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Macbeth

by William Shakespeare, Rex Gibson (Editor)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 249,343 ratings · 3,598 reviews

Macbeth is one of the ten most popular titles from the best-selling Cambridge School Shakespeare series now available in a new edition edited for young adult readers. The new edition includes new and revised activities throughout, new black and white photos from the widest selection of stage and film interpretations of the plays, and a larger glossary providing extra suppo...more

Paperback, 2nd Edition, 180 pages

Published August 1st 2005 by Cambridge University Press (first published 1606)

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Sep 14, 2009 Madeline rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare

Years after first adding this to my "Shakespeare" shelf, I finally sat down and did it. So here, long overdue, is

The Scottish Play, abridged:

WITCHES: Bibbity bobbity boo! Time to fuck with the mortals!

DUNCAN: Isn’t Macbeth great? Now there’s a guy I can always trust to have my back. I should promote him.

MACBETH AND DUNCAN: WEEEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEEEENDS. YES WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, WEEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, NO TIME FOR -

WITCHES: ThaneofGlamisandCawdorandFutureKingsayswhat?

MACBETH: What?

WIT...more

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May 18, 2010 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pants-crapping-awesome

Don't you kind of hate how we've entered the decadent phase of Goodreads wherein perhaps fifty percent (or more) of the reviews written by non-teenagers and non-romancers are now naked and unabashed in their variously effective attempts at being arch, wry, meta, parodic, confessional, and/or snarky?

Don't you kind of pine (secretly, in the marrow of your gut's merry druthers) for the good ol' days of Goodreads (known then as GodFearingGoodlyReading.com) when all reviews were uniformly plainspoke...more

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May 04, 2013 Bram rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, the-bard, 2013

After a discussion of this play that went over 100 comments, a review seems at once superfluous and necessary to give greater exposure to an excellent conversation. One of the best things about Goodreads is that it provides a forum to hash out discrepancies of opinion thoughtfully and passionately, so that our own feelings and understandings can be challenged by and challenging for others. I think what you’ll find below is a perfect example of this, enacted by people who care deeply about Shakes...more After a discussion of this play that went over 100 comments, a review seems at once superfluous and necessary to give greater exposure to an excellent conversation. One of the best things about Goodreads is that it provides a forum to hash out discrepancies of opinion thoughtfully and passionately, so that our own feelings and understandings can be challenged by and challenging for others. I think what you’ll find below is a perfect example of this, enacted by people who care deeply about Shakespeare and about literature. People who have been changed by what they’ve read and who hope to allow others to experience something similar, to allow them to understand why certain themes are so vitally important.

I like to think that my opinions, even immediately after finishing a book, are solid and well-considered. And usually this delusion goes more or less unchallenged. But below, something unusual happened, made more so by the fact that I’d done no more than give a rating and list a few undercooked criticisms. I was forced to reconsider my reading to the point where I now have to admit that I have very little confidence in my criticisms and in my response to this play. I don’t feel like I gave it my best effort because, frankly, some of the rejoinders I’ve heard are pretty impressive. Take this comment from David, who was responding to my complaint that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seemed to lack adequate moral reasoning and background in the initial stages (i.e. Macbeth seems ‘good’ but gives in quickly/easily and Lady Macbeth seems overly and inexplicably ambitious/murderous):

I think these two characters have very different dilemmas: Macbeth must overcome his aversion to the crime and his sense of honor (as subject of the king) to kill Duncan. (There is much text in the play, I think, committed to exploring his moral compunctions and waffling regarding this.) Lady Macbeth has intellectually set her mind on the crime at the beginning, so the development we see in her character isn't from 'goodness' to evil; it's from her initial intellectual commitment to the crime to her ruination at the hands of her own humanity or, if you will, by her own psychological qualms. So it would almost be nearer to the truth to say that Lady Macbeth's transition is from 'evil' to 'goodness' (in a very loose sense). In some respect, Lady Macbeth is redeemed at the end of the play; that is to say that she does not actively redeem herself, but she is redeemed by the author as a failure of evil.

So the two characters have inverted character arcs, a fascinating concept that never occurred to me while reading the play. Macbeth goes from the loyal thane and hero who’s scared to commit even the ‘perfect murder’ to someone who, at the time of his demise, is a raving, fearless, and evil tyrant. Lady Macbeth, as David points out, starts out confident in her trespassing of the laws of goodness but ends up coming undone, emotionally and psychologically, from the weight of such a heinous crime. Lady Macbeth is the original Raskolnikov, a human being who thinks she might be one of the Great Ones, for whom the laws of mankind do not apply. Each of these characters believes that a sign of greatness (and for Lady Macbeth, true manliness) is an ability to achieve a certain Machiavellian perfection, wherein your conscious does not impede your achieving a goal even, and especially, if it requires murder. While Roskalnikov’s plan is more theoretical than pragmatic, the line of thinking is eerily similar. And so is the fallout.

