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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... play since the early seventeenth century . For the professional , this outline encourages further study and new insights as the play approaches its four - hundredth anniversary . The Scottish play continues to lend itself to newer ...
... plays ( 1988 , 102 ) . Shakespeare's " constraint is clearly illus- trated by Macbeth , " according to Watts ( 103 ) . " The play's grotesque endorsement of such superstition [ as witchcraft ] is clearly one of its most re- gressive and ...
... play proceeds ” ( 1963 , 36 ) . The effect of the imagery and language of this play is , according to Jorgensen " violently vivid , tactile , and generally sensory " ( 1971 , 2 ) . The play manifests a " dark and painful power resulting ...
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 |