August 15th: The Day Macbeth Fell From Grace

Shakespeare's taken on Macbeth killing King Duncan

August 15^th is a very significant date on considering the history of Macbeth, King of the Scots. Not only is it the date that in 1040 he killed King Duncan at Pitgaveny, thus becoming King of the Scots; but also it is the date of his own death in 1057. Surprisingly, Shakespeare recorded the personality and historical facts of Macbeth’s life very accurately in his tragic play Macbeth. The idea that he transpired from being a brave, good-hearted knight to becoming overwhelmed by power and greed, is pretty correct.

   According to the rules of tragedy, Shakespeare would have loved the fact that Macbeth’s act of killing King Duncan, also known as his fatal flaw (the act that led to his downfall in the play), was also on the same day as his own death. Tragic rules and regulations, which can be found in Aristotle’s ‘Poetics’, advise that once the tragic hero, i.e. Macbeth, has killed his alter ego, i.e. King Duncan, he is now destined to die. So literary speaking, Macbeth’s deeds and death is spot on! Classic Aristotle.

   After killing King Duncan in battle, Macbeth appeared to be unchallenged in his early actions, but later things started to get messy. Malcolm III, the son of Duncan I, seemed to have been put in power by the English, and in the final years of Macbeth’s reign/life, several invasions occurred from the English border to Scotland. On August 15^th 1057, true to the plot of Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth was killed by Malcolm III, however the Three Witches’ prophecy was not necessarily historical truth. Nevertheless August 15^th signified multiple changes to the monarchy of Scotland, including the deaths of King Duncan, Macbeth and the reigning of Malcolm III.