Macbeth (Collector's Library) - Hardcover

William Shakespeare

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1905716796 ISBN 13: 9781905716791

Publisher: CRW Publishing Limited, 2010

Synopsis

Dark and violent, Macbeth is also the most theatrically spectacular of Shakespeare's tragedies. Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king to ensure his ambitions come true. But he soon learns the meaning of terror-killing once, he must kill again and again, and the dead return to haunt him. A story of war, witchcraft, and bloodshed, Macbeth also depicts the relationship between husbands and wives, and the risks they are prepared to take to achieve their desires. Macbeth is one of the last of Shakespeare's great tragedies, and is certainly one of his most disturbing. The insights it affords and the aura of evil that pervades it (it even has its own curse), means that "The Scottish Play" stands out luridly even among Shakespeare's blackest tragic brood.

About this title

Review:

One of Shakespeare's greatest, but also bloodiest tragedies, was written around 1605/06. Many have seen the story of Macbeth's murder and usurpation of the legitimate Scottish King Duncan as having obvious connection to contemporary issues regarding King James I (James VI of Scotland), and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. King James was particularly fascinated with witchcraft, so the appearance of the witches chanting "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" at the opening of the play seemed particularly topical, as was Macbeth's betrayal of Banquo, from whom James claimed direct descent.

However, the play is clearly far more than a piece of royal entertainment. It is also a fast-moving and dramatically satisfying piece of theatre. Macbeth's existential struggle between loyalty to his King and his "Vaulting ambition" is fascinating to watch, as his is struggle with Lady Macbeth, and her own terrifying refusal of her maternal role. The play shows an intensification of Shakespeare's interest in mothers and their effect upon ruling masculinity, and also contains some of the most memorable speeches in the entire canon, including Macbeth's reflections that ultimately life "is a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing". --Jerry Brotton

Review:

"The polymathic scholar and translator Burton Raffel not only elucidates baffling terms but offers guidance on the prosody and declamation of Shakespeare's lines, often to subtle effect, which will be useful to actors as well as readers."--Eric Ormsby, New York Sun

About this edition

• Publisher: CRW Publishing Limited
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1905716796
• ISBN 13: 9781905716791
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 168