Thinking about Lady Macbeth in terms of Crime and Punishment, as Ellen inspired me to do, allowed me to flesh out her progression in a way that I wasn’t able to from the text, either due to my own failings or from what I felt was an overly-rushed story. Dostoevsky gives us an incredibly thorough picture of the post-murder descent into madness, one that can only be relieved, if at all, by coming clean. While Roskalnikov is able to take this route, Lady Macbeth is ultimately trapped, and her ‘redemption’ can only come internally with recognition that her initial perspective was hopelessly flawed and evil. It is, of course, conceivable that Lady Macbeth was not repentant and that she killed herself in madness or in the recognition that she simply wasn't a Great One, a conclusion which does not necessarily imply a belief that she was wrong in her actions. I reject these possibilities, however, because the inversion of the character arcs is such an elegant, brilliant design that nothing else seems artistically plausible.

The theme in Macbeth that stuck with me most strongly during my reading was that of prophetic destiny. The power of the witches’ prophesying is not in their ability to actually carry out the events according to their predictions, but simply to plant the seed of an idea that, due to human depravity, provides a barely-needed push to send one into a destructive pursuit of base selfishness and glory. To use a tired but, in this case, warranted analogy: think about George W. Bush and the Iraq War. His religion gave him that little excuse. It planted the idea of destiny and purpose, of achieving something great and glorious that would, however, inevitably lead to the destruction and suffering of so many others, so many innocents. But he didn’t care about that. God had spoken. The witches had spoken. And who was he to get in His way?

I love this website. Without it, I’d have probably given this play no more than five extra minutes of thought and moved on. And I’d have missed out on some great themes and ideas, all of which were accessible because of the ability to tap into a few of the exceptional minds here on Goodreads. I can only hope that I continue to keep an open mind and healthy suspicion of my own opinions because—and I barely need mention this—my tendency is very much in the other direction. So give this play the time and thought it deserves. You will be rewarded. (less)

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Nov 30, 2012 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-kindle, 2012, reviewed, thrill-me-chill-me-fulfill-me

There are two reasons to love this play.

The first reason is Lady Macbeth. Man, that girl has got it goin’ on. Have you ever found yourself in the running for, say, a new position that’s opened up at your company, a position for which you—along with one of your equally worthy colleagues, perhaps—might qualify? You may not have given much thought to your professional advancement before, but now that this promotion has been dangled before you, it has ignited a spark of ambitious desire. Imagine the...more There are two reasons to love this play.

The first reason is Lady Macbeth. Man, that girl has got it goin’ on. Have you ever found yourself in the running for, say, a new position that’s opened up at your company, a position for which you—along with one of your equally worthy colleagues, perhaps—might qualify? You may not have given much thought to your professional advancement before, but now that this promotion has been dangled before you, it has ignited a spark of ambitious desire. Imagine the possibilities! And it is just within your grasp...if only there were a way to edge out the competition. Maybe you could sabotage a project he’s working on. Or you could discredit him by rumoring of his incompetence. Better yet, you could off him in the parking garage. But each of these strategies requires a certain level of gumption to execute, a level not everyone possesses. This is where it pays to be married to Lady Macbeth. All she would need is a mere mention of this potential uptick in your career path and she’s off and running, drafting the schematics, telling you where to stand (just outside the stairwell, across from his car, within easy reach of the tire iron lying in the corner that can be used while he’s distractedly sifting through his keys). Why doesn’t she do it herself, you ask? Well, why should she? It’s not her job. Her job is to support you, to boost your confidence, to supply that additional gumption. You’re the one who has to do the dirty work.

Lady Macbeth is an amazing character. I’ve seen reviews on here that criticize her for being the morally reprehensible of the two protagonists, planting ideas in her husband’s head that he would not have otherwise formed, encouraging him toward evil deeds that he would not have otherwise committed. I disagree. She may have made a mistake helping to plan Duncan’s murder, but if anything Lady Macbeth is the one with her moral faculties still intact—she exhibits a profound sense of remorse at the end of the play that Macbeth recognizes as nothing short of an ailment for which to seek a cure. While Macbeth is off slaughtering anyone who might threaten his regal standing, his wife is at home rubbing the fuck out of her hands until the blisters explode and she suffocates in a pool of her own pus.

The second reason to love this play is the eloquence of the language. There are passages in this play that describe human emotion so briefly yet so profoundly it triggers goosebumps. These are some of my favorites:

On expressing one’s grief:
What, man! ne’er pull your hat upon your brows;
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.

On not having enough gumption:
Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.

On contemplating ambition’s worth:
Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
’Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.

On being past the point of no return:
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.

On the futility of life:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

On the finality of death:
There’s nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.

I said in the comments section of my Hamlet review that I was preferring Hamlet to Macbeth. While I think I prefer the character of Hamlet to that of Macbeth, I no longer stand by that statement in terms of the play itself. Macbeth really is a masterpiece.(less)

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Feb 28, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in-theater, scottish, tam-lin, in-by-of-england, reviewed, fey

I love Lady MacBeth. I don't have a crush on her, she's not a sigh-over kind of woman. This isn't a school girl crush on a member of the High School Musical cast. She is fierce, in a way that Tyra Banks only wishes should could be. (Actually if Tyra Banks had any ability to act, any at all, I'd be willing to pay money to see a performance of her as Lady M. Think about it. The height, the growl, the skewed, surfacing craziness that is a mandatory part of the Lady's personality.) Lady MacBeth make...more I love Lady MacBeth. I don't have a crush on her, she's not a sigh-over kind of woman. This isn't a school girl crush on a member of the High School Musical cast. She is fierce, in a way that Tyra Banks only wishes should could be. (Actually if Tyra Banks had any ability to act, any at all, I'd be willing to pay money to see a performance of her as Lady M. Think about it. The height, the growl, the skewed, surfacing craziness that is a mandatory part of the Lady's personality.) Lady MacBeth makes this play for me.

