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Graphic Classics
Macbeth
Shakespeare's classic story of dark ambition, madness, and murder springs to life in a masterful new graphic novel by Gareth Hinds.
Set against the moody backdrop of eleventh-century Scotland, Gareth Hinds’s captivating, richly illustrated interpretation takes readers into the claustrophobic mind of a man driven mad by ambition. An evil seed takes root in the mind of Macbeth, a general in the king’s army, when three witches tell him he will one day be king. At the urging of his wife, he resolves to take the throne by the most direct path: a dagger in the heart of King Duncan. But "blood will have blood," and when others grow suspicious of his sudden rise to power, is Macbeth prepared to commit more murders to keep the crown?
Set against the moody backdrop of eleventh-century Scotland, Gareth Hinds’s captivating, richly illustrated interpretation takes readers into the claustrophobic mind of a man driven mad by ambition. An evil seed takes root in the mind of Macbeth, a general in the king’s army, when three witches tell him he will one day be king. At the urging of his wife, he resolves to take the throne by the most direct path: a dagger in the heart of King Duncan. But "blood will have blood," and when others grow suspicious of his sudden rise to power, is Macbeth prepared to commit more murders to keep the crown?
152 pages, Hardcover
First published February 10, 2015
47 people are currently reading
715 people want to read
About the author
Gareth Hinds
21 books271 followersGareth Hinds is the creator of critically-acclaimed graphic novels based on literary classics, including Beowulf (which Publisher’s Weekly called a “mixed-media gem”), King Lear (which Booklist named one of the top 10 graphic novels for teens), The Merchant of Venice (which Kirkus called “the standard that all others will strive to meet” for Shakespeare adaptation), The Odyssey (which garnered four starred reviews and a spot on ten “best of 2010” lists), Romeo and Juliet (which Kirkus called “spellbinding”), and Macbeth (which the New York Times called “stellar” and “a remarkably faithful rendering”). Gareth is a recipient of the Boston Public Library’s “Literary Lights for Children” award. His books can be found in bookstores and English classrooms across the country, and his illustrations have appeared in such diverse venues as the Society of Illustrators, the New York Historical Society, and over a dozen published video games.
Gareth lives in the Washington DC area.
Gareth lives in the Washington DC area.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 173 reviews
August 20, 2017
Gareth Hinds has made a name for himself in the world of comics adaptations of classic literature. I first read his Beowulf, which I liked very much, then moved on to his Romeo and Juliet and others. This may be the best of them that he has done thus far. I say this as a fan of Macbeth, protective of its legacy. Hinds researched the history of the play and the historic representation of Scotland and Scottish history in doing this ambitious work. His artwork and integrity stand out in a somewhat dubious area of literature, that of graphic adaptation, which could be seen as--and often is--severely compromising the quality of the original.
Hinds gets that. He's an artist and doesn't merely want to just illustrate Shakespeare's words. He knows that there are countless film versions that have sacrificed the original language for an equally powerful visual vocabulary, such as Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. Hinds wants to reach young people and have teachers use this book as a companion to, not replacement of, the original. He preserves much of the original language, especially in the most beloved scenes, which I was grateful for, though he admits he has severely cut much of the language and plot to get to what is for him the essence of the story, which we agree is worthy goal. You want struggling readers to know what is going on, and this is not a trivial issue. And he's a great artist. I appreciate his contributions to the appreciation of classic literature, even my beloved Macbeth. I liked this version quite a bit as a work of art in its own right.
Hinds gets that. He's an artist and doesn't merely want to just illustrate Shakespeare's words. He knows that there are countless film versions that have sacrificed the original language for an equally powerful visual vocabulary, such as Kurosawa's Throne of Blood. Hinds wants to reach young people and have teachers use this book as a companion to, not replacement of, the original. He preserves much of the original language, especially in the most beloved scenes, which I was grateful for, though he admits he has severely cut much of the language and plot to get to what is for him the essence of the story, which we agree is worthy goal. You want struggling readers to know what is going on, and this is not a trivial issue. And he's a great artist. I appreciate his contributions to the appreciation of classic literature, even my beloved Macbeth. I liked this version quite a bit as a work of art in its own right.
August 17, 2019
Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play (next to Much Ado About Nothing), so seeing/reading a graphic novel adaptation is a dream! And the scone picture at the end? Best author’s note, that’s all.
July 8, 2017
Shakespeare and comics don't usually tend to go together. Or do they? My preconceived notions have been demolished by this very nice graphic novel. Gareth Hinds freely admits that he did have to abridge the story for this format. He also uses normal prose instead of iambic pentameter. The rythm is maintained though, the author felt that removing the line breaks made for a smoother read. I can not disagree.
Is this for someone who wants to read the full play? No. Is this for someone who loves Macbeth and appreciates it in a graphic novel format with the entirety of the main story present. The illustrator is quite talented and the panels with the three witches were excellent. In many ways you see Macbeth's steady mental decline. This is a welcome addition to my collection. Any Shakespeare fan will appreciate this, as long as their not too stodgy to appreciate that this is not unabridged. Hopefully books like this will inspire people to read the original brilliant works.
