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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... pure naturalism such as we find in Lear . In Macbeth what ' nature ' there is mostly distorted , in Antony and Cleopatra it is outdistanced " ( 334 ) . " In Macbeth nature is deformed , dislocated : in Antony and Cleopatra it is ful ...
... pure faith , and that I may alwayes bee found to walke and live after thy will and pleasure . ( Book of Common Prayer 1605 ) A prayer to be said at the hour of death asks , “ Graunt me , merciful Saviour , that when death hath shut up ...
... pure desire " ( 74 ) . For Michael P. Davis , Macbeth becomes a Nietzschean superman : " To cross those limits means to become something non - human , meaning either sub - human or super - human " ( 1979 , 9 ) . " Nietzsche described ...
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 |