Episode 1: INTRO #1

about the author William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 poems and is probably the most important writer and poet in English literature. He was born in

00:00:13 - Stanford upon a born England in 1564. We don't know many details about Shakespeare's personal life. We know that he married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and they had three children together. Around 1590 he traveled to London, where he worked as an actor and wrote plays.

00:00:36 - Shakespeare wrote during the rings of Elizabeth I and James I, and both monarchs admire his work greatly. Shakespeare returned to Stanford and died in 1616 at the age of 52. Even today, more than 400 years after his death Shakespeare's plays are performed all over the world and still very popular

00:01:01 - Now the background

00:01:04 - When James I became king of England Shakespeare was already a success writer and had been popular with Queen Elizabeth I Shakespeare probably wanted to please the new ruler and remind a favorite with the royal court. So around 1666 he wrote Macbeth, a story based on a real king and it is likely that he put many elements into the play that he talked would place James. First of all the play takes place in Scotland where James had already been king for many years. Not only that Bakuo Macbeth's friend was an ingestor of King James, so Shakespeare made sure that he presents him as a virtuous character.

00:01:55 - In addition to all this, it was well-known that King James was fascinated by witches and demons. So, it is likely that Shakespeare introduced the mysterious witches in his play to make it even more interesting for the new king.

00:02:14 - Finally, people in the 17th century strongly believed that the monarch ruled because it was God's wish. Shakespeare probably wanted to show his support for the new king and demonstrate that he believed these two. So in Macbeth he presents the idea that to kill a king will never bring good fortune to the people or the country.