Rereading Macbeth: Harder than I thought

OK, score one for the kid. This is slow going. It's quite possible that the last time I read Macbeth was in college with this same copy of The Riverside Shakespeare complete with ballpoint pen underlining and fervent annotations jotted as neatly as possible as if applied to the margins of holy writ. One of my favorite professors used to say that Shakespeare was so superior to his contemporaries and anyone since that he would be a believable example of an extraterrestrial alien if such a thing exists. I’ve always remembered that, obviously, but I forgot how painstakingly one must unravel each arcane reference, each elegant rhythm, each multi-layered image, like an archeologist unwrapping the almost ethereal gauze of an ancient, mummified king. Now, without the benefit of a professor in front of the room I turn to an invention which did not even exist when I was in school, the internet. Even heavily annotated versions of the play like the one found in The Riverside Shakespeare, only address a fraction of the questions modern readers have, so you end up drawing on several sources. Only when all those questions are answered can you relax a bit and really begin appreciating the language itself with its rhymes and rhythms and cadences. I’ve not even made it to Act I Scene IV yet, but already I’ve felt the holy shit stirring realization of alien intelligence that I felt as an idealistic English Major a quarter century ago. I’m glad that the passing of time hasn’t killed that. The Riverside Shakespeare