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    Macbeth (new classics)
    Macbeth (new classics)
    Macbeth (new classics)
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    Macbeth (new classics)

    By William Shakespeare

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    About this ebook

    SCENE I. An open Place. Thunder and Lightning.
    ​
    [Enter three Witches.]

    ​FIRST WITCH.
    When shall we three meet again?
    In thunder, lightning, or in rain?



    SECOND WITCH.
    When the hurlyburly's done,
    When the battle's lost and won.



    THIRD WITCH.
    That will be ere the set of sun.



    FIRST WITCH.
    Where the place?



    SECOND WITCH.
    Upon the heath.



    THIRD WITCH.
    There to meet with Macbeth.



    FIRST WITCH.
    I come, Graymalkin!



    ALL.
    Paddock calls:—anon:—
    Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
    Hover through the fog and filthy air.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilliam Shakespeare
    Release dateSep 28, 2015
    ISBN9788893155083
    Macbeth (new classics)
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare is the world's greatest ever playwright. Born in 1564, he split his time between Stratford-upon-Avon and London, where he worked as a playwright, poet and actor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two, leaving three children—Susanna, Hamnet and Judith. The rest is silence.

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    Reviews for Macbeth (new classics)

    4/5

    5,896 ratings72 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I'm not a big Shakespeare fan, so I won't rate any of his works very high
    • 5/5
      Classic tragedy.
    • 4/5
      I have no spur
      To prick the sides of my intent, but only
      Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
      And falls on the other.

      Last winter I heard a report on NPR about Stalin's dacha in Sochi. Such featured some curious design features including a bulletproof sofa with extended headrests that prevented his head being exposed from behind to an assassin. The curtains were also shorter in length from the top to prevent someone from hiding from behind them. As I drove I mused as to what sort of world-view would emerge from someone's sense of self and safety?

      The Bard's tale chooses not to address the policy of Macbeth but rather allows him only time to address his version of destiny in such a spirited supernatural environment. Macbeth is a rushed affair. It lacks the splendid pacing of Hamlet. Apparently Fortune favors the breathless as the narrative steps are sprinted and obstacles leaped like some wonky Wuxia. Despite all the gore, there isn't a great deal of introspection or even calculation. Such is strange but not so much as some things one finds on the Heath.(postscript: I just watched the Patrick Stewart led PBS film version: it was simply an avalanche.)
    • 5/5
      Classic. My favorite SS play.
    • 5/5
      Opening with the prophecies of the three witches always caught my imagination. I love how the story relates to that throughout the play, and also how Macbeth is intrigued that he may indeed become king. It adds a great, dramatic effect. Beginning to end this is a brilliantly written play.
    • 4/5
      Audiobook. It was done like a play and very enjoyable =)
    • 5/5
      Haven't read this since school. Thundering great stuff, and the witches are magnificent. 5/5
    • 5/5
      I don't recall reading Macbeth since high school, yet as I listened to the audio version I found myself quoting lines along with the actors. The play seems like it's full of cliches, yet it's the source for phrases like “vaulting ambition”, “a charmed life”, “be-all and end-all”, and “milk of human kindness”. Reader that I am, I also caught several book titles “borrowed” from its lines: Borrower of the Night (Elizabeth Peters), Look to the Lady (Margery Allingham), Light Thickens (Ngaio Marsh), By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Agatha Christie), Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury), The Sound and the Fury (William Faulkner). I'm a long-time fan of the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, so it was a little disconcerting to hear Siegfried Farnon (i.e., Robert Hardy) in the role of Duncan. That aside, it's an exciting dramatization of one of Shakespeare's most famous plays.
    • 4/5
      Having just read a biography about the bard, I read or better re-read the tragedy of Macbeth. Its strength lies in the fantastic special effects. Witches, ghosts and woods grab the attention much more than the bloody body count. While Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have become stock characters, they lack the inherent ambivalence that makes Shakespeare’s villains great. Mr and Mrs Macbeth are but a greedy power couple that loses control of the events it triggered. Incidentally, the tragedy of Macbeth nearly passes the Bechdel test – if only he had given names to the witches or created a female sidekick for Lady Macbeth. The visual nature of the play really calls for the theater not a reading.
    • 4/5
      I read Macbeth when I was younger -- year seven or so -- and watched some kind of adaptation of it made for TV. I didn't remember it well enough to do any kind of review (and Shakespeare is usually too recent for me, and irrelevant for my purposes, since he never touched on the Matter of Britain). Anyway, I had a long car journey today, and a pound or two left of a gift certificate, so I bought myself Macbeth and Hamlet for my Kindle.

