Mecbeth

Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare in 1607, from the beginning it has been a source for bad luck in the theater community. In fact many actors have died performing Macbeth. On the opening night of the play The young man acting as Lady Macbeth became ill and had to be replaced by the writer himself, he later died of “fever”. So the question everyone has been asking since that opening night is Macbeth cursed? I hope to convince you that it is not and it is just mere superstition that is causing all these problems while performing the play.

Ever since that opening night people have assumed macbeth is cursed, but what makes something cursed? Is it a witch bestowing the “curse” on the play or just a series of unfortunate events? The belief of the “curse” is what makes it so effective, because then you make mistakes that you probably wouldn't have made if you had no belief if the curse. The idea of the curse is what causes problems not the actually curse itself. an example of that is: If you run into a theater and yell “Macbeth” then the play you are doing automatically becomes curse. But how? It's in your mind. The IDEA that something will go wrong is what makes it cursed.

In 1934, at the Old Vic the play went through four different Macbeth's, Michael Kim who came down with laryngitis; Alastair Sim caught a chill; and Marius Goring was fired, But remember to get any type of illness, it takes time to build in your body and for you to feel the virus in your body so Michael Kim and Alastair Sim’s sickness both had nothing to do with the play because it was the world around them that got them sick, Marius Goring was fired, he was fired by the director because he was seen unfit to act as Lady Macbeth.

Just before the scheduled opening night the founder of Old Vic Lilian Baylis's favorite dog, Snoo, died. The next day, Miss Baylis almost found herself dead after learning that the opening night was to be postponed. According to, Donald Spoto, the director "barely...