Rating:  Summary: Worst Play Possible Review: For centuries, Shakespeare's plays have been praised as incredible masterpieces. They are awful, and Macbeth is a good example. It's just completely stupid.Near to the end, Macduff goes to England to find Malcolm to get an army. Never mind the fact that Malcolm had fled, and therefore would have no power in another country. The main thing is that they get an army, and go to Scotland. If you were living at this time would you really drop everything and risk your life to kill some king in a foreign country when you are not even going to take control of that country? Of course not. Also, why didn't Macbeth just use the Scottish army to stop Macduff's army? They successfully stopped previous English attempts to invade Scotland (in real life this is) so why couldn't they do the same now? Finally, the most stupid scene is when Macduff's army camouflages with branches. Surely someone would have noticed them walking through the rest of Scotland to get to the castle. As well as the completely unnatural dialogue (if you've just been told that your father has died, you don't start talking about birds) it's too corny to be raised above "terrible". The plot is a standard "Good Guy ruling wisely, Bad Guy kills Good Guy and becomes Evil Overlord, gets killed by another Good Guy and they all live happily ever after." In short, this is unbelievably bad. I only know it so well because it has been forced down my throat for over a year.
Rating:  Summary: Great example of Shakespeare, yet easy enough to understand Review: Having studied this book for GCSE, I imagined it to be a typical example of an Old English story which was either soppy or CRAP!! However I was pleased and surprised to find that I was able to understand it with the help of notes. This play incorporates many features used in Shakespearean plays and which are woven to make this a play of murder, mystery, evil, righteousness, and love. THe author ingeniously uses our humble language so as to produce a masterpiece. The story is compelling and although it appears as a nonsensical plot it makes for great reading. The only reservation I have about this play is that the language will invariably put people off. Strive with it!!!!
Rating:  Summary: Frighteningly Good! Review: I don't feel "Macbeth" quite matches "Hamlet" or "King Lear." Nevertheless, it is a phenomenal piece of literature. The witches add a chilling demonic feature. It is interesting that even though they deceive Macbeth, they do not tell complete falsehoods. Except for the crimes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, they are actually a real likeable couple. They stand by each other and cover each other's mistakes. We can see that their marriage is a successful one. Also, unlike Richard III or Goneril, they do not have the gift of blankness. They clearly regret their actions and suffer for them. Duncan is well drawn as a benevolent and virtuous king who is too trusting. Malcolm is fine as a sharper version of his father. King James' ancestor Banquo is well drawn as a virtuous general who is sharp enough to see through the witches' flattering promises, and eventually returns from the dead to confront his killer. Macduff and Siward are fine as the 2 Dimensional champions of good. The drunken porter offers us a few welcome laughs. Ross and Angus are interesting in that their gradual change from being supporters of Macbeth to enemies of Macbeth emphasize Macbeth's degeneration. Seyton is fine as the man who remains loyal to Macbeth to the end. Lennox is interesting as the man who never swallowed the 'official story' of Duncan's death. He says that Duncan was murdered by: "Those of his chamber, AS IT SEEMED...." (2.3.119). Being the cautious man he is, he waits until an absurd 'official story' of Banquo's death comes out before he becomes an enemy of Macbeth. So we have chilling images, lots of action, 3 D protagonists, good characters, evil characters, suspicious characters, naive characters, malignant forces, historical foundations, memorable passages, and even some comic relief. If you like this play, I suggest the B & W production with Orson Welles as Macbeth.
Rating:  Summary: A Bloody story of witchcraft and betrayal!!!! Review: I felt that Macbeth was the easiest to understand of all Shakespeare plays. I thought this play was based on betrayal, witchcraft, and murder. Though Macbeth committed many murders, I think his wife influenced him greatly. She poisoned the guards so Macbeth could assassinate Duncan. The witches also had a lot of influence on Macbeth. Every time he visited them they would tell him the future, what murders he would commit, and what thrones he would take. I thought that Macbeth should have prepared for Duncan's sons and friends to come back for revenge. Since he was going insane from hearing the voices and seeing the ghosts he was doomed for death. I was rather disappointed in this play compared to all of the other Shakespeare play that I've read. Although this is an exceptional book compared to "Lord of Flies". Macbeth is much more exciting.
Rating:  Summary: Suits our needs Review: I won't even attempt to critique Shakespeare's work, as some have done here. I'm not reviewing MacBeth, but this particular version of it. As a homeschooling Mom with three highschool students, the only way we could get through Shakespeare's works is by having a copy of Shakespeare Made Easy on hand. As it is, we completed 5 plays this year - all done orally, with each of us taking several parts. While I think it's important that my kids read Shakespeare in it's original format (and they did), I had the Shakespeare Made Easy translation handy so that I could give simple, concise explanations whenever they just didn't "get it". I recommend these books for that purpose - not for the watered down versions of these classics, but to make them understandable to the average student who might otherwise find Shakespeare's works boring and a waste of time (as many students do).
Rating:  Summary: Not hard to understand but sounds like a "Duppy Show" Review: Macbeth is the most understandable of all the Sharkespares I have read. However, reading this book is like watching a horror movie and tempted to turn off the television but can not do it, because you want to see what happens next. I believe the witches have all the influence in the book. They trigger the bad and confussing aspects of the book. The book speaks of man's attempt to aquire power by the most unfair ways,which do not work out in the end. It brings death, diseases, lies ect. It speaks of unfair competition for gain and the negative consequence of it : - you can lose your friends. Overall, Macbeth is a good book because it has ,in it a message of the importance of fairness, trusting in God and not familiar spirits as well as teachings of the results of chaos.
Rating:  Summary: A hopeless play, "signifing nothing" Review: Macbeth was a blood bath. A story of a weak man who is so overtaken with evil that he does anything to become and stay king. If Macbeth were really smart, he would have told the witches where to go from the very begining. Lady Macbeth could almost be called the fourth witch, her evil heart later betrays her and insanity sets in. The play simply glorifys evil and gives the world the sense that there is no hope for mankind.Is our life really predetermined by witches/evil. I think not. The play does make you wonder if human nature can be changed, and if so ,how? There are a few truths in it as well.Like being guilt riddled after doing something so terrible as killing your king and good friend.Macbeth is a stupid man who was destind to fail from the very beginning.
Rating:  Summary: The Depths of a Shakespearean Novel Review: Macbeth was an extremely well written novel that brought the reader of past Shakespeare books (Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Caesar, etc.) to a more mature level. This was a classic story of the inevitable consequences of evilness with the result of death.
Rating:  Summary: Hard to Understand Review: MACBETH, in play form, is a good book although hard to understand. Luckily i got the gist of things or I'd fail my book report. It was not my kind of book, though good. Um, I had something else to say but, if you're wondering why i didn't understand half, i'm only eleven.
Rating:  Summary: Needs no introduction Review: One of the best plays ever written, it is also, to me, one of the most terrifying things I have ever read. To those people obsessed with Stephen King and Dean Koontz and similar horror stories, try a real nightmare which is what Macbeth is. Filled with blood, black magic, witches, darkness, fire, unnecessary death, revenge, and madness, it is the first ghost story. I personally think Roman Polanski's film of the play is also very scary. In truth, I was failed to be frightened by "Psycho," "The Exorcist," or "Halloween," this is a much more exciting, enriching, and entertaining read.
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