      I still don't like reading plays, but it is funny when reading Shakespeare's plays to realise how often they're quoted by everyone, often by people who don't know what they're quoting. My cousin quoted Shakespeare at dinner today: I'm not sure he's ever read a book in his life.

      Macbeth is a powerful play, even just in text, and I wish I could see it performed.
    • 3/5
      I think this is one which needs to be seen. It seemed very slow to me, aside from the bits with murder and ghosts.
    • 5/5
      Obviously, Shakespeare is a poetic genius. This play is beautifully written and contains messages about morality. Although Shakespeare's writing can be sometimes hard to understand, I followed this play very well and found it very entertaining. It is interesting to notice the way that fate plays a huge role in the outcome of the play.
    • 5/5
      My favorite Shakespeare play so far, due to the simple depth of the plot, the cool use of the witches, and the straightforward, yet dynamic characters.
    • 4/5
      Macbeth is a tragic tale of power and corruption. The main character, Macbeth, is persuaded by his wife and supernatural forces to kill the sitting king he serves in order to take the throne himself. To cover up his crime he is forced to kill others including his close friend Banquo. The plot of this story is intense and highly interesting. The inclusion of witches and voices and daggers and the tolling of bells create a level of suspense that may keep young readers on the edge of their seats if they can understand the language. The old English style is often hard for students who use the modern vernacular to understand. In addition, students need to understand that the author wrote this play to be preformed and not read. Therefore, I feel that English language learners as well as struggling readers may have trouble reading this book on their own. It is definitely a play that can be read and acted out as a whole class at the high school level.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my absolute favorite plays by Shakespeare. The "Scottish Play" contains the supernatural, riddles and memorable quotes. It is a testament about the times and a warning to those that would deceive others to get what they want. This play is a must read/see!
    • 5/5
      Shakespeare is, it goes almost without saying, likely the greatest English author ever. No one else uses the language quite as well as he does. And of all his plays, Macbeth is by far my favorite. It's short and to the point, it has one of the strongest moral messages of any of his plays, contains some of his best character development in the Lord and Lady Macbeth, and it is elegantly written, posessing several of Shakespeare's most impressive soliloquies and an excellent example of his abilities at duplicitous wordplay.
    • 4/5
      Not my favorite in any sense. An interesting read. Worth the read for the exposure to Shakespeare's writing. The story itself, however, wasn't as engaging for me personally. Because I read it at 2AM had something to do with it, I'm sure. I'll revisit it, I'm sure.
    • 5/5
      It's interesting to consider the role fate has in this play. And of course, it helps to have the guides at the bottom of the page that explains some of the texts.
    • 2/5
      Not fun to read. A cool line every 20 lines or so. Pretty good story, I would have enjoyed it more if it was written in regular, somewhat poetic prose.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating scholarly edition, but looking forward to the updated Arden edition, to be released in 2014.
    • 5/5
      This was my father's, now it is mine. Each fan of Shakespeare has read this one. It's a goodie.
    • 4/5
      I read this play my senior year of high school, and immediately enjoyed it more than HAMLET, especially because of the three Witches. And when my teacher pointed out that the punctuation within one of Lady Macbeth's paragraphs seems to connotate that she is reaching orgasm simply by talking about all the power she is about to obtain, I was hooked. I love several of the monologues.
    • 5/5
      I can't believe I hadn't read this sooner and hope to see a production of it one of these days. I must say I have a soft spot in my heart for the three weird sisters.
    • 5/5
      I got in a massive reading slump as I was into the 3rd act of this wonderful and short tragedy, so it took me a bit more to finish the book. The last 2 acts are packed with action and emotions and the characters are iconic to say the least: Lady Macbeth, the epitome of the power-hungry, manipulative and seemingly emotionless woman, she's the victim of her own humanity, her husband Macbeth whose mortal enemies are his doubtfulness and his mania for control, proof that misunderstanding or underestimating something can be truly fatal. Macduff and his pain are masterfully crafted and we can appreciate his weakness when he's with Malcolm and doesn't hide his feelings of despair and his strength when he faces Macbeth, the cause of his grief. It wasn't the easiest or quickest read I have done, but most definitely worth it. The intro by Cedric Watts is a nice addition as well.
    • 5/5
      Shakespeare can sometimes be intimidating if you aren't a) a English Lit major (or a former one); b) 500 years old; or c) accustomed to speaking in iambic pentameter. I'm none of the above, but love his language, imagery, and stories. This particular edition, featuring Nicholas Brooke's annotations, is the best edition of any Shakespeare I've read. His annotations are informative, but unobtrusive. He explains language that is obscure today, notes the double meanings that would have been commonly known in Shakespeare's time, and creates a context for the story and play.
    • 5/5
      I read Lady Macbeth's part at school.

