Macbeth, written between 1603 and 1606, is one of William Shakespeare's best-known plays. This play is based on historical events altered by Shakespeare from The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland by Raphael Holinshed. This drama depicts the ascension of the powerful and ambitious Macbeth to the throne of Scotland. It depicts the many murders and malicious plans undertaken by Macbeth to consolidate his power. Many of the Macbeth stories are historically accurate; however, parts of the play were adapted and changed to fit the current era in which Shakespeare lived. It should be noted that “Macbeth’s interest is not a historical interest” (Boyce, “Banquo”). Shakespeare deviated from the chronicles in different aspects in order to please the king in his time. Macbeth was written solely to satisfy King James I of England. Shakespeare pays homage to King James in different ways. He longed for Macbeth to support James' political agenda. In history, England and Scotland have been historical enemies, but they are now ruled by the same monarch. Shakespeare wanted his writings to unite them in a way that politics could not. After 1603 it became politically incorrect to write crudely about the Scots. Shakespeare used his play to "advance the king's agenda by creating and emphasizing the commonalities" between Scotland and England (Bloom, p. 44). It is well known in history that King James was deeply superstitious before he became king. James wrote various works about witches based on his earlier superstitions, such as Daemonology. Written in 1599, Daemonologie served as the basis for describing the roles and images of the witches in Macbeth (Boyce, “Macbeth”). In his early years, King James loved...... middle of paper ......playing (Boyce, "Duncan"). Shakespeare used the story as the framework for his play. He changed characters and events in order to please his king. Shakespeare knew that King James was becoming very skeptical of the supernatural; therefore, he included the many capacities that a person's imagination could have over their actions. This ultimately proved that people's minds could make them see, hear, and do certain things. It also proved that there was no need for the supernatural to be involved in making people do evil things. Shakespeare changed Banquo and Duncan in his play by making Banquo virtuous and Duncan weak. This made King James happy because his ancestor was portrayed as a good person and made the murder even more horrible. In order to create the ideal play that King James would approve of, Shakespeare altered history and created one of his greatest works of all time..