Disputed Prophecies in Macbeth

Abstract

Abstract When King James I visited Oxford in 1605, he was greeted with a short play entitled Tres Sibyllae. The play, written by a Fellow of St. John’s College named Matthew Gwinne, featured three students dressed as forest-dwelling sibyls who hailed the King as the descendent of Banquo, referencing an old prophecy about the Scottish line of kings. This chapter begins by exploring the connection between Tres Sibyllae and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, likely written and performed the following year. The chapter argues that Gwinne’s play illuminates the political stakes of Shakespeare’s play: while Tres Sibyllae triumphantly looks to the past, declaring James the fulfillment of the ancient prophesy, Macbeth looks ahead to an uncertain future. The chapter situates Gwinne’s play in the larger context of James’ royal visit, drawing a particular connection between Macbeth and academic disputation before coming to a discussion of the link between disputation and equivocation. Through a reading of Macbeth, the chapter ultimately suggests that the play critiques the emptiness and the extravagance of political ceremony, even as Shakespeare drew on material from the 1605 Oxford visit that exemplified it.