American Toby Jug Museum 

Macbeth toby jug produced by Staffordshire Fine Ceramics of Tunstall, England, circa 1975. "Light thickens, and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood; Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse." This ominous speech by Macbeth precedes the murder of his fellow general, Banquo, and is a potent indicator of the dark forces at work throughout Shakespeare's haunting 1606 play. These supernatural images are most evident in the three sisters, who on a blasted heath amidst peals of thunder, prophesy the rise and death of Macbeth. Securing his crown by treachery, the protagonist of this tragic drama is driven by his ambitious, scheming wife and turns the country into a bloodbath. Shakespeare takes his material from Raphael Holinshead's Chronicle of Scottish History and uses it to explore the nature of evil. What makes Macbeth such a tragic figure is that he grasps the moral significance of his murderous deeds, yet is powerless to resist temptation or repress his violent nature.