Macbeth: A Graphic Novel: A Graphic Novel (A Classroom-Friendly Visual Adaptation of Shakespeare's Tragedy for YA & Teens Ages 12+ in Grades 7-12)

by Gareth Hinds, Gareth Hinds (Illustrator)

Overview

Shakespeare's classic story of dark ambition, madness, and murder springs to life in a masterful new graphic novel by Gareth Hinds.

Set against the moody backdrop of eleventh-century Scotland, Gareth Hinds’s captivating, richly illustrated interpretation takes readers into the claustrophobic mind of a man driven mad by ambition. An evil seed takes root in the mind of Macbeth, a general in the king’s army, when three witches tell him he will one day be king. At the urging of his wife, he resolves to take the throne by the most direct path: a dagger in the heart of King Duncan. But “blood will have blood,” and when others grow suspicious of his sudden rise to power, is Macbeth prepared to commit more murders to keep the crown?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763678029
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	02/10/2015
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 10.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	GN650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

 

Editorial Reviews

Hinds offers another sensitive adaptation of classic literature in this beautifully colored and evocative rendition of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.... Students struggling to find an entry point into the Scottish play should look no further than this entertaining and elucidating volume. Along with Hinds’ earlier Beowulf (2007) and The Odyssey (2010), an essential addition to Shakespeare collections as well as curricular support materials.
—Booklist (starred review)

Teachers and students alike can rejoice that Hinds has turned his considerable talent for graphic adaptation to the Scottish play.... This is an essential addition to Hinds’ growing library of engrossing adaptations and a must-have companion to Shakespeare’s original.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

With its simple, linear plot, its witches and its ghosts, its clear-cut moral questions about the lure of evil and whether and how we control our own fates, (Macbeth) is well suited for teenagers. Gareth Hinds’s stellar new graphic-novel adaptation, aimed at a young adult audience, makes that abundantly clear. The play also, of course, features some epic fight scenes and lots and lots of blood, and Hinds makes the most of these opportunities to show how naturally Shakespeare takes to the comics form.
—The New York Times

Following his adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and King Lear, Hinds turns to the story of the Scottish king who is ruined by his ambition.... Judicious abridging and even rewording make the text more accessible, yet Shakespeare’s language is preserved throughout. “What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?” Lady Macbeth cries as she tries frantically to clean her hands of blood, a moment whose intensity Hinds drives home with close-ups of dozens of hands rubbing each other, over and over. Such visceral, violent imagery is common—Hinds understands, as Shakespeare did, that sorcery and gore are powerful draws.
—Publishers Weekly

Hinds’s Macbeth will make a solid addition to any graphic novel collection, especially those looking for accessible, enjoyable, and quality Shakespeare adaptations.
—School Library Journal

An adaptation both respectful and daring.
—Kirkus Reviews

Hinds provides an authentic and powerful entry point into the original play.
—Horn Book

From the Publisher

Macbeth…doesn't feature classically adolescent themes…Yet with its simple, linear plot, its witches and its ghosts, its clear-cut moral questions about the lure of evil and whether and how we control our own fates, it is well suited for teenagers. Gareth Hinds's stellar new graphic-novel adaptation…makes that abundantly clear. The play also, of course, features some epic fight scenes and lots and lots of blood, and Hinds makes the most of these opportunities to show how naturally Shakespeare takes to the comics form. Hinds…has condensed the action of Macbeth a bit and in many places maneuvered Shakespeare's iambic pentameter into prose that fits seamlessly into speech bubbles. Little seems to have been lost in that transition. The major soliloquies are intact…while the lines that serve more expositional functions are sometimes reworked so that they still have an iambic feel, but flow naturally to the modern ear…The art is more realistic illustration than the familiar bursting-off-the-page comics style, but that is fitting. The book feels like a remarkably faithful rendering of the world of the play.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

2014-12-06
Having previously interpreted The Merchant of Venice (2008), King Lear (2009) and Romeo and Juliet (2013), Hinds turns his pencil to the Scottish Play.In a palette that alternates between gloomy Highlands grays, greens and blues and firelight russets that modulate easily to blood, Hinds evinces a medieval Scottish setting, giving his graphic-novel production a traditional feel. Macbeth is darkly Celtic, Lady Macbeth a Gaelic redhead and Banquo a burly Norseman, neatly capturing Scotland's ethnic mix. From an opening spread that combines a map and dramatis personae, the action plays out in Hinds' characteristically clean and thoughtful panels, with Shakespeare's language largely intact. Many lines have been cut, but those that remain preserve the feel of the original in diction and syntax, only a few words judiciously massaged. Perhaps the biggest change—the recasting of much of the play's iambic pentameter into speech-bubble-friendly prose—is aurally almost indistinguishable from the original. Scenes that rely on acting rather than dialogue to carry meaning, such as Banquo's murder, unfold lucidly, although the porter scene may mystify more than it amuses, Shakespearean humor being particularly reliant upon acting for its success. Copious backmatter, including seven pages of notes explaining various artistic and directorial choices, provides fascinating insight and will be particularly valuable in a classroom setting. An adaptation both respectful and daring that should please all but the most ardent traditionalists. (Graphic drama. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews