Overview

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1993 book Lincoln at Gettysburg, Garry Wills showed how the Gettysburg Address revolutionized the conception of modern America. In Witches and Jesuits, based on his Oxford/New York Public Library lectures, Wills again focuses on a single document to open up a window on an entire society. He begins with a simple question: If Macbeth is such a great tragedy, why do performances of it so often fail? The stage history of Macbeth is so riddled with disasters that it has created a legendary curse on the drama. Superstitious actors try to evade the curse by referring to Macbeth only as ""the Scottish play,"" but production after production continues to soar in its opening scenes, only to sputter towards anticlimax in the later acts. By critical consensus there seems to have been only one entirely successful modern performance of the play, Laurence Olivier's in 1955. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the vivid intrigue and drama of Jacobean England, Wills restores Macbeth's suspenseful tension by returning it to the context of its own time, recreating the burning theological and political crises of Shakespeare's era. He reveals how deeply Macbeth's original 1606 audiences would have been affected by the notorious Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a small cell of Jesuits came within a hairbreadth of successfully blowing up not only the King, but the Prince his heir, and all members of the court and Parliament. Wills likens their shock to that endured by Americans following Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination. Furthermore, Wills documents, the Jesuits were widely believed to be acting in conjunction with the Devil. We see that the treason and necromancy in Macbeth were more than the imaginings of a gifted playwright--they were dramatizations of very real and potent threats to the realm. In this new light, Macbeth is transformed. Wills presents a drama that is more than a well-scripted story of a murderer getting his just penalty, it is the struggle for the soul of a nation. The death of a King becomes a truly apocalyptic event, and the witches on the heath, shrugged off as mere symbols of Macbeth's inner guilt and ambition by twentieth century interpreters, emerge as independent agents of the occult with their terrifying agendas. Restoring the theological politics and supernatural elements that modern directors have shied away from, Wills points the way toward a Macbeth that will finally escape the theatrical curse on ""the Scottish play."" Rich in insight and a joy to read, Witches and Jesuits is a tour de force of scholarship and imagination by one of our foremost writers. It is essential reading for anyone who loves the language.

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9780195102901

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Reviews

Elegant....Intriguing. --Mary Beth Rose, Director, Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies Highly readable and informative. --Houston Chronicle [Wills] impresses the reader with the historical perspective and rich allusiveness that characterize his other writing....Provocative. --The Washington Post Book World [Wills] works to rehabilitate the play by restoring its social, theological, and political contexts....Wills rescues the play by restoring its past. --The Antioch Review Most current interpretations of 'the Scottish play' focus on its psychological aspects; Mr. Wills explores its historical dimension and links to Jacobean politics. --The New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy Paperback Recaptures the gripping tension that Shakespeare's audience must have felt --Library Journal The much celebrated master of nonfiction works his magic on Macbeth, using the ingredients of a mere monograph to conjure a vision of politics, theology, and theatrical practice in King James's England.....Wills forges a new understanding of the play's second half....Wills's latest portends a renewed Macbeth for the theater; his critical performance, meanwhile, manifests the power of literary criticism that is simultaneously scholarly and popular. --Kirkus Reviews Pulitzer Prize-winning Wills (Lincoln at Gettysburg) here turns his attention to a new interpretation of Macbeth. Originally performed in 1606, a year after the failed Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English monarchy and Parliament, the play was written, Wills argues, in the context of this event and in Shakespeare's belief that the Jesuits had backed the treason. Supporting his theory with careful research, Wills compares Macbeth with other 'gunpowder' dramas and provides an informed analysis of the play's characters. --Publishers Weekly In this elegant essay, Garry Wills re-imagines Macbeth in the context of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, designed by Catholic radicals to assassinate King James I. Wills weaves an intriguing narrative that conjoins Jesuits, witches, and magic, revealing surprising implications about gender in the Renaissance and boldly suggesting a way that historical understanding can help to lift the legendary 'Curse' on modern performances of Macbeth--Mary Beth Rose, Director, Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies Garry Wills's interpretation of Macbeth as both a play and a protagonist is marvelously convincing. He proves conclusively that Macbeth is a gunpowder plot play set in a satanically charged environment in which witches, Jesuits and political conspiracy predominate. His understanding of Shakespeare's lines and organization of the plot make perfect sense given the world in which the playwright lived and wrote. --Lacey Baldwin Smith Absorbing commentary...Wills' reading is both logical and evocative....Garry Wills' is a fresh and provocative gloss of a play that, while lacking the philosophic breadth of 'Hamlet,' exceeds it in pure power of imagery. --The Boston Globe Accessibly written...ranges widely in its treatment of the play. --The New York Times Book Review A lively and provocative read. As a writer, Mr. Wills possesses the qualities of a fine teacher....In these pages, he's able to use those gifts to make 'Macbeth' come alive as a play. --The New York Times A highly readable and informative analysis of the political and religious background of [Macbeth]. --Houston Chronicle Witches and Jesuits is a work of sound scholarship and critical originality. It is a must for anyone approaching the play as a reader, actor, director, producer, or playgoer. After reading it, I find it difficult to imagine ever looking at Macbeth in the old way again. --Richmond Times-Dispatch [Wills] impresses the reader with the historical perspective and rich allusiveness that characterize his other writing....Witches and Jesuits makes a provocative contribution to our understanding of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. --Washington Post Book World Gary Wills has written another stylish and stimulating book. --ashington Times proses. --Washington Times Wills's book is carefully and clearly written in prose that will be as accessible to the general reader as to the scholar. --Jean R. Brink, Magill's Literary Annual 1995

A lively and provocative read... makes `Macbeth' come alive as a play. * New York Times *

Author Information

Garry Wills' many best-selling books include Nixon Agonistes, Reagan's America, and the 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln at Gettysburg.

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