It's all nice and sunshiney to be a heroine in one of Shakespeare's comedies. They get some great lines, they get the guy who speaks some awesome poetry in their honor, and they get to run about in men's clothes (so what if they have to pretend to be dead or fend of the advances of a simpering lady from time to time; it's all good fun). The best characters though are over here, in the tragedies. It's why Antony and Cleopatra is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. And Lady MacBeth is their queen.

When I read this in high school, the big debate, as presented by my well-meaning but misguided teacher was, "Who is more evil, MacBeth or Lady MacBeth. Discuss." (and you'd better blame it on the woman people). I'm not sure there was anything else to the conversation. We were excellent sheeplike children, intent on high grades, and so we would answer with exactly what the teacher wanted to hear. So reading it now was like reading another play. Lady MacBeth isn't evil. For that matter, her husband isn't either. We don't have King Richard III calculation here so much as unchecked ambition and paranoia.

Reading it now, I was looking to answer the question of how much this play is about woman's nature and man's nature. I was struck by how often this comes up in the play. Lady M does encourage her husband by telling him to be a man more than once. It's all over the place, throughout the whole play. And Lady M is the most fascinating study of this. Our first meeting with her has the amazing unsex me here soliloquy. I've always wondered how an early modern European woman ruler would respond to (adapt?) the teachings of The Prince: Be calculating. Be strong. Don't let your kinder feelings get in the way. If all of those kinder feelings make one womanish, how would a woman respond to it? By calling to be unsexed, by saying that she could dash out the brains of her child. And she does, of course, and then her rejection of her basic nature comes back and wallops her in the face.

The other part of Lady MacBeth's unsexing is comparison with both Lady MacDuff and the witches. Here we have Lady MacDuff, that kind, perfect mother figure. A shining example of what happens to women who dither when faced with a challenge (when a messenger arrives and tells you to run, don't talk, run, you idiot). If you don't have some strength, you will not survive. The witches then represent this primordial spirit of womanhood as well. There isn't anything more basic than a Greek goddess of witches appearing in your play. In comes Hecate, and her witches, and MacBeth is shown to be steered around both by his wife, denying her true nature, and the witches, the evil of women's nature incarnate. Women really don't get a good representation in this play, in all honesty, but, in this case, I don't care.

This is one of those plays that I take in historical context. I would respond differently to a contemporary author who took on such a theme; in early modern England though? Elizabeth's reign is only just finished. The son of last Scottish queen, murdered by England's female Prince, is in the audience. I love political messages within plays that also look at human nature. How do we become who we are? How do we go from healthy, normal people to ambitious killers? How do we come to war?
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Sep 29, 2011 Manny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: celebrity-death-match, parody-homage, life-is-shakespeare

For the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament, Macbeth (30) versus The Complete Sherlock Holmes (19)

This early draft of Macbeth, recently translated from the original Klingon, casts new light on the play and has already caused its fair share of controversy. We present two extracts.
_____________________________________________

MACBETH:

Surely no man suspects I killed the King?
Or if they do, they durst not breathe a word
Knowing our wrath...

ATTENDANT:

Well, actually, my lord
There's quite a few dow...more

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Oct 09, 2011 Mariel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: I think I can handle a little peril