Is this for someone who wants to read the full play? No. Is this for someone who loves Macbeth and appreciates it in a graphic novel format with the entirety of the main story present. The illustrator is quite talented and the panels with the three witches were excellent. In many ways you see Macbeth's steady mental decline. This is a welcome addition to my collection. Any Shakespeare fan will appreciate this, as long as their not too stodgy to appreciate that this is not unabridged. Hopefully books like this will inspire people to read the original brilliant works.
November 10, 2015
Comics are real reading. End of story. If you're horrified by the idea of a student reading a graphic novel version of a Shakespeare play, would you rather they not understand it at all? The visual element adds much needed scaffolding to readers who don't have the background knowledge to fully immerse themselves in the text.
If I had been able to read this graphic novel adaptation of Macbeth when I was in high school, I might have actually somewhat understood and taken an interest the story. As it is, I'm 35 and am now finally starting to feel like I am grasping the things that English teachers love about Shakespeare. Yes, my dirty little secret as an English teacher is that I don't understand Shakespeare. It's my Achilles heel. But a text like this, not only with visual elements, but backmatter at the end that gives readers added background information (like the very important point that back in the time of 11th century Scotland, a king's heir-apparent was not his son, but rather someone that the nobles chose which would make better sense as to how Macbeth was able to become king) and explanation of the process of creating a graphic novel from such a revered, classic text can help people like me start to fully grasp a difficult text like this.
I hope more English teachers start embracing the idea of putting these kinds of graphic novels in their classroom libraries.
If I had been able to read this graphic novel adaptation of Macbeth when I was in high school, I might have actually somewhat understood and taken an interest the story. As it is, I'm 35 and am now finally starting to feel like I am grasping the things that English teachers love about Shakespeare. Yes, my dirty little secret as an English teacher is that I don't understand Shakespeare. It's my Achilles heel. But a text like this, not only with visual elements, but backmatter at the end that gives readers added background information (like the very important point that back in the time of 11th century Scotland, a king's heir-apparent was not his son, but rather someone that the nobles chose which would make better sense as to how Macbeth was able to become king) and explanation of the process of creating a graphic novel from such a revered, classic text can help people like me start to fully grasp a difficult text like this.
I hope more English teachers start embracing the idea of putting these kinds of graphic novels in their classroom libraries.
April 11, 2015
What a way to introduce a person to Macbeth! Hinds uses Shakespeare's language. He vividly depicts the characters and scenes. The witches are three different kinds. He visually captures the madness of Macbeth as he grows paranoid and has hallucinations. At the end of the book Hinds puts the story in the context of Scotland. Great read! Great images!
August 19, 2024
Can the devil speak true?
Shakespeare always raises powerful questions, and Macbeth is an incredible play. I am not an expert, but I love the way it speaks to me. It gives me food for thought every time I read it. Well, this graphic version is an amazing way to get into Macbeth; and the shading and detail are the things I appreciated most about Gareth Hinds' style. Just amazing.
Shakespeare always raises powerful questions, and Macbeth is an incredible play. I am not an expert, but I love the way it speaks to me. It gives me food for thought every time I read it. Well, this graphic version is an amazing way to get into Macbeth; and the shading and detail are the things I appreciated most about Gareth Hinds' style. Just amazing.
March 14, 2024
I actually don’t understand Shakespeare… sorry!
March 24, 2018
The Graphic Novel
24 March 2017
I’ve just discovered this amazing new website. It’s called Reddit. Okay, I’m sure many of you have already head of it, or are probably even users as well, it is just that while I had heard of it, and even visited it on occasion, I never really appreciated how useful it is until much more recently. In a way it is like Facebook, but your posts are not only anonymous, but you basically interact with everybody in the community you are posting, and you aren’t bugging your friend’s and family with posts that they are probably not interested in (and you can filter out the posts that you aren’t interested it, such as those on Curling, unless you like Curling).
Anyway, the reason I raised this is because I posed a question to the Shakespeare subreddit (there is literally a subreddit on anything and everything, including Curling, not that I’m subscribed to it), and that was what was people’s opinion on turning Shakespeare into a graphic novel, and whether it could be considered butchering a classic. Okay, the words I used were a bit stronger, namely heresy, but I’m sure you get what I mean. Well, the general response was that nobody had a problem with it, though a number of people did mention that they probably wouldn’t read it.
I actually found this version in an comic book store in Sydney that was closing down, so I ended up picking it up quite cheaply. My initial impression of it was that it was okay, and the artwork was reasonably good, and it was definitely much better than that Manga version of Julius Caeser I read quite some time ago. However, it is still Macbeth, and I’m really not a big fan of this particular play. I still remember when I had returned to school after a five year absence, and one of the first essays I had to write was on Macbeth, and I proceeded to describe Macbeth as ‘a d*ckh**d’. Needless to say my English teacher, who was very prim and proper, wasn’t at all impressed, and was informed that such language was not appropriate in a formal essay (at which point I then proved her wrong by quoting a ‘line’ out of another book).
I’m not sure if I really need to go into the themes in Macbeth here, particularly since I have done it in my previous post on the actual play, and also have written a blog post on a version that I saw at The Globe in London. However, there were a couple of interesting things picked up, namely that back when the events of the story that Shakespeare borrowed the idea from castles didn’t exist in England (and Scotland), namely because they only appeared after William the Conquerer invaded. Also, the suggestion was that King James was a descendant of Banquo, however modern research proves that this is not quite the case. Anyway, this is Elizabethan theatre we are talking about, and much like modern Hollywood, historical accuracy is usually pushed to the side if it happens to get in the way of a good tale.
