The belief that kings were answerable only to God is reflected by Macbeth’s unlawful claim to the crown being tragically doomed.

Shakespeare wrote at least thirty-seven plays and a large collection of poems. In Macbeth he seems to draw on history and his personal experience of parental grief.

Holinshed’s 'Chronicles' were a written history of Britain in which the real eleventh-century King Macbeth features. These seem to have been an essential source for Shakespeare in the writing of 'Macbeth.'

At the time when this play was written, the existence and power of supernatural forces and magical entities, such as witches, was commonly accepted.