Shakespeare's Macbeth: The Manga Edition

by William Shakespeare, Eve Grandt, Candice Chow

Witches and prophesies. Fate and fortune.. Murders and atrocities. Insomnia and insanity. Unchecked aspirations and even decapitation. Power-crazed and convinced of his own invincibility, Macbeth, the Scottish war hero, turns into a serial killer, annihilating anybody who gets in his way. A four-page introduction gets you involved, and an abridged text makes the action fast-paced. The text is true to Shakespeare’s original language, setting, and time. This manga edition gets you quickly engrossed in Macbeth’s blood-soaked path to power.

Genres: Manga, Shakespeare, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comics, Classics, Fantasy

185 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2008

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked about this is that they used Shakespeare's original lines for the dialogue, so this is a great way to get those who are not big fans of reading into Shakespeare. The manga is quite graphic, though, so be aware of that if you are thinking of getting this for a child. To be fair, though, the source material is quite bloody, so that is to be expected. The area where this is not so good is that it is difficult to tell who is who. I know the play quite well, so I could identify characters by their lines and actions, but if someone is reading Macbeth for the first time, I can imagine that it would be quite a task to identify characters other than Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. If a second edition is made in the future, I would recommend adding a little caption that gives the name of characters when they first appear. Also, setting captions would be useful.

[Tracey]

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." These are not only some of my favorite lines of Shakespeare's, but also some of my favorite lines I've ever read ('A TaleTold by an Idiot' would be the title of my memoir if I ever wrote one). So, I'm getting ready to teach Macbeth (for only the second time ever) and so I thought I would read this manga edition in order to refresh my memory of the text itself and to see how true to the story this book was. I figure if I can hand this edition to a few kids and they can get a better handle on Macbeth then perhaps it will bring them into Shakespeare's world through a little bit different route than some of the others. This edition only contains language written by Shakespeare, but the authors did have to cut a lot, and therefore, there's some disconnect in a few places in terms of following the action and characterization. I would say overall, this does follow the original play in tone and thematic threads. Whoever reads this still has to be able to work with Shakespeare's language. I feel that is the most important aspect of reading Shakespeare in English class: to be able to work with the language. You don't have to read every line, every Act, every scene, but I do think there's something to be said for being able to read and understand important passages as cultural touchstones in the Western Literary Canon, if that kind of thing is important to you.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read and recommended this to one of my students. While this interpretation of Shakespeare's Macbeth is certainly no masterpiece and definitely not a substitute for reading the original text, it is still a great way to introduce one of theatre's greatest tragedies to young students and newcomers of drama.

[jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice Manga, didn’t understand half of it

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very exciting visual version of the play. It is bloody and dark--true to the original. It is sometimes hard to follow who is speaking, if you're not already familliar with the characters/story. But, it does a good job of centering on MacBeth and Lady MacBeth so the core of the story is clear. It uses original language, I love that!

[Samra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

[Eri | Encrucijadas cotidianas · Rating 3 out of 5]

No soy muy fan de los clásicos porque suelen parecerme densos, largos y aburridos pero leer esta historia en formato manga le dio muchísima onda a esta lectura.
No conocía la historia de Macbeth, así que comienzo comentando que es una obra dividida en 5 actos y no es muy larga, sumando eso a las imágenes se hace super llevadera la lectura aunque si me costo un poco enganchar quien era que personaje aunque los que más podemos ver son Macbeth y Lady Macbeth que llevados por la profecía de unas brujas ansían el trono del rey y es a partir de allí que vemos locura, mucha sangre, ambición y traición lo que le suma más ligereza a la lectura y al final terminas disfrutándolo por el mensaje que enseña ya que el el sentimiento de culpa hace de las suyas.

[Aldi · Rating 2 out of 5]

No soy de leer clásicos porque al tener un lenguaje de época me cuesta engancharme y termino abandonándolos.
Sin embargo leer esto fue un tanto innovador ya que las imágenes y la manera en que esta escrito te distrae un poco, aunque debo admitir que varias veces no logre seguir del todo la historia, no se si es que no esta bien explicado al ser tan corto o por no conocer la obra original.

A pesar de eso no logró gustarme, si entiendo que tiene un mensaje de redención pero todo el tela de la ambición y la locura fue demasiado para mí.

[Ron Meruem Xander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how they used the original language, the soliloquys are ditto. Albeit, a good attempt, if you don't know the story already you might find it to be a bit confusing.