24 March 2017
I’ve just discovered this amazing new website. It’s called Reddit. Okay, I’m sure many of you have already head of it, or are probably even users as well, it is just that while I had heard of it, and even visited it on occasion, I never really appreciated how useful it is until much more recently. In a way it is like Facebook, but your posts are not only anonymous, but you basically interact with everybody in the community you are posting, and you aren’t bugging your friend’s and family with posts that they are probably not interested in (and you can filter out the posts that you aren’t interested it, such as those on Curling, unless you like Curling).
Anyway, the reason I raised this is because I posed a question to the Shakespeare subreddit (there is literally a subreddit on anything and everything, including Curling, not that I’m subscribed to it), and that was what was people’s opinion on turning Shakespeare into a graphic novel, and whether it could be considered butchering a classic. Okay, the words I used were a bit stronger, namely heresy, but I’m sure you get what I mean. Well, the general response was that nobody had a problem with it, though a number of people did mention that they probably wouldn’t read it.
I actually found this version in an comic book store in Sydney that was closing down, so I ended up picking it up quite cheaply. My initial impression of it was that it was okay, and the artwork was reasonably good, and it was definitely much better than that Manga version of Julius Caeser I read quite some time ago. However, it is still Macbeth, and I’m really not a big fan of this particular play. I still remember when I had returned to school after a five year absence, and one of the first essays I had to write was on Macbeth, and I proceeded to describe Macbeth as ‘a d*ckh**d’. Needless to say my English teacher, who was very prim and proper, wasn’t at all impressed, and was informed that such language was not appropriate in a formal essay (at which point I then proved her wrong by quoting a ‘line’ out of another book).
I’m not sure if I really need to go into the themes in Macbeth here, particularly since I have done it in my previous post on the actual play, and also have written a blog post on a version that I saw at The Globe in London. However, there were a couple of interesting things picked up, namely that back when the events of the story that Shakespeare borrowed the idea from castles didn’t exist in England (and Scotland), namely because they only appeared after William the Conquerer invaded. Also, the suggestion was that King James was a descendant of Banquo, however modern research proves that this is not quite the case. Anyway, this is Elizabethan theatre we are talking about, and much like modern Hollywood, historical accuracy is usually pushed to the side if it happens to get in the way of a good tale.
February 11, 2023
Not enough witches :/
February 22, 2023
I’ve always enjoyed (or rather remembered enjoying) Macbeth.
To read this adaptation as an adult helped me realize how chaotic this story actually is. It was a fun and quick read but because Hinds maintains Shakespeare’s actual text and writing in his speech bubbles I wouldn’t necessarily call it “Easy”
Would recommend
To read this adaptation as an adult helped me realize how chaotic this story actually is. It was a fun and quick read but because Hinds maintains Shakespeare’s actual text and writing in his speech bubbles I wouldn’t necessarily call it “Easy”
Would recommend
January 24, 2022
This is an abridged version of the play, and I really liked how easy it was to follow the story. I loved the art as well.
October 6, 2015
The Gareth Hinds graphic novel version of Macbeth is extraordinary. The graphic novel format allows Hinds to absorb Macbeth's compressed time, hallucinatory (or are they?) visions, gory scenes, and blood-soaked imagery and present them in dramatic, colorful scenes.
Thankfully, Hinds also respects Shakespeare's language. Comic balloons do not always play well with iambic pentameter, and Hinds has abandoned Shakespeare's line breaks for the most part. Although some scenes and monologues retain Shakespeare's enjambment, the rhythmic power of the language is present throughout.
Gareth Hinds masterfully conveys subtlety and complexity in his characters. The facial expressions bring characters to life in startling ways, echoing the techniques actors use to engage audiences.
The valuable notes at the end of this edition are comparable to a director's notes in a theatrical program as Hinds explains how he used history, scholarship, and dramaturgy to inform the choices and compromises involved in adapting Macbeth to a comic form.
Regardless of how well you know Macbeth, this graphic novel version is likely to show you something new.
Thankfully, Hinds also respects Shakespeare's language. Comic balloons do not always play well with iambic pentameter, and Hinds has abandoned Shakespeare's line breaks for the most part. Although some scenes and monologues retain Shakespeare's enjambment, the rhythmic power of the language is present throughout.
Gareth Hinds masterfully conveys subtlety and complexity in his characters. The facial expressions bring characters to life in startling ways, echoing the techniques actors use to engage audiences.
The valuable notes at the end of this edition are comparable to a director's notes in a theatrical program as Hinds explains how he used history, scholarship, and dramaturgy to inform the choices and compromises involved in adapting Macbeth to a comic form.
Regardless of how well you know Macbeth, this graphic novel version is likely to show you something new.
