Macbeth: A Guide to the PlayThough written nearly 400 years ago, Shakespeare's Macbeth continues to capture the interest of modern audiences. Laden with political intrigue, supernatural elements, and complex psychological issues, Macbeth is a play of contemporary relevance, despite its tale of witches and ancient Scottish kings. While the play reflects seventeenth-century theological and political concerns, it also explores enduring themes, such as fate and free will, appearance and reality, order and disorder, ambition and obedience, and madness and sanity. Macbeth has been staged countless times, and it has also been produced for film and television. Numerous editions of the play exist, it is one of the most widely taught dramatic works, and scholars have written an enormous amount of criticism about it. This reference book is a comprehensive guide to the play. |
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... Duncan . The scene suggests to some that either Macbeth falls very quickly into the suggestive net that the Weird Sisters have begun to thread , or that his prior thoughts of killing Duncan and taking the throne have reemerged after the ...
... Duncan and his party move toward Inverness , he and Banquo exchange remarks on the Castle's pleasant atmosphere . Of the " martlet ' speech , L. C. Knights asserts , " What we are contemplating here is a natural and wholesome order , of ...
... Duncan with thy knocking , " he shouts . " I would thou could'st . " The actor has a choice here— " Wake Duncan " with the emphasis on " Wake ” can be a command to the dead king . With the emphasis on the first syllable of " Duncan ...
Contents
Critical Approaches | 117 |
The Play in Performance | 139 |
Selected Bibliography | 199 |
Copyright | |
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References to this book
Shakespeare's Visual Theatre: Staging the Personified Characters Frederick Kiefer Limited preview - 2003 |