ABSTRACT
Theatrical people, because of Macbeth’s popularity, expected their companies to close when the play was put on, as it was usually regarded as a last resort by the management of a failing group to try and get an audience into the theatre. The Dresser offers a good modern example of the theatrical superstitions that surround the tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Macbeth is in many ways the most accessible and popular of Shakespeare’s major tragedies—the story line is clear, the play is short, it contains some of the most beautiful poetry in the English language. Macbeth is associated with every possible form of ill fortune in the theatrical profession. The chapter explains these theatrical superstitions within a psychoanalytic framework. It focuses on psychoanalytic theory, and also some structuralist ideas, in order to give a reading to the play that will clarify the reasons for the superstitions attached to it by the theatrical profession.
