I had no idea what this play was about. I knew it was a tragedy, and you would have to had lived under a rock to not have heard the Three Witches (or weird sisters) quoted:"Double, double toil and trouble Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." (IV,i)
Apparently, there really was a Macbeth in Scottish history, but he was an honored monarch.
Shakespeare borrowed the story from several tales in Holinshed's Chronicles, a popular history of the British Isles known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In Chronicles, a man named Donwald finds several of his family put to death by his king, King Duff, for dealing with witches. After being pressured by his wife, he and four of his servants kill the King in his own house. In Chronicles, Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to support the kingdom in the face of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo meet the three witches, who make exactly the same prophecies as in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot the murder of Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a long, ten-year reign before eventually being overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. The parallels between the two versions are clear. However, some scholars think that George Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia matches Shakespeare's version more closely. Buchanan's work was available in Latin in Shakespeare's day.[10]
From Wikipedia: MacBeth
As I listened and walked, I heard Macbeth tell Lady Macbeth:
Away and mock the time with fairest show;
False face must hide what the fall heart doth know. (I,vii)Then I remembered that the title of the book, TrueFaced: Trust God and Others with Who You Really Are, that I read last year was based on this quote!
This wasn't my favorite play. It was just OK.
2 comments:
I read this last year and it was a challenge! I spent most of the book looking at the definition of words at the back!
Trying to decide whether to read another Shakespear.
So far, it is my least favorite of all the plays. I couldn't wait for it to be over! LOL!
I like to read Shakepeare on my Kindle because then I can just put the cursor next to the word to find out what it means. Since it is an Oxford dictionary, it defines most of his archaic words!
No Fear Shakespeare is another alternative too. When I get really stuck I look at their paraphrase on line!
The Merchant of Venice was pretty nice. It has some deep thoughts. I recommend finding an audio version too. That so helps the enjoyment of it!
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