January 10, 2016
An absolutely fabulous adaptation of Macbeth. Obviously (and Hinds even specifically states this in the afterword/notes segment), this plays second fiddle to the "authentic" Shakespearean tome, but as an addendum (and a fun quick revisitation of a text I have taught to senior English classes for years) or as a companion piece, really quite fun. The dynamics and complexity of Macbeth / Lady Macbeth's relationship (I wanted Lady Macbeth to appear a bit more convincingly maniacal, especially in the "unsex me" monologue panels) aren't quite captured here in a way that would permit someone to enjoy this graphic novel with no previous knowledge of the story, but again, Hinds points out the limitations of the genre/the challenges he faced in narrowing down the text for the sake of brevity. That all said, this stays remarkably true to the ethos of the original in 135 gorgeously illustrated pages. I loved Banquo's ghost's depiction in addition to the witches and the demons/dark masters channeled for the last three prophecies. Hind's books are great visualization tools for many of my students and they are just fun to read!
August 28, 2017
This adaptation of William Shakespeare's popular play is terrific - atmospheric, dramatic, and yet not overly graphic in the violence displayed.
The pencil, ink wash and digital media illustrations are very nicely detailed and really help to convey the emotions and the meaning of the words, which can be very helpful for those who are not comfortable reading Mr. Shakespeare's words alone.
In addition, the maps, historical notes, and notes on the text and illustrations are very helpful to put the play into context and understand the inspiration for the way the book was produced.
Overall, it was a very entertaining read and I will certainly look for more Shakespeare adaptations by Mr. Hinds at our local library.
The pencil, ink wash and digital media illustrations are very nicely detailed and really help to convey the emotions and the meaning of the words, which can be very helpful for those who are not comfortable reading Mr. Shakespeare's words alone.
In addition, the maps, historical notes, and notes on the text and illustrations are very helpful to put the play into context and understand the inspiration for the way the book was produced.
Overall, it was a very entertaining read and I will certainly look for more Shakespeare adaptations by Mr. Hinds at our local library.
April 16, 2015
The book, MacBeth by Gareth Hinds is a graphic novel adapted and illustrated from the play Macbeth by Shakespeare. The book is very entertaining and fun to read because it takes an old tale and turns it into a new, fun adventure. It lets you have a deep understanding of the characters and gives an image of everything that's happening. The pictures are very intricate and a lot of fun to look at. You can tell the illustrator/author put a lot of time and effort into making each character and scene the best it could possibly be.
My favorite part was the final battle which was very intense and thought provoking.
If you are 11-16 and a fan of graphic novels you will like this book, but keep in mind that it is a bit violent for younger readers.
Review by Mason H., Age 12, Denver Mensa
My favorite part was the final battle which was very intense and thought provoking.
If you are 11-16 and a fan of graphic novels you will like this book, but keep in mind that it is a bit violent for younger readers.
Review by Mason H., Age 12, Denver Mensa
March 30, 2016
Not a bad introduction to Macbeth, the arts pretty good and trimming by the author left the core of the play intact. It is easier to read than the original, the breaking up of the text by the panels helps give it a play-like rhythm, playing to the strength of a graphic novel.
February 7, 2017
Macbeth was so dark :o
April 14, 2021
This book was absolutely WILD. First off, the drawings were absolutely amazing. I was so creeped out- readers are actually able to see the visions that destroyed Macbeth. The depiction of Lady Macbeth's descent into madness was breathtaking; I definitely feel like some scenes are much more impactful when you can see them before you. On a general note, I don't know if I can say that Macbeth is my favorite Shakespeare play. I'm definitely motivated to read the actual work, but I still am a big Julius Caesar fan. As for Hinds' graphic novel version of the tale, it was one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. The character's emotions were visible on the page, and the setting was very true to the time period. It's clear the author did his research. I'm definitely going to check out some of his other Shakespeare graphic novels.
December 31, 2018
I teach sophomores in high school.
One group was slogging their way through the full text...they weren't engaging and it was taking forever to get through a scene.
Taking a chance, I pulled out a class set of these graphic novels and we started reading through them. Kids suddenly became more engaged. They understood what was going on. And, perhaps the highest compliment, one student asked to borrow the book over winter break in order to "see what happens."
I'll always love this book for that reason.
Thanks to Gareth Hinds for creating visually compelling renditions of classics. He leaves much of the text as is (cutting some scenes and updating some language for clarity) and it helps students access complex material, characterization, and symbolism.
One group was slogging their way through the full text...they weren't engaging and it was taking forever to get through a scene.
Taking a chance, I pulled out a class set of these graphic novels and we started reading through them. Kids suddenly became more engaged. They understood what was going on. And, perhaps the highest compliment, one student asked to borrow the book over winter break in order to "see what happens."
I'll always love this book for that reason.
Thanks to Gareth Hinds for creating visually compelling renditions of classics. He leaves much of the text as is (cutting some scenes and updating some language for clarity) and it helps students access complex material, characterization, and symbolism.
February 16, 2023
The art in this book was good and it was a great way to tie over the time between two books. But nonetheless I have a hard time getting into and fully understanding writing like in this book and it makes it undeniable to read.
January 11, 2024
Justice for the Macduff family. I could've helped Macbeth better than his freakish wife. Loved the way the story was drawn out. AND THE MEN ALL SHIRTLESS AT NIGHT. I wanna go back in time now and do some exploring and adventuring.😀👍🏻
August 7, 2017
The classic Shakespeare-an tale. End notes that are more about the graphic novel in some cases than the story.