Recommended to Mariel by: the band from Harry Potter

Celebrity Death Match tournament versus The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
The Twisted Sisters
I was worried about my colleague, the great respected private detective Sherlock Holmes. The pressure to uphold his reputation was great. He was up at all hours of the night, often muttering to himself that this or such and such was "Elementary, my dear Watson" and ways to upstage me in games of Trivial Pursuit. One evening I caught him with an opened second box of the game and he was memorizing the ques...more Celebrity Death Match tournament versus The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
The Twisted Sisters
I was worried about my colleague, the great respected private detective Sherlock Holmes. The pressure to uphold his reputation was great. He was up at all hours of the night, often muttering to himself that this or such and such was "Elementary, my dear Watson" and ways to upstage me in games of Trivial Pursuit. One evening I caught him with an opened second box of the game and he was memorizing the questions and answers. To let him save face I pretended that I did not see and feigned awe and worship of his mastery of the game. "My dear Mr. Holmes, your pursuit of this game is anything but trivial!" One night after he mixed up note cards of a taped episode of Jeopardy! he left to walk the block of Baker Street. I assume he also wanted to smoke a pipe. His housekeeper had been applying the pressure about the bad smell and ill health effects. It was not easy to be Mr. Holmes and I tried my best to solve all of his cases for him. I would leave open pages of relevant newspaper articles or historical facts, highlighting the portion that pertained to the case. Sometimes I would fake his handwriting and write who did it and leave it on his dressing room mirror. I would smile as he berated me for not guessing the obvious clues. He was a great man and I was only doing what any good friend would do. I knew that Macbeth and his bitch wife were responsible for murder and tomorrow I would allow Mr. Holmes to put them behind bars. I would get him back into his warm bed if I had to get in it with him myself.
That particular evening my friend did not come home in time. I found him again in the den of the psychic hotline sisters. "Sex me! Sex me! You foul temptresses... I think I want the blonde tonight..." I'm an accepting friend, truly I am, but these women were not even hot. By rights they should be giving quarter hand jobs behind the local pub.
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air! You have been smoking again." The one with the heaving cleavage was uttering these words as Holmes nestled his unshaven face between the twin bosoms. "If you notice, the left is larger than the right..." He drunkenly muttered.
"Mr. Holmes, I have come to take you home. You cannot afford their prices. That is how we ended up taking the diamond caper case and that nearly got us both killed."
"Mr. Watson, you are a wet blanket." He might have said something else. He was slurring his words at this point. He had called me a wet blanket another time but to understand you would have to get the context. It is elemental, not elementary.
"These bitches cannot solve our cases. It is much too perilous! The correct answer will come to you in the morning, as it always does. True genius should not be rushed." Egos such as Mr. Holmes needed to be boosted. It was a tough world we lived in. Prostitutes like these charged too much! (The red head had laughed at me and said I couldn't even watch for a few lousy quid.) Was nothing free anymore? Before my marriage, I would stumble into any rest stop and find a willing young man. Alas!
"I can handle a little peril... I am...the...great...Sherlock Holmes!" He had passed out. I could not get him moved by myself. The brunette was unbuttoning my pants and the redhead had my wallet. They had found the diamonds I had stolen from the bank to create the diamond caper case. A new and mysterious fourth woman was drawing on my face. She looked familiar. The photos of the Macbeths in my wallet! Too late. I hope it is a dignified mustache, this time.
When I woke up I was in jail for murder and last I heard Mr. Holmes was a security guard at a shopping mall. Macbeth and his whore wife were living it up in Bermuda. Hand jobs in prison cost a lot. Damned inflation...
Winner: Macbeth(less)

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Sep 09, 2011 mark monday rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: blood-and-danger

i love this play like a simile I can't come up with.

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well that last review pretty much sums up anything i could possibly ever say. i even stole that first line up there from one of the reviews above. sometimes it's okay...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Manny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: celebrity-death-match, life-is-shakespeare

For the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament, Macbeth (30) versus 1984 (22)

ANCHORMAN:

... and now over to Northern Airstrip One, where Macduffian freedom fighters and our East Asian allies are close to encircling the Eurasian-backed dictator Macbeth's last stronghold. We have a journalist reporting live now from just outside Dunsinane Castle.

[Windswept Scottish Highlands scene. JOURNALIST in combat gear in foreground, camouflaged soldiers carrying branches behind him. Sound of automatic weapo...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Henry Avila rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The play starts with the standard three witches, (which Shakespeare practically invented) plotting the assassination of Duncan.Why the King of Scotland is to be killed is never explained.The weird sisters maybe just like to cause evil.Their tool is Macbeth , a lord and very ambitious man, married to an even more, woman.Scotland in the mid 11th century is barbaric,bloody,and with the nobles always fighting for power.The English and Norsemen also battle for influence in that rough land.A great opp...more

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Sep 27, 2010 Esteban del Mal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Aspiring Machiavellians

Shelves: my-books-can-beat-up-your-books, fiction, play

Location: Central California coast. A beach.

ESTEBAN: [aside] Methinks that the cover art for this Bantam Classic edition makes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth looketh much alike. 'Tis freakish!
Forsooth, gender is all over the place in this play: the bearded sisters are hermaphroditical, Macduff is some kind of übermensch because he has avoided the taint (heh) of natural birth. Is Macbeth some kind of frustrated homosexual? If so, it serves those gay bashing medieval Scottish bastards right! Burn it al...more

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Sep 02, 2008 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

This was my first ever Shakespeare.

We studied it in high school in Year Eleven. It was the only Shakespeare we studied in High School. Now, in the last three years of high school, my daughters read a play by Shakespeare every year.

I remember, before I started reading this play, how afraid I was. I knew, you see, it was very important that I understand Shakespeare – even if I had to pretend. It was that important that I understand him. I knew that this was going to be a test of my ‘intelligence...more

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Nov 25, 2010 Melissa Rudder rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: master-s-exam, teach-it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I do not know why Macbeth was chosen to be one of the three William Shakespeare plays on my Masters Exam. (Which panics me, because it seems like something I should know.) Macbeth is, in my opinion, the weakest Shakespearean tragedy I've read. It does not have the startling ambiguities or essential human questions of Hamlet. It does not have the brutal horror of Titus Andronicus. It does not have the political relevance and rhetorical strength of Julius Caesar. It does not have the pathos of an...more

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Apr 06, 2010 C. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, drama, own-or-access, studied, to-be-re-read, ab-fav

Currently re-reading for, what, the ~~fifth~~ tenth time? I FUCKING LOVE IT.

____________________________

How on earth can I ever write a review that does justice to this superlative-defying work of drama? Despite three periods of intense study including research into academic works, I continue to find new layers to this piece, and that, in my opinion, is the mark of a true masterpiece (Not that anyone is implying Macbeth is anything but).

