Macbeth: Buddy Read

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Sue, Portia, & Loretta? are doing a Buddy Read of Macbeth for September 2016. Everyone is invited to read along.

[Loretta]

Kathy wrote: "Sue, Portia, & Loretta? are doing a Buddy Read of Macbeth for September 2016. Everyone is invited to read along."

Thanks Kathy! :)

[Katy, Old School Classics]

You are welcome. Happy reading -- or I guess this one is a tragedy so maybe not happy.

[Brina]

It is intriguing fun reading and it is happy if you enjoy a thrilling tale.

[Katy, Old School Classics]

This is one of my favorites -- after all few things can top the witches scene.

[Brina]

Exactly!!! If anyone has "time" I strongly suggest reading Serena by Ron Rash upon completing Macbeth. She is a modern day Lady M.

[Jon]

I watched the play a couple of times and was really unimpressed. The whole play happens off stage, right from the opening where we are told a big battle took place and that MacBeth was just great in it, down to every murder except the final one. It struck me as poor use of the stage. And I wasn't able to go much beyond that because I was bored.

Then I read it, and all those speeches worked a bit better. Its almost like a novel with the internality given by the soliloquies and action provided in straightforward flashback.

I still rate it rather low, but I can see why it appeals now.

Particularly the moment in the bedchamber where everyone is praying and the secreted MacBeth cannot. Something about that stood out to me as fantastically visual. The victims praying with their murderer right there, and that ambiguity as to whether fate has put him here or if he's doing the self-fulfillment for the prophesy.

[Krysta]

When I first read Macbeth in junior high I was not particularly impressed. Studying it in high school did not help. but every year that I teach it I develop a greater appreciation for it. It is no Othello or Lear, to be sure, but I have truly come to love it. It's exciting and can be read on so many levels. Macbeth's final scenes are so awesome as he embraces the evil that he believes he has become, and then attempts redemption by upholding bravery... And Lady Macbeth, contrasting so sharply and yet subtle at the same time. Plus, it gets reluctant students fighting over who gets to read for Lady Macbeth, who gets to be in the final battle scene... and if that isn't a measure of awesome, I don't know what is.

[Sarah]

Krysta wrote: "When I first read Macbeth in junior high I was not particularly impressed. Studying it in high school did not help. but every year that I teach it I develop a greater appreciation for it. It is no ..."

Now see I enjoyed Macbeth when we read it in High School, but disliked King Lear. That is probably because I spent most of King Lear thinking about what an idiot I thought Lear was.

[Pink]

I forgot to update, but I read this a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it to a point, as I am a Shakespeare fan and I think this has a great premise. However, I found it lacking in comparison to Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. The film version with Ian McKellan and Julie Dench from the seventies was good, I preferred it to reading the play. Overall, it was probably a 3.5 star read for me, mostly for the relationship between Macbeth and his wife, which I found the most interesting.

[Terris]

Pink, thanks for the reference to the McKellan/Dench Macbeth film. I am planning to read Macbeth soon and I usually need extra reinforcements to help me understand what I just read! Those are two actors that I love, and I can get that DVD through my library! Looking forward to it :)

[Pink]

They have it on YouTube too.

[Terris]

Oh good! Lots easier than waiting for an order from the library!! Thanks :)

[Renee]

I remember loving Macbeth when we read it in high school. I really need to re-read it sometime.

[Jen from Quebec :0)]

Yeah, I like it a lot, actually. It is a great READ...maybe the films haven't been as good as those for Macbeth or something! :0). But seriously though, in my high school you had to fall into one of those 2 camps. (We were very limited in classroom texts. You read one title in grade 10 and the other play was read in grade 11. By everyone. The entire area. And our parents. Seriously.) --Jen from Quebec :0)

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

We now have a group read for Macbeth. Please follow and continue the discussion in the appropriate threads:

Macbeth - No Spoilers

Macbeth - Spoilers