May 31, 2022
Shakespeare is a real piece of work to get through
September 15, 2024
Garth Hinds' beautiful & compelling graphics bring the script to life! Hoping to pick up some copies for my classroom to help the kids visualize the play as we read it. A favorite.
Read
September 25, 2024I enjoyed this more than the original Macbeth.
January 21, 2025
4.0
I was going to give this a slightly lower ranking, but reading the author's notes really added to the experience of reading a condensed version of this Shakespearian dark drama. It was nice to see the care that the author took in maintaining the historical accuracy and literary importance of the material. It is a very good entry point for those who want to know the story of Macbeth and be exposed to the spirit of Shakespeare without wading through the entire play.
I was going to give this a slightly lower ranking, but reading the author's notes really added to the experience of reading a condensed version of this Shakespearian dark drama. It was nice to see the care that the author took in maintaining the historical accuracy and literary importance of the material. It is a very good entry point for those who want to know the story of Macbeth and be exposed to the spirit of Shakespeare without wading through the entire play.
February 10, 2025
Graphic novel of Macbeth that made my students love Macbeth. HUGE WIN! Would definitely recommend if you’re like me and reading Shakespeare in high school made you feel dumb!!
December 28, 2021
Abridged (of course) Macbeth is still good Macbeth. Shakespeare is always a little hard to get into, just that it takes a little more concentration to read than your average modern prose. The artwork done to go with the story was very well done. The afterword had some notes on decisions the artist made such as clothing choices and whatnot that made a lot of sense. A good adaptation.
April 4, 2022
When I was in high school (maybe on my way to college) I received one of those memorable gifts. I have received many memorable gifts. (Gifts is one of my love languages after all (along with service and then, I suppose, quality time.) For me, a memorable gift is often more than you expected and makes you feel understood. My leather-bound, gold-edged Complete Shakespeare—from my aunt—was one such gift. It also goes to show you what sort of teenager I was and how little has actually changed. I have not read all of the plays (like some that look more boring; yeah, I’m talking to you Richard II and Richard III). But I have read many, some more than once, and the poetry. (My favorite, like any good fan of Sense and Sensibility, is 116.)
Well, Macbeth is not my favorite Shakespeare play, but I chose it because A) it’s one of the few Shakespeare plays that gets read regularly at the high school level and B) I am teaching five 14-16 year old males and I thought Macbeth’s gore and existential/moral darkness might interest them (especially as opposed to Romeo and Juliet). As a bonus, we were able to discuss “manhood” at just about every turn and boy was I glad when we finally got to ol’ MacDuff when he says sure, he’ll seek revenge like a man, but not until after he feels some gol-darn emotions and mourns like a man. (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have one seriously messed-up idea-web of what it means to be a man, which plays out real toxic-like in their marriage.) Anyhoo…
First, let me say, the boys didn’t hate reading Macbeth. They were really intimidated at first, but when they caught on in class discussions they were interested in both the story and characters. They didn’t hate learning about Elizabethan theater or Shakespeare, either, but they weren’t as interesting as a murderous basket-case and his murderous basket-case wife. Which I might want to explain, in case you are not a Shakespeare buff. (Also note that on my book spine staircase, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare has a stair.) Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known, well-read, and oft-performed tragedies. (It is considered the “cursed play,” so some superstitious folk call it “The Scottish Play,” at least in theaters.) In this tragedy, we meet Macbeth, who looks like the hero straight-off but it won’t stay that way for long. He’s a Scottish thane (lord) and a general/war hero. Three witches (aka. The Weird Sisters) give him a prophecy out of the evilness of their hearts: he is the Thane of Cawdor, he will be King of Scotland, and his children will not be kings but his BFF—who is standing right there—’s will. We’re already all twisted up into a juicy story when a guy comes along and tells Macbeth that he’s the Thane of Cawdor. Duh, duh, duuuuh! Will Macbeth leave well enough alone and let the other prophecies come true on their own or will he immediately feel like he has to kill the king to get what he (and his wife) wants and then become a megalomaniacal paranoid who can’t stop with the sea of blood until the third prophecy is made impossible? One guess. Macbeth features some classic icons like the three witches chanting spells around their cauldron (“Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…”), a floating dagger (“Is this a dagger I see before me?”), a crazy queen/wife sleepwalking through the castle, twists based on tricky turns of phrases (which may not hold out today as well as in Renaissance England), and more Quotables than you can shake a stick at (“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes,” “Out damned spot!” “There are daggers in men’s smiles,” “Screw your courage to the sticking place,” “What’s done cannot be undone,” etc. Not to mention some silioquys, like Macbeth’s “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.”
I am aware that not everyone loves Shakespeare or is able to easily read it. The language is about as archaic as English gets for the average, American reader and most people are forced to read it in high school. Perhaps it is not their favorite experience. In order to make this process more enjoyable and easier for my students, I pushed a number of sources beyond the original text. I’m cool like that. They were forced to read the original first (arms crossed and fingers crossed) and then, for each act, I pointed them in the direction of a number of resources. Since I had a subscription to LitCharts, I used the LitCharts synopsis as well as ShakesCleare, a great line-by-line translation in plain English. I encouraged them to find resources online, as well as read along with audio options, graphic novels, and movie adaptations. (Some of them had also seen the play performed, before.) I’ll talk about all this in the below reviews. They all had the Folger edition of the play, as it was, which has notes running on the left-hand page, an introduction, definitions, etc.