The beautiful language, fabulous characters and the sheer, unad...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Sandy Tjan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, british-literature, brushing-up-on-the-bard, classics, ebook, medieval, tudor

For the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament, Macbeth vs The Complete Sherlock Holmes

When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases between the years ’82 and ’90, I happen to come upon a half-forgotten adventure that is probably the strangest of them all. My faithful readers, who are no stranger to odd going-ons involving my famous friend’s cases, would be reminded of stories such as The Hound of the Baskervilles or The Sussex Vampire. Yet, this particular case is partic...more

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Jun 20, 2007 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teach

yeah. i'm an english teacher and a theatre major and i? don't really love macbeth. it bores me on many levels and i'm seriously considering NOT teaching it in brit lit this year. yes, it has interesting motifs with blood and water, power and revenge, and the whole tragic hero thing, but eh. i just. can't. connect. with. macbeth. and that? makes me not really 'love' a play. even if i hate the main character, i need to feel some sort of connection and i just don't here.

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Jan 30, 2013 Helena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: plays

I’m a nervous wreck during exams, so I tend to read snack-books by day (can't deal with anything else). Sadly that hellish period gives me insomnia and I wake up, stare at the ceiling, and fail to see the point in anything short of Shakespeare or maybe suicide.
That’s how I found myself reading a girly porn book with a half naked couple on the cover called “Private Arrangements” and Shakespeare practically at the same time. They both having letters and all. Broken down by themes:

The Plot
The femal...more

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Jul 24, 2007 Admonit rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Some thoughts from studying & teaching Macbeth....

This critical edition of Macbeth puts the play into the context of cultural controversies. One hot topic of Shakespeare’s time was this problem about “Does God determine all things before they begin, or are human beings free to create their own [eternal] destinies?” And it was very hot; wars were raging all over Europe in the latter half of the 16th century over Catholicism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism. Shakespeare, man of the age...more Some thoughts from studying & teaching Macbeth....

This critical edition of Macbeth puts the play into the context of cultural controversies. One hot topic of Shakespeare’s time was this problem about “Does God determine all things before they begin, or are human beings free to create their own [eternal] destinies?” And it was very hot; wars were raging all over Europe in the latter half of the 16th century over Catholicism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism. Shakespeare, man of the age, was certainly not going to let this red-letter debate slip by. But he also didn’t want to lose his head.

However that may be, the author of the introductory matter in our Norton Critical Edition, Robert S. Miola, claims that “Whatever his personal convictions, Shakespeare clearly adopts a Catholic view of the action and theology of free will in this play” and “the doctrine of predestination renders human action essentially undramatic: when the end is known, preordained, and absolutely just, there can be no real choice, suspense, conflict, or resolution. This conception of divine justice and human action renders pity an impertinence, terror a transgression, and tragedy an impossibility” (pp. xv, xvi).

Maybe we shouldn’t be so sure. I have a problem with that sweeping generalization. I wouldn’t say that predestination freezes all possibility of dramatic action. I have two objections:

1. The characters do not know the ending. They are predestined by the intent and will of the artist, but within their fictional narrative space and time, they are making operative choices.

2. In life, we do not know our ending. The staunchest Calvinist, if he has his wits about him, believes that here inside time we must make choices. Yes, perhaps God has set the choice before hand, certainly God knows what will be done, but that does not make the psychological and emotional experience of choice any less a reality. It also works this way inside books.

But it's still fascinating to ask: Is Macbeth free to choose his fate, or is he destined to follow the prophecies?
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Jun 20, 2011 Hend rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: روايات

القصة تحتوى على تحليل رائع للنفس البشريه وكيف يتحول الانسان من شخص نبيل مخلص الى قاتل ومجرم ماهو الجزء الكامن على أطراف النفس البشريه وماهى الرغبة الكامنه فى الاعماق التى تدفع الانسان لهذا التحول الرهيب .ومن أهم شخصيات القصة الليدى مكبث التى باتت مضرب للمثل فى الشر والقصه من أحب قصص شكسبير إلى نفسى وقد قرأت حزء منها بالنص الاصلى واستمتعت به جدا على الرغم من صعوبة النص الاصلى

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Jan 17, 2008 Lesley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er."

A sure sign you're totally fucked.

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Sep 10, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: great-shakespeare-athon

I started my Great Shakespeare-A-Thon! with this because it's the one play I'm most familiar with, besides Romeo & Juliet (and that's only because I saw the Claire Danes movie). I was surprised to discover that I'd memorized more of it in high school that I thought; although I couldn't have told you before what it belonged to, I had over half the play lodged somewhere in my brain. I went with the No Fear translation because most of the others I found at work are riddled to death with footnot...more

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Nov 22, 2008 Christina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: list-ap-literature, required-for-high-school, plays, 2008-reads, textbook, classics, list-college-readers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 19, 2008 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: faves, drama, shakespeare, classic, to-read-again

I like to come at Macbeth from an historical perspective, a perspective where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not anti-heroes, but heroes of the highest order.

How is that possible you ask? Because Macbeth is taking what is rightfully his.

Modern audiences, and perhaps even audiences in Shakespeare's day (although that seems unlikely since they would have had a greater everyday knowledge of the power structures of Scottish clans), look at Macbeth as the story of power corrupting absolutely. We see i...more I like to come at Macbeth from an historical perspective, a perspective where Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not anti-heroes, but heroes of the highest order.

How is that possible you ask? Because Macbeth is taking what is rightfully his.

