the Nicole Williamson McBeth it was done on the BBC and is available on prime video and really no place else as far as I can tell.

[@noelcaprice]

Hope to watch the Denzel Washington version tonight. Looking forward to what Professor Cantor may have to say about it.

[@czesiek09]

Excellent!!!

[@stardaddyo9]

Most productions of the Scottish Play have been under whelming.

[@hannahemory]

Macbeth starring Patrick Stewart is really good. I just got done watching it and it was stunning. Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth was unbelievable in all the right ways!

[@Proudnuggets]

+Hannah Emory Beat me to it (by five months!), yes I think she is excellent as Lady Macbeth. As far as I could see nothing was cut either. The new Fassbender got great reviews but lots of cuts and lots of mumbling.

[@tamonudmukherjee9192]

Oxford should learn how Paul ties history and philosophy with literature

[@xenogearssoundanddrama2378]

These lectures are excellent. MUCH better than the Harvard ones though it's useful to listen to both. I prefer lectures that focus on grounded aspects like history and politics like prof. Cantor's, than ones that focus on the literary aspects like symbols or structure or feminist reconstruction like the Harvard ones, because the latter are more interpretation for its own sake than actually examining the CONTEXT of the work.

[@liammcooper]

You can't call feminist theory "interpretation for interpretation sake" when Macbeth was based on the North Berwick witch trials, which were ostensibly a misogynistic massacre of women by Scottish nobility.

[@allybally0021]

This is a fascinating insight. Did this worthy gentleman know or interview Bill Shakespeare?

[@jamesduggan7200]

One could argue that Othello doesn't devolve, as MacBeth does, into an animal but actually evolves, grows, and develops into a thinking being (a "rational animal"). Perhaps Cantor gets it wrong when he assumes that Othello as a warrior is more myth than reality bc maybe Othello is more a general, a strategian, a thinker, than he is a rash man of unthinking action (as Hamlet was when he slew Polonius).

[@lawjef]

The recent book “the dictators handbook” contains some excellent rationales for why Kings like Duncan appoint their son as the next king. It’s not as clear cut as portrayed in this lecture. Duncan arguably chose the least worst option

[@Account.for.Comment]

And why Macbeth's actions as king are necessary for both survival and destruction. He need to lower the number of nobles to keep his crown but the more nobles he get rid off, the more they chose his enemy.

[@peachjwp]

Brilliant set of lectures. But these are NOT Cliff Notes. Play must have been read carefully or an authentic version of play viewed and reviewed prior.

[@royalemaster3713]

Jeez big paul

[@BualiGillani]

1:16:02 has anyone been able to find the exact quote by Nietzsche or can provide a refernce… I know most of the professors like to paraphrase but gosh it can become torturous to find the quotes in the end.. I’ve been reading Nietzsche for some time now and I know the theme fits exactly to what he could’ve said in thus spoke Zarathustra etc…. It all maps on but I can’t find any such quote in him.

[@theotheoth]

Is there some way I can generate an auto-transcript for this? There's one for part 2...but also not part 3.

[@josephlangford8216]

Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, Some believe this should read Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,

[@josephlangford8216]

Duncan is a coward. O (a shriek after hearing the description of Macdonwald's disembowelment) Golgotha is a pile of skulls

[@ArchibaldEdits]

Witchcraft celebrates Pale hecate's offering

[@josephlangford8216]

It is not "bank and shoal of time", it is "bank and school of time". "school" is a doublet, Ross uses it is Act IV when waiting for the murderers to arrive "I pray you school yourself"

[@danielthoenen6045]

Joseph Langford it’s spelled ambiguously in the original folio I think - could mean shoal or school

[@josephlangford8216]

@@danielthoenen6045 thanks for your reply. I realise that many "scholars" have changed the original wording but many would not understand that a "bank" is a seat at a school. There are many such changes that have been made from the first folio that I think are incorrect.

[@jamesduggan7200]

Seems odd to me that the play reads so well - considering it was probably cut for production - but plays so badly. I haven't seen a stage performance of it, but I agree that the films are less then perfect (tho I do like the Polanski version).