So, if you have an interest in Shakespeare, this is a must-read. If you are teaching high school English, it is a good option. Overall, I was a little bummed by this play and it is not my favorite (which I think I already mentioned). I laughed until my students thought I was insane at some of the scenes—especially the banquet scene—where Lady Macbeth is coming up with some ridiculous excuses to keep her husband’s reputation intact. But most of the play is dark and full of death. It’s also lacking in hope, and humanity is pretty easily convinced to turn depraved and lethal, leading to horror for all. There is a hero, in the end, but by then nearly everyone is dead, destroyed, or a hollow husk of their former self. The real question here, I suppose, is about prophecies and fate and how people interact with their destinies. I can’t imagine I’ll be coming back to it, especially after having watched a few of the movies. (I honestly couldn’t keep going with adaptations. I would have finished with The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), but that one is not widely available yet and I couldn’t stomach another dark, depressing version. Which they all are, even when they get all cinematographic.
FURTHER MACBETH REVIEWS
NO FEAR SHAKESPEARE GRAPHIC NOVEL:
So, there are a lot of Shakespeare plays made into graphic novels out there, especially for the “big” plays. Macbeth is no exception, and somehow I narrowed it down to the No Fear Shakespeare version and Gareth Hinds (who I seem to either have a thing for or not be able to avoid). Despite the fine reviews elsewhere, I was not impressed by the No Fear Shakespeare graphic novel. Sure, it would be helpful to kids who are having a hard time understanding the original, but other than that it has no real merit. And since there are many other ways of understanding Macbeth (including other graphic novels), I would not rush out to get a copy of this. I suppose its one redeeming feature is that it sticks closely with the original story and says and shows it as obviously as possible, since the point of it, I believe, is as a learning tool. Other than that, the illustrations are lackluster, I totally lost track of who was whom, I was mystified by how much sweating and how many candles there were, and I felt not the least bit more enlightened as to the meaning of Macbeth. Just, ehn.
GARETH HINDS’ GRAPHIC NOVEL:
Well, Gareth Hinds has gotten a kind of fame over the last decade or so for his graphic adaptations of classics. (Bloody, dark classics, I might add.) I have read his versions of Beowulf, The Iliad, and The Odyssey. He did Macbeth earlier, and quite frankly it’s not as innovative or even pretty as the others. It’s sketchier, and I mean that literally, lacking the finished, colorful look of the Homer epics. Beowulf was also sort of sketchy, though more inky, but it has this artistic flare to it, an atmosphere of sorts conveyed in the panels. So, what I’m saying is I don’t know if there are better graphic novels of Macbeth, but I found this one to be disappointing. It’s okay. It shows us the story, but without much to make it a special piece of art on its own.
RESOURCE: LITCHARTS AND SHAKESCLEARE:
I bought a subscription to LitCharts at the beginning of the school year (at, I think, $10 per month) to be able to access the resources for most of the novels that we would be reading (and a few others I might use). I have found the resources to be super handy. If I had gone for another subscription, I could have had access to teacher resources (technically, they have those, but I didn’t find them to be much different from the student resources and there were no teacher plans, activities, or worksheets or anything), but I guess I wasn’t thinking that way. I wanted something that my students could likewise use, and maybe even something that they could invest in in the future, for some college literature class, perhaps. Overall, I would say the information is accurate and that it makes literature pretty accessible. Synopses, etc. can sometimes be quite long-winded, and there isn’t much creative teaching going on (like a timeline or infographics or something). There are also no quizzes or whatever. What you have is something like 20 pages of background, themes, quotes, synopses, etc. For Shakespeare, as well, there is access to the ShakesCleare version, which I found to be super helpful. It goes line by line, converting Shakespearean language into modern language and I dare any average person to read it and not understand what is happening. (Sure, they might miss some literary stuff, but that’s what the LitChart is for). Eamon (my 14-year-old) and I used the ShakesCleare to re-read the scenes together after he had listened to (he’s an auditory learner) and read along with the original in his Folger. So just a little plug for LitCharts, ShakesCleare, and reading helps in general. Though I grew up in a generation that balked at and had a fear of reading helps (SparkNotes!) put in them, I fully endorse using these in high school and college (and teaching) along with a reading of the original. In other words, I’m a fan of study guides and I totally get that not everyone is a naturally skilled reader.
MACBETH (1948):
I know it’s a hard sell to get teens (okay, anybody) to watch movies from the 1940s, but this Orson Welles’ version of Macbeth is probably the best for general audiences. In other words, it’s not full of gore and even sex. (Obviously, there was no actual sex or nudity in the original play, especially on-stage (though plenty of innuendo, at times), but movie makers manage it, anyhow.) It’s still dark and drags on (especially since it is black and white and very old-fashioned) but it follows the story-line pretty close and would provide a visual to help with understanding Macbeth without blowing it up considerably to somehow find meaning in the pieces of Shakespeare’s play (which is obviously what some of the other versions do).