Modern audiences, and perhaps even audiences in Shakespeare's day (although that seems unlikely since they would have had a greater everyday knowledge of the power structures of Scottish clans), look at Macbeth as the story of power corrupting absolutely. We see it as a story where a man's ambition overrides his goodness, and his callous regicide justly destroys himself, his Lady and everything they have built.

It is a comfortable reading for us. It supports our current belief in good and evil as absolutes, and it allows us to see Duncan as a benevolent leader, Banquo as a victim and Malcolm and Macduff as righteous avengers. It fits our view of the world.

But this reading hurts the complexity that is Macbeth, and it dissolves what makes Macbeth my favourite Shakespearean tragedy -- the tragedy itself.

There is little tragic in the fall of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth if we follow the ill-informed modern reading. They get what they deserve. They commit murder, they make a grab for power, they pay the price. We cannot pity them. And it is difficult to care for them.

But consider the historical context and this reading is tipped on its side like a sacred cow in a dusty field of moonlight.

Macbeth, as the next most powerful Thane, is next in line for Duncan's crown. It is his right. It is the way of Scottish accession. Duncan simply has no right to declare Malcolm the heir, and to do so immediately following Macbeth's greatest victory is both an insult and a challenge.

Moreover, once all others back Malcolm and place themselves against Macbeth they are committing high treason.

Should Macbeth have assassinated King Duncan? Probably not (although the alternative would have been civil war and is killing one King more criminal than being responsible for the death of thousands?), but therein lies the strength of Shakespeare's play. Macbeth and his Lady feel overwhelming guilt, and their killing of Duncan tears them apart. Not because it is what they deserve, but because they are fundamentally virtuous people who made a decision that, even righteous, wounded them as deeply as it wounded those around them.

Taken within the context of Scottish accession, the play becomes much deeper and more meaningful. The conflicts of all the characters are muddied, the right and wrong becomes a worrisome mess, the tragedy deepens, and Macbeth and his Lady become honorable people who make a difficult choice that ultimately undermines their own values. This also suggests that the Witches and the supernatural are not some crazed deus ex machina that makes Macbeth's fate inevitable, but a form of chorus that plants seeds of understanding in the minds of the audience and Macbeth.

It's a great play even if the historical context is ignored, but how much greater is it when the historical context is restored? I feel it becomes a match for Lear and Hamlet. Re-read it and see what you think. (less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' a tragic tale of witches, murder and betrayal. This book was a Treetops Classics guided reading book that I used with my high ability Year 4 group, whom read at a Level 4. It has been adapted by Ian Blake in prose form, in order to make it accessible for children. I found it useful in introducing children to different versions of classic works, and it sparked some interesting discussion about classic literature. At times the group did struggle with some o...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Angie Taylor rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So I didn't love this as much as the other Shakespeare I have read, but it was still way fun to know where so many passages I have heard before come from. I found the intro/prologue fascinating as I learned how long it took Shakespeare to write this (ten days), and to learn why he wrote it the way he did. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were blood thirsty people, but I found it interesting that Shakespeare focused so much on how their bloody deeds eventually made them go insane and want to die. I espec...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a fan of Shakespeare I might be slightly biased, but I think that Macbeth was a very good book. It had an interesting and entertaining plot that held my attention throughout the book/play. Having both versions there in the book to read was beneficial in two ways: it helped me understand what was going on when I was lost, and it also was a great way to learn the language of William Shakespeare's day. I could conveniently compare one word, sentence, paragraph or monologue and discover what they...more As a fan of Shakespeare I might be slightly biased, but I think that Macbeth was a very good book. It had an interesting and entertaining plot that held my attention throughout the book/play. Having both versions there in the book to read was beneficial in two ways: it helped me understand what was going on when I was lost, and it also was a great way to learn the language of William Shakespeare's day. I could conveniently compare one word, sentence, paragraph or monologue and discover what they were saying, which helped me understand the culture back then. I genuinely enjoyed both versions.

I would recommend it to anyone who likes Shakespeare, or even anyone who is tolerable to him. But if you don't like his work at all, maybe this isn't the book for you. Even though it has a great storyline, if the reader doesn't have an appreciation for a book in the format of a drama, he/she may not enjoy it as much as I did. However, if you like a story filled with drama and intensity, then you would enjoy Macbeth.

If you have not read the book and are interested in reading it, STOP HERE. What I am about to say contains spoilers. The main character of the story is Macbeth. He is in high ranks with the king and is conflicted with feelings of jealousy and greed, brought upon him by three witches that have it out for him. At first Macbeth is a highly respected man with great potential and admiration from everyone. However, as he plays with the ideas of being more powerful and taking over, egotism sets in, along with his wife's relentless prompting. He ends up listening to the witches and his wife and kills the king in secret. Throughout the book his conscious continually grows more and more guilty, and as he kills more and more people to gain more power and relieve his own insecurities, it only gets worse. His wife eventually goes crazy and dies. The witches poison his mind by promising him all sorts of things, like how he will never be defeated by any man born of a woman.

