Shakespeare and the Gunpowder Plot

While the conspirators suffered the ultimate punishment of being disemboweled and beheaded in front of the cheering masses, Shakespeare would likely have been only a few miles away, holed up in his estate in Stratford, piecing together tales about different Scottish kings from old history books. Change after change was made until the play became a perfect propaganda machine that seemed to clear Shakespeare of any suspicion. James favorite part of Shakespeares new take on history would be the near mythological qualities given to the character created in his image  Macbeths victim, King Duncan. While the real Duncan was a war-loving Neanderthal, Shakespeares Duncan is a thoughtful, infallible, divinely-appointed ruler with silver skin and golden blood. Killing old Duncan is a calamity of such epic proportion that it sends the animal kingdom into a tail spin, with mice devouring falcons and horses chowing down on each other.