MACBETH/THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (1971):
I would have recommended Roman Polanski’s version, too, for understanding, as it’s not too crazy-adapted, but it’s a bit violent and sexy (Playboy Productions?) for the classroom. It won some awards (like the Best Picture Oscar) way back in the 1970s and does have a 70’s flare, but it’s also mostly Macbeth. Considered by many to be the best version of Macbeth on film, it usurped the 1940s version I was just talking about. If you are curious, there are some interesting backstories related to this movie in regards to the director. So if you’re mature and don’t mind some gore and nudity, then this is probably the best version to key you in to the real Macbeth.
MACBETH (2015):
This somewhat popular version is visually stunning and well-acted by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cottilard and cast, but the directions and screen-writing made it a different story with a different meaning. Plus, it can be pretty confusing and much of the would be lost on people who are not familiar with the story, since so much is shoved into a short-ish movie. So, like I said, it is a slightly different story with a quite different meaning. Great reviews, awards, but… phew! It’s a depression slog (not to mention violence and depravity both in close quarters).
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (2021):
So I haven’t seen this one because—thanks in part to its Oscar for Denzel Washington, I’m sure—its still only available on AppleTV. Despite being completely over the Macbeth movies by now (they are so dark and depressing), I will be screening this one once I can.
Actually, there are a few more adaptations that I would like to see, but they are all of the “based on” variety, as opposed to more versions of the play. They are: Scotland, PA and Throne of Blood. I’m also sure the Patrick Stewart/BBC version is great, but I couldn’t figure out a way to currently watch it.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
Well, Macbeth is not my favorite Shakespeare play, but I chose it because A) it’s one of the few Shakespeare plays that gets read regularly at the high school level and B) I am teaching five 14-16 year old males and I thought Macbeth’s gore and existential/moral darkness might interest them (especially as opposed to Romeo and Juliet). As a bonus, we were able to discuss “manhood” at just about every turn and boy was I glad when we finally got to ol’ MacDuff when he says sure, he’ll seek revenge like a man, but not until after he feels some gol-darn emotions and mourns like a man. (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have one seriously messed-up idea-web of what it means to be a man, which plays out real toxic-like in their marriage.) Anyhoo…
First, let me say, the boys didn’t hate reading Macbeth. They were really intimidated at first, but when they caught on in class discussions they were interested in both the story and characters. They didn’t hate learning about Elizabethan theater or Shakespeare, either, but they weren’t as interesting as a murderous basket-case and his murderous basket-case wife. Which I might want to explain, in case you are not a Shakespeare buff. (Also note that on my book spine staircase, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare has a stair.) Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known, well-read, and oft-performed tragedies. (It is considered the “cursed play,” so some superstitious folk call it “The Scottish Play,” at least in theaters.) In this tragedy, we meet Macbeth, who looks like the hero straight-off but it won’t stay that way for long. He’s a Scottish thane (lord) and a general/war hero. Three witches (aka. The Weird Sisters) give him a prophecy out of the evilness of their hearts: he is the Thane of Cawdor, he will be King of Scotland, and his children will not be kings but his BFF—who is standing right there—’s will. We’re already all twisted up into a juicy story when a guy comes along and tells Macbeth that he’s the Thane of Cawdor. Duh, duh, duuuuh! Will Macbeth leave well enough alone and let the other prophecies come true on their own or will he immediately feel like he has to kill the king to get what he (and his wife) wants and then become a megalomaniacal paranoid who can’t stop with the sea of blood until the third prophecy is made impossible? One guess. Macbeth features some classic icons like the three witches chanting spells around their cauldron (“Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…”), a floating dagger (“Is this a dagger I see before me?”), a crazy queen/wife sleepwalking through the castle, twists based on tricky turns of phrases (which may not hold out today as well as in Renaissance England), and more Quotables than you can shake a stick at (“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes,” “Out damned spot!” “There are daggers in men’s smiles,” “Screw your courage to the sticking place,” “What’s done cannot be undone,” etc. Not to mention some silioquys, like Macbeth’s “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.”
I am aware that not everyone loves Shakespeare or is able to easily read it. The language is about as archaic as English gets for the average, American reader and most people are forced to read it in high school. Perhaps it is not their favorite experience. In order to make this process more enjoyable and easier for my students, I pushed a number of sources beyond the original text. I’m cool like that. They were forced to read the original first (arms crossed and fingers crossed) and then, for each act, I pointed them in the direction of a number of resources. Since I had a subscription to LitCharts, I used the LitCharts synopsis as well as ShakesCleare, a great line-by-line translation in plain English. I encouraged them to find resources online, as well as read along with audio options, graphic novels, and movie adaptations. (Some of them had also seen the play performed, before.) I’ll talk about all this in the below reviews. They all had the Folger edition of the play, as it was, which has notes running on the left-hand page, an introduction, definitions, etc.