He becomes a tyrant hated by everyone. We see this change of character emerge a little bit at the beginning of the story and watch as it progressively gets worse throughout the book. Eventually one of his biggest enemies, Macduff, decides to gather an army and revolt against Macbeth's rule. It ends up to be a face off between Macduff and Macbeth, Macbeth cocky because of the things the witches told him and Macduff eager to restore peace throughout Scotland. In the most climatic pages of the book we find out that Macduff was not born naturally, but instead was a "C-section baby" and therefore Macbeth holds no advantage over Macduff. In the last part of the book, Macduff marches in triumphantly with Macbeth's head.(less)

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Apr 24, 2009 Zach added it · review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare

a few thoughts of mine....

On Macbeth’s Ambivalence

“My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise, and nothing is but what is not . . . If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir” (1.3.139-42, 1.3.144-5).

Upon hearing himself greeted as the Thane of Cawdor (1.3.105), and thus having heard the devil speak true (1.3.107), Macbeth becomes lost in a rapture that undoes what he had previously thought...more a few thoughts of mine....

On Macbeth’s Ambivalence

“My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise, and nothing is but what is not . . . If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir” (1.3.139-42, 1.3.144-5).

Upon hearing himself greeted as the Thane of Cawdor (1.3.105), and thus having heard the devil speak true (1.3.107), Macbeth becomes lost in a rapture that undoes what he had previously thought the boundaries of life—changing life’s being into only what is not. This rapture also seems to suggest an ambivalent desire towards undoing life, an undoing of life ranging from the literal undoing of life, his own and others’, to the undoing of the significance of life. But Macbeth’s ambivalence towards undoing life, in his thought that chance should crown him without his stir, is not strong enough to dissuade him. How might Macbeth’s ambivalence help explain his undoing of life that he continues throughout the play?

Macbeth’s ambivalence towards undoing life is characterized by the abruptness of the vacillations that Macbeth goes through and the extremity to which these vacillations take him. A good example of this begins with the opening quotation. For what appears to be later the same day, or at most a few days after Macbeth declares that chance should crown him without his stir, Macbeth, while receiving praise from King Duncan, quickly perceives King Duncan’s son, the Prince of Cumberland, as an obstacle that he must face (1.4.48-50), thus abandoning his previous aim of not stirring to be crowned. From here, Macbeth reverses again and must have Lady Macbeth help him rediscover his courage for aiding himself in fulfilling the witches’ prophecy that he shall be king (1.7). Macbeth tries to leave his ambivalence behind in recognizing his need to steel himself to his course of action. Yet when Macbeth declares that he still has the initiate’s fear that lacks hard use (3.4.141-42), he has already killed King Duncan, the two servants he framed for Duncan’s murder, had Banquo murdered, and wished the same fate for Banquo’s son, Fleance. Macbeth’s ambivalence towards undoing life is emphasized here because of the extent to which he has already undone life and his lingering ambivalence with doing so. These vacillations reveal Macbeth as a whirlwind of change, unable to hold fast to a particular course of action for very long, yet nonetheless taking action.

This helps explain at least one of the functions of the vacillating, for, as Macbeth whirls between feeling guilty for what he’s done and continuing to undo life, he is able to enact his own advice, “The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see” (1.4.52-53)—Macbeth’s ambivalence obscures his feelings towards what he thinks and does. And it seems as if this is the very manner in which Macbeth finds himself ambivalently undoing life. In the lines that precede the opening quotation, as Macbeth tries to understand what it means to have the witches’ first prophecy come true, he sides with ambivalence in stating that it can be neither ill, nor good (1.3.131), and he is then thrown into a confusion where “nothing is but what is not” (1.3.142). The undoing of the significance, or generally presupposed meaning, of life is the manner in which Macbeth can maintain ambivalence even in action—because the action is still unclear.

As he begins to near his end, Macbeth’s vacillations begin to turn more closely upon his life, and he vacillates from claiming that he shall never fear again (5.3.10) to feeling he has lived long enough (5.3.22) to wishing the entire world undone (5.5.50) to his final vaunt that he will fight until the last (5.8.27-34). In between these is Macbeth’s harrowing conclusion that life “is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (5.5.26-28); it seems that since he is able to treat life as a mere nothing, an idiot’s tale, Macbeth wants to conclude that life is no more than these things. Also, taken at face value, an idiot’s tale seems a practical induction for Macbeth to make after living the life he has lived because life signifying nothing would relieve him of responsibility for his undoing of life or, in the very least, remove the significance, but the noted final vaunt reveals that life did signify more than nothing to Macbeth, despite his claims and despite the fact that Macbeth’s ambivalence, as noted above, has lead to him thinking that nothing is the only thing that is. Macbeth's clinging to life, till the very end, also makes his conclusion that life is an idiot's tale appear as if it is more wishful thinking than earnest conclusion.

Macbeth’s wishful thinking brings to mind a much earlier passage, but is now given a more nuanced meaning. Shortly after killing King Duncan and the two framed servants, Macbeth gives what at first appears as only a necessary, strategic show of grief for the slain king—particularly after his recent recognition that he must play his part to ensure none in his audience detect his involvement (1.7.80-83). But in light of the idea that Macbeth is attempting to believe rather than genuinely believing that life signifies nothing, this passage, “Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had liv’d a blessed time; for, from this instant, there’s nothing serious in mortality; all is but toys” (2.3.89-92), seems to suggest an additional meaning: it is an announcement of the undoing of life that Macbeth is to now begin in earnest, his idiot’s tale. In the first line and a half of this passage Macbeth admits a poignant truth: if he had died just an hour before, he really would have lived something of a blessed life—dying a recent hero, after quieting a rebellion and being praised & rewarded by the king. It is this veracity that begins the passage that lends to what follows, the claim that life is an empty toy, an intimation of a tenable cause and effect relationship—though not one that is static or remains single in direction—and it is this relationship, this ambivalence, that is echoed in chiasmus form as Macbeth struggles to conclude life as an idiot’s tale signifying nothing, but, in his final vaunt, wants nothing more than life.