      That should tell you all that you need to know about me.
    • 5/5
      It wasn't in my reading plans, but today when I came across "the Scottish play" I couldn't resist. What can I say that hasn't already been said? It is astonishing just how far ambition can push a person, and how difficult it is to live with the results. This is one of my favourites from Shakespeare. It never fails to entertain whether on the stage or on paper.
    • 3/5
      Before reading the play my instinct was to say that the three witches symbolize the three fates. The number is the same and the three witches finish each other's sentences in the way that the fates are usually portrayed as doing. The fact that what the witches predict comes true, and comes true only because Macbeth acted on their prophecy (rather like how Trelawney's prophecy in Harry Potter came true only because Voldemort acted on it).

      The biggest difference between the witches and the fates is that (in spite of how popular culture portrays them) in their original mythology the fates do not try to cause harm. They simply do their job creating people's destiny, and occasionally recite a prophecy, without any malicious intent. The witches on the other hand are deliberately trying to lead Macbeth to corrupt his soul. The way that they hint to him that he has good things coming, just enough to make him act to gain those things, even at the expense of others. Even at the expense of his own soul. Because of this I think that the Weird Sisters represent demons, and Hecate, who reprimands them not for the harm that they have done, but for not letting her in on their fun; 'How did you dare/To trade and traffic with Macbeth/In riddles and affairs of death;/And I, the mistress of your charms,/The close contriver of all harms,/Was never call'd to bear my part,/ Or show the glory of our art?'

      It appears to me that the Weird Sisters may represent demons, with Hecate representing Satan. Another possibility could be that the witches represent the potential for evil in Macbeth, easily egged on by Lady Macbeth because it is already within his capacity to commit.

      The witches apply to the themes of violence and fate. In violence as they spur Macbeth onto violence in his second meeting with them, summoning visions of bleeding heads and murdered babies. And fate as they cause Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo to question whether the things they predicted would come to pass naturally, or if they will have to act to gain the prophecies.

      Without the Weird Sisters the play would not have happened, unless something else took their place. They are responsible for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth resorting to violence, and all the chaos that ensues. They could have been replaced by Macbeth making a conscious decision to kill King Duncan to gain power, but that wouldn't have been as compelling.

      Lady Macbeth pushed Macbeth to kill the king trusting on the words the witches enough to believe that Macbeth would become king, but not trusting enough to wait and see if he would become king without them taking action. Ultimately neither husband nor wife could live with the guilt.

      (This review was originally a discussion post I wrote for an online Shakespeare class.)
    • 5/5
      My all time favorite.
    • 4/5
      A shakespeare play full of tragedy, love, and a crazy hunger for power. An amazing play by William Shakespeare.

    Book preview

    Macbeth (new classics) - William Shakespeare

    Castle.

    ACT I.

    SCENE I. An open Place. Thunder and Lightning.

    [Enter three Witches.]

    FIRST WITCH.

    When shall we three meet again?

    In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

    SECOND WITCH.

    When the hurlyburly's done,

    When the battle's lost and won.

    THIRD WITCH.

    That will be ere the set of sun.

    FIRST WITCH.

    Where the place?

    SECOND WITCH.

    Upon the heath.

    THIRD WITCH.

    There to meet with Macbeth.

    FIRST WITCH.

    I come, Graymalkin!

    ALL.

    Paddock calls:—anon:—

    Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

    Hover through the fog and filthy air.

    [Witches vanish.]

    SCENE II. A Camp near Forres.

    [Alarum within. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding Soldier.]

    DUNCAN.

    What bloody man is that? He can report,

    As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt

    The newest state.

    MALCOLM.

    This is the sergeant

    Who, like a good and hardy soldier, fought

    'Gainst my captivity.—Hail, brave friend!

