Macbeth

Macbeth is one of those books I can quote pretty much word for word in many places due to it being extensively covered and analysed during English Lit. lessons at High School. What is good about this book is that it different to the type of stories you commonly get these days - the main character isn't really a decent person. At the start of the book Macbeth has now ambition until his fateful encounter with the three witches who tell him he will be "thane of Cawdor and Glamis hereafter"!: First Witch: All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! Second Witch: All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter. Just as a quick side note, "Thane" is term which is similar to what we'd call Governor / Lord Mayor. It's important to remember that this story is not set in England, it is set in Scotland hence it being referred to as "The Scottish Play". After his wife encourages him to make sure that the prophecy from the wi... Read more

Have to agree with Oscar...while this is not necessarily my personal favorite, it may well be Shakespeare's best play (it was the only one we had to read in high school). Certainly, Lady MacBeth ranks as one of the top female villains of all time, and the play's prescient themes of conscience and guilt pre-date Doestoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" by nearly 300 years. Roman Polanski filmed an interesting cinematic interpretation of it in the early 70's that may interest Shakespeare devotees.

Flawless drama. . .great storytelling. . .Lady MacBeth is a role that actresses are dying to play. . .it's also one of billy's shorter plays- the action, violence, betrayal, and conclusion come quick. . .a masterpiece of drama. . .

My favorite of his plays, and the previous reviewers have summed up the reasons why it's so impressive very well. One thing I also really enjoy about the play is the atmosphere and sense of place, it really describes the Scotland of over 500 years before Shakespeare's time in such a vivid manner- one really can visualize the bogs and moors of the place so well. In this respect, it really differs from so many of his plays, which tend to be set in England, France, or Italy. Literature may, rarely, get just as evocative and brilliant as this, but it never really gets any better. Kurosawa did a fine, eerie, Japanese version of this story in his brilliant film "Throne of Blood" too. Timeless.

You gotta love the tragedies! You gotta give Lady Macbeth a hand for being the murderess! ^^ This play was really fun to do when I was in High School.

A highly underrated tragedy and it is Shakespeare's shortest play.

Better seen than read, this play is Shakespeare at his most savage, an extended exposition of the brute heart of ambition and vengeance.

certainly my favorite: corruptable politcs, power hungry women, backstabbing friendships, witchcraft, pretty much everything you could ask of in a play and it all seems to work.

You would love to see it as a movie if you are a Shakespere fan. It has a lot of drama and suspense. Certainly not what children should be reading or watching since there willbe a lot of gore included.

Ohh, man, this is good literature. When Birnham wood started moving and Macbeth can't believe that the prophecies are coming true. It is the Bard's best work by a long shot.

A dark and terrifying work. Great to see if well done, but just as great to read for those with abundant imagination.

A frightening tale which seemed an attempt to demonstrate (as Macbeth becomes increasingly savage as the play goes on) that power corrupts and absoloute power corrupts absoloutely.

Maybe the darkest of Shakespeare's plays (and literally, too: almost every significant scene is set at night or in a dark place). I think it is a play about childlessness: the apparation of the future generations of Banquo, which will displace Macbeth; Lady Macbeth cursing her own organs of increase; the fear and terror of the murdered children (e.g. Macduff's son). It still can be a shocking experience to see, if well produced.

I would almost say that Macbeth is the beginning and the ending of Shakespeare for me. It is one of his three most famous plays, with Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, and it has Will's best soliloquy (in my opinion), although Hamlet's is a very close second. Apparently, superstitious actors will not mention this play by name, fearing the curse of the witches or some such nonsense (they recite some stupid incantation which isn't magical, it sounded spooky and cool to the playwright, that's all).

Deception, lust, horror, murder... it's all here. As entertainment this - in my opinion - is Will's best.