Macbeth’s desire to treat life like an empty toy or an idiot’s tale can be understood as another vacillation of Macbeth’s ambivalence towards undoing life—as noted above—yet this alone does not offer insight into why Macbeth sees life this way. But as one reflects on the many vacillations that he goes through, Macbeth begins to appear as a toy, being pushed and pulled, back and forth, with the strain and frustration of a heavily used toy, and this experience helps explain why he would want to understand life, for everyone, this way—because his ambivalence is ever present, Macbeth is unable to choose singly for himself and must project his undoing of life on others.

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Dec 03, 2008 Max rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Teens - Adults

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Aug 28, 2012 Doug Conroy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. ...Still my favorite of Shakespeare plays. First off, I just have to say how this play of one man's imperial hubris and revealed lust for power is just extraordinarily dynamic to watch during a presidential campaign season. Such stories as widely seen and read as Macbeth -- "...a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" -- ought to be well understood throughout most if not all of our worldwide community, one would think, by now?

Two major themes that arise while absorbin...more ...Still my favorite of Shakespeare plays. First off, I just have to say how this play of one man's imperial hubris and revealed lust for power is just extraordinarily dynamic to watch during a presidential campaign season. Such stories as widely seen and read as Macbeth -- "...a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" -- ought to be well understood throughout most if not all of our worldwide community, one would think, by now?

Two major themes that arise while absorbing (or seeing) Macbeth are blind ambition and lust for power. The story of Macbeth seizes upon one's senses of fear and desire, subtly conjuring up both feats in quiet and oftentimes near restless interplay of one another, diminishing the viewer's soul by the end to a sort of wise child. What does in Macbeth is his provincial inner-restlessness conflicted with his vaunted personal ambition. The inner-trappings of a great victory in battle allowed his armor and gallantry to be seeded by three witches to apprehend the crown by his own hand. To his amazement, yet already news to the King and his subjects, the second of the witches' three prophecies was instantly and unpredictably fulfilled. And so, by the end of Act I, scene iv, just after he eyes the crown with the line, "for in my way it lies," he then anxiously mutters: "Stars hide your fires, let not light see my deep and black desires..." The language and the story start to settle in, grabbing hold of one's senses. The sharp, poetic interplay of events up until this point lets you pretty well know how the rest of the play will pan out. You know what the rest of this play will be about yet stay rapt with fascination, nonetheless.

Starting out as not-so-simple plan, Macbeth talks himself in and out of betraying his valiant service to King and country. Even though he killed as a soldier in battle, never committed murder, or for that matter treason. In the soliloquy outside of the King's chamber, through the dagger of the mind he creates his alter ego, envisioning the blood on the imaginary dagger until at some point he draws the real dagger and the two become one. Yet, still somewhat in this bewitched state of mind, surrounded by the inner-trappings of the moment and the influences behind all that seemed fated to him seeping into his imagination, justifying the evil and avarice in the world, he quite simply "moves ... like a ghost". He tempts his fate, here, in the undertow of ego, to something so fragile as literally fear of the dark to spook him out of committing the unspeakable. Then, like a feather in a wind, convinces himself.

Macbeth repeatedly willed himself to do the ultimate sin in the name of selfishness and dishonor, which he sensed his conscience could be unable to control. You, the reader, can see at this point that this soldier -- this humble man of honor -- is absolutely not cut out to get away with murder and treason. Bound by faith and/or responsibility, one cannot possibly though every impression know every expression in his/her own backyard; act resolute to ever alter fate completely to one's liking. And, from any potential natural obstacle that can arise uncontrollably from a simple plan, these obstacles were cryptically foretold, had arisen, and were all the while denied. (I'd like to note that the film adaptation by Trevor Nunn, with Judi Dench and Ian McKellen in the lead roles, has a better, more thought-provoking ending than the play, as it is written.)

The scene between Macduff and Malcolm's soul-searching/testing the true nature of a hero (under these circumstances) versus a villain is always a fantastic read.
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Jan 07, 2008 Bagger rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, brits

I went and saw this play in Shakespeare in the Park, and though I had read it for school already, and at the time hadn't cared that much for it. By the time the play was over I had changed my mind, it is a great play, and I think that is one of the best things to do with an author like William Shakespeare, although reading the plays are great, I ended up loving this book, after seeing it at the park, seeing the mannerisms and word inflections that you just don't get in by reading.
The play itself...more

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About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been tr...more William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day. It is an interesting idea that English writer is so closely identified with the Patron Saint of England!

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

According to historians, Shakespeare write 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout the span of his life. Shakespeare's writing average was 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. There have been plays and sonnets contributed to Shakespeare that were not authentically written by the great master of language and literature.
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Quotes from Macbeth

“Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble!” — 1,318 people liked it

“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” — 1,298 people liked it

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