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Macbeth: The Graphic Novel
The Graphic Novelization of a Classic Tale!
Shakespeare’s classic play of deception, intrigue, and murder is reinvented in the Japanese manga style. Set on a vast ringworld encircling a sun, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, scheme and plot their way to power, only to be undone by their own deadly plans. Artist Tony Tamai’s unique vision and style breathe new life into a captivating classic.
Shakespeare’s classic play of deception, intrigue, and murder is reinvented in the Japanese manga style. Set on a vast ringworld encircling a sun, Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, scheme and plot their way to power, only to be undone by their own deadly plans. Artist Tony Tamai’s unique vision and style breathe new life into a captivating classic.
352 pages, Paperback
Published September 8, 2005
About the author
William Shakespeare
18k books48.5k followersWilliam Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is 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 extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 12, 2019
This is definitely a strange adaption of Macbeth. I never thought of Macbeth being set in the distant future in space. The Shakespearean English set in a science fiction was strange and I couldn't get used to it. My biggest problem with this adaption though is that most of the characters were drawn so similarly that I had a hard time telling them apart, I couldn't tell the difference between Macbeth, Macduff and Banquo. I gave this three stars because of my bias towards the original play, Macbeth is my favorite Shakespearean play so that made me bump up my rating some.
November 1, 2012
Adds little or nothing to the original Shakespeare text. The drawings alone are the only indication that the setting has changed from Scotland to some distant robo-future land. A description or explanation of the new setting was needed to make this worth while. Skip the novel. Read the original. Or better yet go see a stage or screen version of it instead.
February 3, 2018
why is Shakespeare so hard to read?! all of the panels were overflowing with art, which did not help. the way the characters talk is so hard to understand and with all the detail to the pictures I had no idea who was who.
July 24, 2022
This version of Macbeth isn't much of an adaptation. It's the text of the original play put on top of some sci-fi images. I was so excited for a Shakespeare/sci-fi mash-up, but there's not a new, unique story here.
July 20, 2017
The illustrations in this graphic novel area so imaginative. They give fresh life to Macbeth!
March 11, 2023
Sci fi Shakespeare doesn't really work for this play.
November 23, 2015
Ok -- granted, I'm not the intended audience. I have read (and taught) MACBETH. I find it fascinating. So I don't need a strange sci-fi setting with cyborgs and dragons. I don't need MacBeth and Lady M to look like cutesy Manga characters...
The author has edited and parsed the dialogue from the play, and did a good job of keeping the basic plot while speeding the book along.
MACBETH is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, and this did nothing for me at all. I tried to look at it with my teacher hat and ask if it would help kids comprehend...not sure. But I wouldn't offer it as an alternative.
The author has edited and parsed the dialogue from the play, and did a good job of keeping the basic plot while speeding the book along.
MACBETH is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, and this did nothing for me at all. I tried to look at it with my teacher hat and ask if it would help kids comprehend...not sure. But I wouldn't offer it as an alternative.
August 5, 2010
A truly terrible graphic novel of Macbeth. I have no problem with setting the story in a sci-fi world, but Cover makes no sense of it. The owl mentioned in a lizard. A robot can't look pale with fear. In an afterward, Cover directs readers to a book by a sci-fi writer if they want to know more about Shakespeare, not to better books. This is a sad mess of poor storytelling that gets the Shakespeare wrong.
January 27, 2016
I give it 2 and a half stars for an "It's ok" rating.
I mean, Macbeth is a great story but I didn't get the setting of this. Like, why it's set in a futuristic place but yet kept the dialogue likened to the play, even the way it's said. Macbeth was written in the 16th century. Keeping dialogue taken from that time and placing it in a futuristic manner? I don't know. I didn't get that. But it was only a quarter, I like Shakespeare and it takes less than two hours to read, so, meh.
I mean, Macbeth is a great story but I didn't get the setting of this. Like, why it's set in a futuristic place but yet kept the dialogue likened to the play, even the way it's said. Macbeth was written in the 16th century. Keeping dialogue taken from that time and placing it in a futuristic manner? I don't know. I didn't get that. But it was only a quarter, I like Shakespeare and it takes less than two hours to read, so, meh.
July 26, 2011
I appreciate the effort made to adapt this classic tragedy into a new form, but I am not sure it fully worked here. The ideas and images were present, but it does not for me hold together as a cohesive whole. In particular, the combination of images and words actually made reading it difficult as it was hard to follow what was happening.
June 30, 2016
Interesting to see how they put it together.
April 22, 2017
I really wanted to like this. But so much important text is missing from the play, that I just can't.
The witches don't even tell him he will be king. That's the kind of omission I'm talking about. Or just the last word of a sentence.
The witches don't even tell him he will be king. That's the kind of omission I'm talking about. Or just the last word of a sentence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2019
I thought it was a really good illustration on an old classic story.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews