Even if the name "Macbeth" is not said, there is still something going on. It seems like everyone who has had a part acting in the play Macbeth has some sort of strange story to tell. While doing some research, I've found several interesting tales. During the first performance of Macbeth, William Shakespeare himself was forced to play Lady Macbeth when the boy designated to play her suddenly became overcome with sickness and died. King James was so displeased with the play that it was banned for five years. In Amsterdam in 1672, the actor playing Macbeth substituted the blunt stage dagger with a real one, and with killed his co-actor playing Duncan right in front of the live audience. There was even an incident in 1721 where the army had to be called in. Some hecklers were annoying some of the actors on the stage. The actors responded by attacking the hecklers with their swords. During its 1849 performance at New York's Astor Place, 31 people were trampled to death in a riot that had broken out. In 1934, British actor Malcolm Keen turned mute on stage, and his replacement developed a high fever and had to be hospitalized. In 1937, a 25 pound stage weight crashed within an inch of him Laurence Olivier (who was playing Macbeth). Not only that, but his sword broke on stage flew into the audience, hitting a man who later suffered a heart attack. And if you think that was enough bad luck for one production, think again. Both the director and the actress playing Lady Macduff were involved in a car accident on the way to the theater, and the proprietor of the theater died of a heart attack during the dress rehearsal. In the 1942, three actors in another production of Macbeth died, and the costume and set designer committed suicide. Diana Wynyard sleepwalked off the rostrum in 1948 and feel down 15 feet. In Bermuda, 1953, Charlton Heston suffered severe burns in his groin and leg from tights that were accidentally soaked in kerosene. Rip Torn's seemed to be unable to get away from the curse no matter how many times he tried. An actor's strike struck his 1970 production in New York City, two fires and seven robberies plagued the 1971 version, and finally J. Kenneth Campbell, who played Macduff, was mugged soon after the play's opening in the 1981 production. And finally, it was Macbeth that Abraham Lincoln chose to take with him on board the River Queen on the Potomac River one afternoon. The president was reading to a group of friends passages of the play that happened to follow the scene in which Duncan was assassinated. Within a week, President Lincoln himself was assassinated.

No one has solved the curse of Macbeth yet. However, a group of psychics recently attempted to contact the spirit of King Macbeth. Their attempts, of course, did not turn out so well. From the beginning, there were problems. Several witches had planned on arriving at the old Inverness Castle to reflect positive energy on Macbeth's spirit, but a number of them did not even make it. When the pet dog of one of the witches died, they thought of it as a sign of bad luck and decided not to test fate. Another bad omen, a cat bringing in a black feather, convinced another witch to stay home. In the end, only two witches showed up for the ritual, and even they experienced some difficulties. Witch Kevin Carlyon said "We almost got run off the road coming back from a trip to Skye, and then the three witches who were destined to come up here from other parts of the country all had different individual problems." It was began when Carlyon summoned the four elements of earth, air, wind and water. But when his colleague Eileen Webster, a medium, tried to contact the spirit, she collapsed and began babbling incoherently. Afterwards she said "I sensed a great power that just drained away all my energy. I remember feeling fear. I sensed a very, very evil spirit. I believe in this curse definitely now." She also mentioned that a black crow had stalked her that morning. Despite the setbacks, the witches were able to perform the ceremony eventually, which Carlyon said he thought was a success. "We have reflected the curse, but it will only be when people start saying "Macbeth", and putting on productions of the play, that we will know we have been successful. We won't know until people tell us" were his exact words.

From it's very first performance, several strange events have plagued Shakespeare's famous yet short play Macbeth, a play that was supposedly written to please King James. Is it just a coincidence that so many tragedies, many more than I've mentioned in this paper, have occurred relating to the play? Does referring to Macbeth using one of it's many other names really prevent a catastrophe from occurring? Does going outside of a theater, spinning around three times and cussing, spitting, and knocking on a door somehow reverse the bad luck? Did the two witches successfully lift the curse? Does the curse even exist? We may never know, but I certainly don't plan on acting in the Scottish Play anytime soon to find out.

Andrew
Mann

Emails sent in response to this article-

From: Robert T. Jones

Hi. Enjoyed reading about the Macbeth curse. But you didn't mention what happened at the Metropolitan Opera in 1988 during a performance of Verdi's "Macbeth." During the intermission, an elderly man in the top balcony took a running leap off the rail and landed in the orchestra section. Dead on impact, but didn't kill anybody else. It was a Saturday afternoon broadcast, and the intermission went on and on and on, and finally the rest of the show was cancelled. Everybody said, "See? The curse is still working!"

Works Cited

*note-I'll be changing this stuff toe the MLA format whenever I get the chance to.

http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/page.asp?t=editorial/news/local/edarticle&area=Latest%20news&s=edit&opensect=Local%20News&ID=77899

http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/pmacurse.htm

http://www.onstage.f2s.com/theatre/broadway/macbeth/macbeth_curse.html

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_389928.html?menu=news.quirkies

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/08/14/stories/14142182.htm

http://www.urbanlegends.com/misc/macbeth_superstitions.html

[Editors note- Don't take any of the comments in this article personally. If you are offended by any of the comments within this article, just remember this one very important thing: The Lone Conspirators cannot be held responsible for any of the actions/writings contained in this website that may contain obscene/offensive material. Don't believe us? Then read our Mission Statement.]