William Shakespeare
In those days however there were no gangsters in the modern sense and power struggles were usually for control of an entire country or at least for a large area, (Mary Queen of Scots, Wars of the Roses etc.). By then the country had become a little more civilised in determining succession to the throne but murder was still not unknown and because science was in its early days educated people sought understanding of strange events in witchcraft (James 1 wrote a book on the subject).
This was the background and when Shakespeare, who was just a successful playwright (the Alan Aykbourn of his day), decided to write a Blood and Thunder he looked for a suitable time and setting.
His answer was the Scotland of the dark ages, villainy was rife, it was rare for a King to survive to die naturally and the natives were terrified of the occult. To make things easier he found that a writer called Hollingshead had already written a story (Completely fabricated although it used the names of real people). All he had to do was to adapt it for the stage.
Macbeth, a general in King Duncan's army, has played a large part in the defeat of invading Norwegian forces and on his return from the battle is met by three witches (Shakespeare calls them weird sisters) who tell him that he will soon succeed to another dukedom and eventually become King. They also tell his friend Banquo that although he will not be King he will be father of Kings.
Macbeth doesn't take much notice until he suddenly gets the promised Dukedom when, egged on by his wife he kills the King and in order to secure his succession also kills Banquo.
He meets the witches again who tell him to beware Macduff but that he has nothing to fear from a man born of woman, also that he is safe until the local forest moves.
The forest moves, Lady Macbeth goes mad and Macduff turns out to have been born by caesarean section and so kills Macbeth. End of play.
The play has long been supposed unlucky and many superstitions have grown up around it. To quote from it in a theatrical environment will give offence to any superstitious Actor and will involve the perpetrator in a traditional exorcism ceremony; which is why it is usually referred to as The Scottish Play or the Harry Lauder Show. It is usually safer not to quote at all.
There are number of reasons why it is considered unlucky
(a) It is a short play, many parts can be doubled, is usually successful and was often staged by touring companies when the money was running out. So if invited to appear the chance was that you would soon be out of work.
(b) There are a large number of fights and murders and so more chance of accidents. Also in the old repertory companies with limited resources and many parts doubled there was not time (two days rehearsal') to give the fights adequate preparation
(c) It is widely believed that the spells cast by the Wierd Sisters are genuine.
