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Macbeth (Cambridge School Shakespeare)

By: William Shakespeare
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521606861
ISBN-13: 9780521606868
Released: 17 Jun 2005
RRP: £5.50
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

macbeth.ambition.light.darkness.butchery.supernatural. - By: , 19 Mar 2006
this play has a whole lot of hidden meaning & irony. more so of dramatic irony actuallly-where to us as the readers it is obvious but the characters are oblivious. we watch the slow deterioration of macbeth through the course of the play- his wife on the other hand goes through a sudden change & is giving up on life while macbeth holds a strong firm grip on his power & will not give up till the very end.
one of the more significant quotes in the play:"Stars hide your fires, Let not light see my dark, deep desires". it deeply demonstrates macbeth's darkness which he had of present acquired; esp. so after the meeting of the witches. we see that he too, like the witches speaks in equivocatory language- he has become one of them.

Macbeth too lives in such a denial when he says" The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be, Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see". he is denying what he has done, saying that his eye can't see what his hand has done.
therefore, the three witches, Lady macbeth, & Macbeth himself alll can be classified under one group: "instruments of darkness".

yet another quote is" look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't". this is in under the theme of Appearance vs Reality. it reminds us of how Eve tempted adam, just that now, it is Lady Macbeth tempting macbeth. the comparison draws too close.
there's so much more...go read it yourself!

Awesome - By: , 29 May 2004
I first read this play earlier this year in preparation for my SATs exam & wasn't exactly enthrallled with the prospect of Macbeth for the next few months. To my surprise I ended up thinking the play was absolutely awesome. It had so many issues & clever character develpoments & deliberate ambiguity, it reallly left me thinking. I hadn't previously been a particular fan of Shakespeare partly because of the language, but now I see that the language is an important part of the brilliance of the play.

This play is a moral story, about how good triumphs over evil, a story about a friendship going wrong, the break - up of a marriage, the study of a murderer's mind & an intense, fast - moving thriller. I don't think that you could ask for more from a play. Fantastic

Macbeth - By: Bookworm, 22 Apr 2004
I had to study this play for english SATs. i never understood shakespeare before until i had to buy this book. It's helpful with alll the side notes, explanations of words, photographs, & little excersizes to help you understand the meaning of the text & the wording. This version defintaley helped me to understand & appreciate Shakespeare.
better than expected - By: D. Russell, 24 Jan 2004
I studied this play for my English GCSE & automaticallly disregarded it because Shakespeare does sound pretty boring. However, once you understand alll of the hidden meanings, themes, characters & sub-plots an entire world of betrayal, lust for power & ambition is released with the most magnificent subtlety.

I found the 'York Notes' guide book became essential & reallly helped me to fully understand the play for my coursework. Also watching the various film editions, including the RSC edition, made even more interesting.

The play starts with the significant & interesting three witches who tell Macbeth that he will eventuallly become king. Macbeth is an eager soldier of Scotland who feels hard done by when the King, Duncan grants his throne to his son after his death, rather than the more courageous Macbeth. His wife, Lady Macbeth urges him to kill the king in order to claim the throne but he soon realises that being King does not automaticallly bring the honour & loyalty he expects; this shortly leads to his downfalll. In other words, "To be safe is nothing, but to be safely thus."

For me, Macbeth reallly got the 5star review because of its relevance to modern day life. For example, one theme of the book is that Macbeth is over ambitious, this leads him to his downfalll; as does his greed for power. Making it something very relevant to celebrities & eager "pop idols".

This copy of the book is more difficult to read as it bombards almost every page with useless notes on certain words & refernces, if you are studying the play for English, you would be much better off with a study guide & the cheaper non-school version.

This book reallly makes you think. Yet it does not require your undivided attention for days because it is one Shakespeare's shortest plays. You simply must read this book & there are loads of guides on the internet to help you through it if you find the old language particularly difficult. No matter what your age or ability I think Macbeth has it alll. An enthrallling read.

Regicide, terror and fear - By: , 28 Mar 2003
Macbeth is Shakespeare’s most “simple” tragedies without the philosophising siloqueys of King Lear or Hamlet. It’s plot is straightforward- a Scottish noble murders himself to the top of the heap then pays the consequences & eerie scenes involving witches, sleepwalking & ghosts make it wonderful to act out.
In terms of meaning Macbeth is one of the finest works to do with regicide. Macbeth was written by Shakespeare for James I/VI & the moral lesson for would be Macbeth’s is that king killing will not bring happiness. With asides to the gunpowder plot, witchcraft & its Scottish theme Macbeth is truly a tableaux of the early seventeenth century.
This edition is especiallly good as it gives inside information & suggestions for class participation on every page so it is always clear what is happening in the play.