Macbeth (Norton Critical Edition)

Well, there’s no point in my saying who wrote Macbeth, or at least who’s most famously credited with writing it. Quite literally everyone in the world knows the works of Shakespeare. I’m now going to be honest and say that I’ve never jumped on the Shakespearean bandwagon. Don’t get me wrong, as a lover of literature, I absolutely love the stories; the romance, the macabre, the mayhem, the drama, and the fantastical but on some strong level of my being, I just have a natural detestation of Shakespeare. 

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the hype that’s done this for me. As I said, everybody in the world knows the writings of Shakespeare. This is because anything authored by him has become critical in keeping the world spinning in terms of great literature. I believe that when Shakespeare was writing all these fantastical plays in the 1600s, he didn’t intend to write them so that academics, scholars, and people with too much free time on their hands could write hundreds of pages that read into the symbolism, or the feminism, or the sexism, or the blasphemy, or the political correctness/incorrectness, or whatever. There are quite literally thousands of analysis and analogies of his plays out there in the universe that read more meaning into the actions/existence of characters and pivotal moments of the works than I’m sure Shakespeare intended there to be all those years ago. The end result of all these glowing and raving critiques of his work is now that I don’t want to read them for fear of having my head explode. 

These personal feelings were only peaked by time I finished reading this book for uni. 

Upon emerging victorious from battle Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, encounters three witches that prophesize that he will become Thane of Cawdor and then be hailed as King of Scotland. When the prophecy of Cawdor comes true, Macbeth and his wife plot to bring truth to the second prophecy by murdering the King who fortunately happens to be staying with them. But once on the throne, both Macbeth and his wife slowly slip into madness as they battle and commit tyranny to keep it. 

I think it’s important to note that you can’t read Shakespeare’s works. These are plays and, as such, their power and brilliance is only poignant when you see or hear them. Merely reading them just doesn’t have the same effect. And yes, I am aware of the arguable paradox of that statement, but it’s my rationale and I’m sticking to it! 

Anyway, this particular edition of Macbeth I had to read for uni and, for the Shakespeare enthusiast, it’s actually a pretty good book because it not only incorporates the original play, but several adaptations as well as copious analogies and papers about the play’s characters, symbolism, sexism, etc. We’ve even got arguments from Luther about the existence/non-existence of free will as well as actors’ and actresses’ memoirs on playing the leading roles as well as a closing critique of the various films that have been based on the classic macabre tale of ambition, murder, and madness. We’ve also got some very handy translations jotted throughout the play so that it becomes easier to interpret and understand it as a modern reader, which I quite like because the language of Shakespeare can be very dense and confusing. 

Filled with critiques, murder, betrayal, violence, drama, and madness, Macbeth itself is a wonderful play and the Norton Critical Edition delves deeper into the cracks and crevices of it all. It’s not my cup of tea, but I’d recommend it for any Shakespeare enthusiasts out there or anyone who has an essay on Macbeth due soon and would like some academic works to cite.