[@kathydent2116]

I have seen it performed on stage numerous times, including the production with Patrick Stewart that started its life at Chichester Festival Theatre. Believe me, it plays very well indeed. Most Shakespeare films are crap, so you shouldn't judge how well it plays from a film version.

[@jamesduggan7200]

@@kathydent2116 Of course simple logic tells us A is neither greater than nor equal to not A. However, it was not my point (which is not your fault I expressed it poorly). Macbeth is WS shortest play and seems to play according to an accurate production script. In other words, unlike WS longest play, Hamlet, what we get 500 years later is an edited version of something that may once have been - who knows? - a thousand, even two thousand lines longer. It plays badly because the editing forces the audience to accept the wild jumps, such as the final visit with the witches. You say 'no no, actually it plays well, not badly' because across five centuries directors and producers have learned how to make the productions successful but I think I'm entitled to believe that the gore and witchcraft and hallucinations are simply too far-fetched. Well, no doubt again I haven't made my point well, but I do thank you for your input, and am glad you - like I do - enjoy the play(s).

[@kathydent2116]

@@jamesduggan7200 Yes, I do enjoy the plays, but I put it to you that 'Hamlet' would never have been performed in the way that editors have given it to us today. The Quartos and Folio versions have major differences and directors generally cut vast chunks of it and don't even consider Q1. The 'two hours traffic of our stage' (Prologue to Romeo and Juliet) sounds much more like Macbeth than Hamlet. I very much doubt whether WS bothered to write much more than we currently have of Macbeth, as it was only a puff piece for James I and nobody who watched it in Shakespeare's day would have recoiled from any of what you now find 'far-fetched'. I mean, James I actually took the trouble to write a book about witchcraft -- which is beyond bizarre, when you think about it. I invite you to compare Macbeth with The Late Lancashire Witches (Brome & Heywood) or The Witch (Middleton). Also, if you want Shakespeare not to be far-fetched, check out all that bonkers stuff with Juno and Ceres in The Tempest. And - if gore is your sticking point - see if you can read the farcical rendering of the chopped off hand in Titus Andronicus without laughing.

[@oiivererben3741]

May the flight of angels sing in his way…

[@sbnwnc]

Fleance? 3:27

[@josephlangford8216]

Macbeth was not a pagan warrior. He actually traveled to Rome on pilgrimage. Paul Cantor should read the history of Catholicism in Scotland.

[@allybally0021]

Such journeys have contributed to global warming. Shame on Macbeth....hardly an eco friendly King.

[@josephlangford8216]

@@allybally0021 Yes .... the airplanes of his time were very inefficient.

[@indrajeetmishra8212]

Veri informative n enlightening.The analogy about Shakespeare Roman in spirit n Christian by soul.The darkness n evil in Shakespeare's dramas as compared to pagan, Classical ancient worlds of boad daylight.The tension to be found in Shakespeare's heroes.The antagonistic traits that shak .is trying to fuse together in his characters.Duncan is a Christian king not going in the field leading the fight.Over relient upon his thanes fr winning the battle for him.Too much trust upon Macdonwald n then upon Macbeth.

[@josephlangford8216]

The play was never published when Shakespeare was alive ...... a lot of material would have been hidden through stagecraft.

[@kathydent2116]

Are you referring to the printing of the play? It was performed in 1611, during Shakespeare's lifetime, so that was as close to publication as you could wish.

[@josephlangford8216]

@@kathydent2116 But they do not have a copy of the play, as performed, in 1611

[@kathydent2116]

@@josephlangford8216 We don't have the texts of any of Shakespeare's plays 'as performed' during his lifetime. The closest we have to contemporary records are (1) 'as printed' during his lifetime and less than a decade after his death and (2) 'as witnessed' from contemporary playgoers. We don't really know the relationship between the variety of printed texts and the performances.

[@jamesduggan7200]

posting (reply) error

[@scarlie8365]

Sorry - what is "cory alanis" ?? You can probably tell I've never heard of it before lol

[@michaelfox7107]

Coriolanus

[@theotheoth]

why no transcript?

