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Macbeth - Context
This GCSE English Literature quiz tests your understanding of the context of William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. In a work of literature, the term “context” means the environment in which that particular text was written, especially including when and where it was composed and any political or social events of that time. This means that context can sometimes be confused with setting. It might be helpful to think about context as the author’s real-life “setting” and a novel or play’s setting as its fictional “context”. Authors very often respond to political or social events in fiction; their personal views have an impact on the text and these, too, are elements of a work’s context.
How to write about context
Context always has some effect on meaning. When you analyse a work of fiction, it is important to study its historical context too.
1.
When was Macbeth written?
1586
1606
1656
1706
The date of the first performance of the play is uncertain
2.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's....
Sonnets
Comedies
Tragedies
Romances
Macbeth's downfall is brought about by his own ambition and by his arrogant inability to fully understand the prophecies he chooses to act upon
3.
Who ruled England at the time the play was written?
Richard II
Henry VIII
Elizabeth I
James I
James I of England (King James VI of Scotland) was Elizabeth I's heir. The era of his rule is known as 'Jacobean'
4.
Which of the following events took place the year before Shakespeare wrote Macbeth?
The Civil War
The Gunpowder Plot
The Succession Crisis
The Black Death
The Gunpowder Plot refers to the attempt to blow up the House of Lords on the 5th of November, 1605 as the initial stage in a plan to install a Catholic monarch in place of the Protestant James I. Macbeth demonstrates a contemporary concern with treasonous plots
5.
Which invented character was claimed as an 'ancestor' for James I?
Duncan
Macduff
Macbeth
Banquo
The witches promise Banquo that his line of descendants will include kings
6.
The ruler of England at the time Macbeth was written was which of the following?
Scottish
Irish
German
French
James I was also James VI of Scotland. His mother was Mary Queen of Scots, cousin to Elizabeth I. Many of the English were unhappy at having a Scottish - or foreign - ruler, since the two countries were not joined in union at the time
7.
In which of the following is found the history of Macbeth?
King Lear
King John
Spenser's The Faerie Queene
Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland
Holinshed's Chronicles was Shakespeare's most significant source text. In the Chronicles Banquo participates in Macbeth's treachery
8.
How did Mary, Queen of Scots and mother of James I of England, die?
In childbirth
In battle
By execution
Of sickness
Elizabeth I ordered Mary to be executed for her part in encouraging plots to overthrow Elizabeth. The regicide (murder of the king) and concern with treasonous plots in Macbeth draw both from historical events and from more contemporary concerns of James's court
9.
Which of the following was supported by James I, but defeated in Parliament?
Union between England and Scotland
The end of primogeniture, enabling eldest daughters to inherit lands and titles rather than younger sons
The end of primogeniture and the use of election to choose a ruler
A declaration of war against France
In 1604 Parliament refused James the title of King of Great Britain and continued to resist his efforts to create a Union of the two countries
10.
Which of the following is correct?
Macbeth is an invented character with no basis in history
Macbeth is an invented character based on the historical Malcolm III
Macbeth is a historical king of Scotland, ruling between 1040 and 1057
Macbeth is a historical king of Scotland who usurped the throne in 1040 before being swiftly deposed
The historical Macbeth won the throne in battle, rather than by treason
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