Macbeth (Arden Shakespeare Second) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 1997 | Series: Arden Shakespeare Second

Unique features include an extensive overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater by the general editor of Signet Classic Shakespeare series, plus a special introduction to the play by the editor Sylvan Barnet, Tufts University. It also contains comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions of "Macbeth", then and now.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Arden Shakespeare (January 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0174434669
• ISBN-13: 978-0174434665
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #389,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful edition of a great play, January 2, 2004

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Macbeth (Arden Shakespeare Second) (Paperback)

Macbeth has always been one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. It is vivid, has blood & murder, magic, visions, treachery, and just deserts. I mean, what is not to love? The play moves along quickly and isn't one of the longer plays. For all these reasons and more, audiences love it.

But there is a lot more to the play than the plot outline might suggest. Shakespeare brilliantly works out the subtleties of character through the action, interactions, and self-discussions in the play. It isn't a simple "action" play, it is also a masterwork of revealing the character of the characters even when they are themselves unaware of the trap they are leaping into.

I am partial to the Arden editions because I trust the text, love the extensive notes, and the introductory and additional material that helps give the play context and talks about sources Shakespeare almost certainly used. In this case Holinshed's "Chronicles of Scotland". Throughout this edition there are also discussions of the textural problems of this play: where some things seem to be missing, what might be interpolations, and so forth.

This is a very useful edition of a great play.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rapt Withal, January 12, 2000

By 

oh_pete (Cambridge. MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Macbeth (Arden Shakespeare Second) (Paperback)

Shakespeare's shortest and bloodiest tragedy, MACBETH is also possibly the most serious. Macbeth is a warrior who has just had his greatest victory, but his own "vaulting ambition," the spectral promises of the three weird sisters, and the spurring on of his wife drive him to a treason and miserable destruction for which he himself is completely responsible. The ominous imagery of the fog that hovers over the first scene of the play symbolizes the entire setting of the play. Shakespeare's repeated contrasts of such concepts as fair and foul, light and darkness, bravery and cowardice, cut us to the quick at every turn. MACBETH forces us to question "what is natural?" "what is honor?" and "Is life really `a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury/ Signifying nothing?'" Few plays have ever illustrated the torments of Guilt (especially how it deprives one of Sleep) so vividly and stirringly.

I have read this play curiously as a child, excitedly as a teenager, passionately as a college student, and lovingly as a graduate student and adult. Like all of Shakespeare's writing, it is still as fresh, and foreboding, and marvelous as ever. As a play it is first meant to be heard (cf. Hamlet says "we shall hear a play"), secondarily to be seen (which it must be), but, ah, the rich rewards of reading it at one's own pace are hard to surpass. Shakespeare is far more than just an entertainer: he is the supreme artist of the English language. The Arden edition of MACBETH is an excellent scholarly presentation, offering a bounty of helpful notes and information for both the serious and casual reader.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't get any better than this!!!!, July 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Macbeth (Arden Shakespeare Second) (Paperback)

First let me say that Shakespeare's plays weren't written to be read, but watched, and that's still the best way to experience them (assuming it's a good production). I had to read this in high school like so many other people, and the language made it impossible to appreciate, and of course years later the language is the prime reason to read these plays. Shakespeare's imagery is legendary for a reason. Lines such as "Full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife" brilliantly convey MacBeth's state. The Arden editions are the best. With detailed notes on the arcane references and often difficult language, the Ardens are both for people reading the play for their first time or their hundredth.