    Say to the king the knowledge of the broil

    As thou didst leave it.

    SOLDIER.

    Doubtful it stood;

    As two spent swimmers that do cling together

    And choke their art. The merciless Macdonwald,—

    Worthy to be a rebel,—for to that

    The multiplying villainies of nature

    Do swarm upon him,—from the Western isles

    Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied;

    And fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,

    Show'd like a rebel's whore. But all's too weak;

    For brave Macbeth,—well he deserves that name,—

    Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,

    Which smok'd with bloody execution,

    Like valor's minion,

    Carv'd out his passag tTill he fac'd the slave;

    And ne'er shook hands, nor bade farewell to him,

    Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,

    And fix'd his head upon our battlements.

    DUNCAN.

    O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!

    SOLDIER.

    As whence the sun 'gins his reflection

    Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders break;

    So from that spring, whence comfort seem'd to come

    Discomfort swells. Mark, King of Scotland, mark:

    No sooner justice had, with valor arm'd,

    Compell'd these skipping kerns to trust their heels,

    But the Norweyan lord, surveying vantage,

    With furbish'd arms and new supplies of men,

    Began a fresh assault.

    DUNCAN.

    Dismay'd not this

    Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?

    SOLDIER.

    Yes;

    As sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion.

    If I say sooth, I must report they were

    As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks;

    So they

    Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe:

    Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds,

    Or memorize another Golgotha,

    I cannot tell:—

    But I am faint; my gashes cry for help.

    DUNCAN.

    So well thy words become thee as thy wounds;

    They smack of honor both.—Go, get him surgeons.

    [Exit Soldier, attended.]

    Who comes here?

    MALCOLM.

    The worthy Thane of Ross.

    LENNOX.

    What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look

    That seems to speak things strange.

    [Enter Ross.]

    ROSS.

    God save the King!

    DUNCAN.

    Whence cam'st thou, worthy thane?

    ROSS.

    From Fife, great king;

    Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky

    And fan our people cold.

    Norway himself, with terrible numbers,

    Assisted by that most disloyal traitor

    The Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict;

    Till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapp'd in proof,

    Confronted him with self-comparisons,

    Point against point rebellious, arm 'gainst arm,

    Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude,

    The victory fell on us.

    DUNCAN.

    Great happiness!

    ROSS.

    That now

    Sweno, the Norways' king, craves composition;

    Nor would we deign him burial of his men

    Till he disbursed, at Saint Colme's-inch,

    Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

    DUNCAN.

    No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive

    Our bosom interest:—go pronounce his present death,

    And with his former title greet Macbeth.

    ROSS.

    I'll see it done.

    DUNCAN.

    What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

    [Exeunt.]

    SCENE III. A heath.

    [Thunder. Enter the three Witches.]

    FIRST WITCH.

    Where hast thou been, sister?

    SECOND WITCH.

    Killing swine.

    THIRD WITCH.

    Sister, where thou?

    FIRST WITCH.

    A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,

    And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd:—Give me, quoth I:

    Aroint thee, witch! the rump-fed ronyon cries.

    Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:

    But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

    And, like a rat without a tail,

    I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

    SECOND WITCH.

    I'll give thee a wind.

    FIRST WITCH.

    Thou art kind.

    THIRD WITCH.

    And I another.

    FIRST WITCH.

    I myself have all the other:

    And the very ports they blow,

    All the quarters that they know

    I' the shipman's card.

    I will drain him dry as hay:

    Sleep shall neither night nor day

    Hang upon his pent-house lid;

    He shall live a man forbid:

    Weary seven-nights nine times nine

    Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:

    Though his bark cannot be lost,

    Yet it shall be tempest-tost.—

    Look what I have.

    SECOND WITCH.

    Show me, show me.

    FIRST WITCH.

    Here I have a pilot's thumb,

    Wreck'd as homeward he did come.

    [Drum within.]

    THIRD WITCH.

    A drum, a drum!

    Macbeth doth come.

    ALL.

    The weird sisters, hand in hand,

    Posters of the sea and land,

    Thus do go about, about:

    Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

    And thrice again, to make up nine:—

    Peace!—the charm's wound up.

    [Enter Macbeth and Banquo.]

    MACBETH.

    So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

    BANQUO.

    How far is't call'd to Forres?—What are these

    So wither'd, and so wild in their attire,

    That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,

    And yet are on't?—Live you? or are you aught

    That man may question?

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