Macbeth

by William Shakespeare

Overview

Dark and bloody drama of ambition, guilt, and revenge centers on an ambitious Scottish nobleman who murders the king in order to succeed to the throne. Tortured by his conscience and fearful of discovery, he becomes fatally enmeshed in a web of treachery and deceit that spells his doom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486113036
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	02/03/2012
Series:	Dover Thrift Editions: Plays
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	890 KB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

William Shakespeare began his career as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company. His works still in existence consist of thirty-eight plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other verses. His sequence of great comedies continue with Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. He introduced prose comedy in the histories of the late 1590s— Henry IV, part one and part two, and Henry V— after the lyrical Richard II. Julius Caesar introduced a new kind of drama.
Shakespeare wrote the so-called ‘problem plays’ in the early 17th century. Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and All’s Well that Ends Well being a few of them. Until about 1608, he mainly wrote tragedies including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus— his last major tragedies, contain some of his finest poetry. He wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, in his last phase. These include Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, as well as the collaboration Pericles, Prince of Tyre.
A true genius, Shakespeare’s popular characters and plots are studied, performed, reinterpreted, and discussed till today.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Read an Excerpt

Dramatis Personae
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Macbeth"
by .
Copyright © 2016 William Shakespeare.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

One of the great Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth is a dark and bloody drama of ambition, murder, guilt, and revenge. Prompted by the prophecies of three mysterious witches and goaded by his ambitious wife, the Scottish thane Macbeth murders Duncan, King of Scotland, in order to succeed him on the throne. This foul deed soon entangles the conscience-stricken nobleman in a web of treachery, deceit, and more murders, which ultimately spells his doom. Set amid the gloomy castles and lonely heaths of medieval Scotland, Macbeth paints a striking dramatic portrait of a man of honor and integrity destroyed by a fatal character flaw and the tortures of a guilty imagination.
A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Macbeth is a blast...ghoulish...beguiling...sardonic...an expression of how captivating an evening of crackling Shakespeare can be." — Peter Marks, The Washington Post

"The explosive and overwhelming effect of a truck bomb...this horrific, riveting Macbeth ought to be seen by as many people as possible." — Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

"This updated edition of Macbeth reveals thorough research, it is conscientiously annotated, and it appears a superb tool for researchers and students involved in Shakespeare scholarship."
The Year's Work in English Studies

From the Publisher

In one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays, a Scots noble, inspired by witches, murders to become king and then loses himself in brutality. James Marsters and Joanne Whalley, as Macbeth and his Lady, are both quite good, if rarely exciting or remarkable. Whalley hits that mark more often. There are, by turns, some flatness and overacting in the lesser roles. There’s too much forced laughter among the supernumeraries and too much grunting during fights we cannot see. Still, the overall production is effective. Without standout performances, the play takes the lead. The music and sound effects, though occasionally overdone, help build a sense of dread and things gone very wrong. Text, performances, and sound combine to deliver an affecting tale of tragic horror. W.M. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2011 - AudioFile