Macbeth - William Shakespeare

German A-level students who´ve chosen English as a major subject for their last two years have to read a play by Shakespeare, when we do it they´re 18 years old and capable of understanding and appreciating the plays by the Bard. They´ve all heard the name and know that the name is famous, but why and what for they rarely know, occasionally someone mentions Romeo and Juliet and Leonardo di Caprio, but that´s all. I rather like this situation because if you don´t know anything about a piece of literature you can find out more easily how it is constructed, if the information necessary to ... more

Macbeth: Mad or Bad? In the play 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare, it is often debated whether Macbeth was evil or whether he was just a victim of his own ambition. It is clear at the beginning, Macbeth is a brave and loyal soldier but tragedies unfold and one death quickly leads to another. Carried along by the persuasion of his wife, Macbeth gets deeper and deeper into his own guilt, struggling to make the witches prophecies come true. He realizes that the witches have tricked him and the play ends in a disastrous tragedy. The witches play an incredibly significant role in Macbeth's ... more

Macbeth is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays, probably because it was one of the first ones I encountered. I think it could be argued that the popular concept of witches comes largely from this play, with lines in it being frequently quoted "hubble bubble, toil and trouble" and of course those gloriously strange spell sessions. The plot: Macbeth is on his way home from fighting, and meets three witches on the road. They tell him he will be made Thane of Cawdor and that he will become King. He writes this to his wife. As he is made Thane of Cawdor, she decides that the logical next step if ... more

Malcolm refers to Macbeth and his wife as “this dead butcher and his fiend-like Queen.” Both characters mentioned in this quotation are dead by the end of the play. Their deaths are both a result of their scheming to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth killed herself because of her guilt. Macbeth was killed by Macduff as he had had his family slain. In Act One, Scene Five, Lady Macbeth is reading the letter that her husband had sent her concerning the witches’ prophecies. She is very much excited about the prospect of Macbeth becoming King. She is so caught up in the thought that she ... more

Macbeth by William Shakespeare is one of my fav plays by Shakespeare. The characters and language are brilliant and although at times the play s difficult to read it is actually one of Sahkespeare's easiest plays. And much easier compared to King Lear or Julius Cesar etc. The story is based around the Scottish monarchy when King Duncan was in power. Macbeth then kills Duncan to gain the throne. It is a story based on power and is gripping throughout. However, i think that the main character was really lady macbeth. Lady Macbeth is often described as the most evil woman in literature ... more