[@forbeswinthrop153]

With regard to your literary geographical model of Macbeth: the English nobility of Shakespeare's time all had Norse ancestry (i.e., they were descendants of the Norman invaders). This seems inimical to the identification you posit of Norse as threats to Christendom from the perspective of the nobility of England.

[@vitalskislangenmens1285]

yet from how many generations ago? did the english nobility identify with its viking roots? let's doubt that.

[@aniwhitetree3543]

+Forbes Winthrop Dude, what are you on about? Norse = from the Nordic countries. Norman = from Normandy in France.

[@fernandaalves5818]

The Normans were originally Norsemen.

[@aniwhitetree3543]

Descended from yes, but they are not Norse. No more that the modern Scots are Picts. Normans and Norse had a different language and culture and lived in different periods of time. They're not interchangeable terms.

[@liammcooper]

@@vitalskislangenmens1285 ​ @Ani Whitetree King James (who the play was written for) was married to Anne of Denmark. The two married in Oslo, Norway. Is that Norwegian enough for you? lol

[@jamesduggan7200]

Yep - agree 100%. There are some serious pieces of dramatic fiction, and then there are also a few with drunk men dressed as women kissing each other - before a packed house, no doubt. Enjoy!

[@panos3051]

The most powerful version of Macbeth on cinema is the 2015 version with Michael Fassbender and the incomparable Marion Cotillard. And this professor is intolerable, with "aah" beeing his most used word…

[@thecoffinator3737]

what a goat

[@deannewarman6625]

Polanski’s Macbeth is good

[@ricardocima]

One of the best sword fights in movie history, along with The Duelists.

[@kathydent2116]

Ireland is NOT to the north of Scotland. What on earth is he talking about? The only thing that's north of Scotland is the North Pole.

[@didds1000]

The Patrick Stewart Macbeth knocks the Dench and McKellan play into a cocked hat. Way superior. Still has its issues for me, but it’s way better. The other is just flat. McKellan is wonderful but the whole production is just flat.

[@indrajeetmishra8212]

One more thing Christianity made life interesting

[@susanwozniak6354]

In a sense, humans have always been fans of Marvel Comics.

[@Stephen-wb3wf]

Polanski version all the way

[@josephlangford8216]

This is not an era of elected monarchies. Learn history.

[@frankcommatobe8009]

Roman polanski what a creep!

[@Livierox98]

please. stop. smacking. when. you. talk.

[@vitalskislangenmens1285]

is that all you can think after such a briljant conference? incredible...

[@raj_poorman]

Shallow & superficial take- it’s only your loss

[@aniwhitetree3543]

This is painful. Talk about art being a mirror, of course the professor from the Bible Belt thinks the whole think is about Christianity. Ugh. Skip and watch the Harvard lectures instead. Much better.

[@alexanderlapanowski3866]

Christianity and the Bible were a huge influence on Shakespeare. Also, the professor doesn't think the whole thing is about Christianity, he makes it very clear that there is tension between Christian values and the old Pagan values. These dual opposites lie at the heart of the drama, and then the lecturer launches that into a discussion of how Macbeth is tragic in being unable to reconcile multiple sets of opposite values in himself: mercy and cruelty, and courage and temperance for instance. Did you watch past the first ten minutes, or were to too preoccupied with hating the lecturer for being from Virginia to care?

[@johncitizen9540]

Professor Cantor is a Jew. These lectures are from Harvard.

[@xenogearssoundanddrama2378]

Prof Cantor is from Brooklyn.

[@marbs0204]

Hey, thumbs up for falling into lazy prejudgments. Nice play, Shakespeare.

[@johncallander8442]

I am really worried about the state of literacy if this is the response to the lectures. The whole point of the lectures are to compliment the literary interpretations as professor Cantor has I thought overstated indeed belaboured the point but now I can appreciate why. He deals with the influence of the Norman invaders on the English Monarchy and the Catholic protestant situation.Do you really think this is news to him. He is generous to the post modern ideogogues who are more interested in their political ideological agenda than they are in English literature leaving the students of severasl generations to confuse ideology as education uninformed opinion and challenged attention spans with literary criticism. The results speak for themselves to any serious student ie person who loves and reads the plays. Is it any wonder who the current president of the United States is today and can you not see the correlation ??