O horror! horror! horror!

This chapter examines some of the cultural and literary influences that helped to shape Shakespeare’s play, looking at several of the ways that he uses intertexts to help generate a horrific atmosphere. It then looks at influences that Macbeth has had on the Gothic genre before finally considering how some recent stage directors have attempted to re-imagine the horror of the play for modern audiences. Through this detailed examination of the play’s sources, and of its adaptations and modern productions, we can begin to understand how a potent sense of horror is generated in Macbeth and how that horror is regenerated for succeeding generations of the play’s audiences.