I don't know if it's just me but I found it hard to distinguish between the characters because they all more or less looked the same to me, the characters could've had some conspicuous features but a good attempt none the less.

[Lachelle Seville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ngl, this should be the default for high schoolers. Reading Shakespeare in isolation from visual lends to a disoriented and disjointed experience.* This is the sweet spot between reading a play and watching it. This is my first time really appreciating just how clever and funny Mr. Shakespeare is.

*watching the movies at the end of a unit didn’t count for me because that meant I only understood things after the fact :|

[Laurynn McCollum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the use of original language but found this version a little hard to follow. Not sure if it's due to my lack of experience with manga or just generally difficult.
In saying that this style may be a good way to get teens introduced to Shakespeare while accepting that there would be a maturity required for the artwork.

[Jea Yan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Hamlet, I started this one. And all I can say that even though everything was the same as it was in the book, there were parts which were not easy to comprehend. The illustrations were good but too gruesome. Overall, it was good.

[Tracy Tang · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that the graphics of the book could be more interesting as it's a bit unattractive compared to a coloured graphic book.

[tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've been read this but why when it's illustrated...the horror, gore, and everything is got darker than i thought....

[Alexander1988 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my personal style of artwork, but still very well- made. The strengths of the manga staying completely true to the original work in terms of setting characters, but most of all, the texts.

[Stephen Herczeg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool version of MacBeth. Lots of blood. Lots of story not found in the text, but realised through the medium of the drawing.

[Dayna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastically drawn manga version of Shakespeare's classic, Macbeth. A great way to interest teens in The Bard.

[Bookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is a lot better than the regular classic book, much easier to read and understand. I am glad they are making all this hard to read and understand Shakespeare books into graphic novels

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

You’ve got it all: the wife, the lovely home, the promotion and lots of wealth. Then you blow it all by killing your boss. Why?!? Okay, that’s a really short encapsulation of the Scottish play but it’s a fitting one. This shows that, even set in traditional Scottish gear as this version is, the theme of ambition spiraling out of control remains a very recognizable one, easily understood by modern audiences. While the faces are well drawn in this manga, the eyes bear a disturbing similarity and the figures can seem a touch out of proportion. The illustrators, Eve Grandt and Candice Chow, also display a tendency towards a too-literal interpretation of the text. When one character speaks of a mind full of scorpions, the arachnids are seen hovering overhead. When bats are mentioned, we see the furry Chiroptera along with snakes, rooks, etc. This is touted as one of the benefits of manga, that it can show interpretations that would be impossible for even the most gifted stage director. But, since a great deal of what happens in “Macbeth” tends to the magical and psychological, a lighter hand in such scenes would have been better.

[roland simarangkir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Salah satu karya Shakespeare yang diterjemahkan dalam bentuk manga. Buku kecil ini mencoba mengambil tempat di hati pecinta komik yang tidak terlalu suka dengan novel serius.

Manga ini bercerita tentang seorang Macbeth yang berambisi menjadi raja setelah mendengarkan ramalan tiga orang peramal. Dibantu istrinya yang jahat, ia menjalankan segala cara untuk menjadi raja bahakan dengan membunuh dan menyingkirkan orang-orang yang menghalanginya. Begitu banyaknya darah yang tercurah, ia mengalami banyak sekali halusinasi tentang orangt-orang yang dia bunuh dan hampir gila karenanya. Intrik-intriknya membuat dia berkuasa tetapi tetap dihinggapi ketakutan yang terus menghantuinya.

[angrykitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok...i got this manga version of macbeth at ncte, and thought.....hey great, an easy access point for kids and shakespeare....whoa was i wrong. thought the story has pictures added, and the language is stylized, i found it really hard to follow the play, and thought that this would frustrate my students just as much, if not more, than the real thing. it might be an interesting piece to introduce after they've read the play, but as it was presented to me by the publisher, i would never think to use this before i taught the play.

[Dana * · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly well drawn rendition of the wonderful dark play Macbeth. Especially appreciate the facial expressions which convery the characters thoughts, just as you would rely on an actual play doing. This manga edition uses original text, so if you are looking for an easy first reading, this is not it. Try No Fear Shakespeare for a speaking language translation of the play in manga format.

[Lunabell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grr... they're so STUPID!

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yang ini nggak suka artworknya. Ceuyeum...

[Jan Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a fictional story that I'm looking forward for. At least during the last act, I appreciated the work of Shakespeare. Macbeth is a treacherous leader!

[CarlosQi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. I want to read it again ASAP.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

No comment because I may assign this book to my students in the fall.