So, if you have an interest in Shakespeare, this is a must-read. If you are teaching high school English, it is a good option. Overall, I was a little bummed by this play and it is not my favorite (which I think I already mentioned). I laughed until my students thought I was insane at some of the scenes—especially the banquet scene—where Lady Macbeth is coming up with some ridiculous excuses to keep her husband’s reputation intact. But most of the play is dark and full of death. It’s also lacking in hope, and humanity is pretty easily convinced to turn depraved and lethal, leading to horror for all. There is a hero, in the end, but by then nearly everyone is dead, destroyed, or a hollow husk of their former self. The real question here, I suppose, is about prophecies and fate and how people interact with their destinies. I can’t imagine I’ll be coming back to it, especially after having watched a few of the movies. (I honestly couldn’t keep going with adaptations. I would have finished with The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), but that one is not widely available yet and I couldn’t stomach another dark, depressing version. Which they all are, even when they get all cinematographic.
FURTHER MACBETH REVIEWS
NO FEAR SHAKESPEARE GRAPHIC NOVEL:
So, there are a lot of Shakespeare plays made into graphic novels out there, especially for the “big” plays. Macbeth is no exception, and somehow I narrowed it down to the No Fear Shakespeare version and Gareth Hinds (who I seem to either have a thing for or not be able to avoid). Despite the fine reviews elsewhere, I was not impressed by the No Fear Shakespeare graphic novel. Sure, it would be helpful to kids who are having a hard time understanding the original, but other than that it has no real merit. And since there are many other ways of understanding Macbeth (including other graphic novels), I would not rush out to get a copy of this. I suppose its one redeeming feature is that it sticks closely with the original story and says and shows it as obviously as possible, since the point of it, I believe, is as a learning tool. Other than that, the illustrations are lackluster, I totally lost track of who was whom, I was mystified by how much sweating and how many candles there were, and I felt not the least bit more enlightened as to the meaning of Macbeth. Just, ehn.
GARETH HINDS’ GRAPHIC NOVEL:
Well, Gareth Hinds has gotten a kind of fame over the last decade or so for his graphic adaptations of classics. (Bloody, dark classics, I might add.) I have read his versions of Beowulf, The Iliad, and The Odyssey. He did Macbeth earlier, and quite frankly it’s not as innovative or even pretty as the others. It’s sketchier, and I mean that literally, lacking the finished, colorful look of the Homer epics. Beowulf was also sort of sketchy, though more inky, but it has this artistic flare to it, an atmosphere of sorts conveyed in the panels. So, what I’m saying is I don’t know if there are better graphic novels of Macbeth, but I found this one to be disappointing. It’s okay. It shows us the story, but without much to make it a special piece of art on its own.
RESOURCE: LITCHARTS AND SHAKESCLEARE:
I bought a subscription to LitCharts at the beginning of the school year (at, I think, $10 per month) to be able to access the resources for most of the novels that we would be reading (and a few others I might use). I have found the resources to be super handy. If I had gone for another subscription, I could have had access to teacher resources (technically, they have those, but I didn’t find them to be much different from the student resources and there were no teacher plans, activities, or worksheets or anything), but I guess I wasn’t thinking that way. I wanted something that my students could likewise use, and maybe even something that they could invest in in the future, for some college literature class, perhaps. Overall, I would say the information is accurate and that it makes literature pretty accessible. Synopses, etc. can sometimes be quite long-winded, and there isn’t much creative teaching going on (like a timeline or infographics or something). There are also no quizzes or whatever. What you have is something like 20 pages of background, themes, quotes, synopses, etc. For Shakespeare, as well, there is access to the ShakesCleare version, which I found to be super helpful. It goes line by line, converting Shakespearean language into modern language and I dare any average person to read it and not understand what is happening. (Sure, they might miss some literary stuff, but that’s what the LitChart is for). Eamon (my 14-year-old) and I used the ShakesCleare to re-read the scenes together after he had listened to (he’s an auditory learner) and read along with the original in his Folger. So just a little plug for LitCharts, ShakesCleare, and reading helps in general. Though I grew up in a generation that balked at and had a fear of reading helps (SparkNotes!) put in them, I fully endorse using these in high school and college (and teaching) along with a reading of the original. In other words, I’m a fan of study guides and I totally get that not everyone is a naturally skilled reader.
MACBETH (1948):
I know it’s a hard sell to get teens (okay, anybody) to watch movies from the 1940s, but this Orson Welles’ version of Macbeth is probably the best for general audiences. In other words, it’s not full of gore and even sex. (Obviously, there was no actual sex or nudity in the original play, especially on-stage (though plenty of innuendo, at times), but movie makers manage it, anyhow.) It’s still dark and drags on (especially since it is black and white and very old-fashioned) but it follows the story-line pretty close and would provide a visual to help with understanding Macbeth without blowing it up considerably to somehow find meaning in the pieces of Shakespeare’s play (which is obviously what some of the other versions do).
MACBETH/THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (1971):
I would have recommended Roman Polanski’s version, too, for understanding, as it’s not too crazy-adapted, but it’s a bit violent and sexy (Playboy Productions?) for the classroom. It won some awards (like the Best Picture Oscar) way back in the 1970s and does have a 70’s flare, but it’s also mostly Macbeth. Considered by many to be the best version of Macbeth on film, it usurped the 1940s version I was just talking about. If you are curious, there are some interesting backstories related to this movie in regards to the director. So if you’re mature and don’t mind some gore and nudity, then this is probably the best version to key you in to the real Macbeth.
MACBETH (2015):
This somewhat popular version is visually stunning and well-acted by Michael Fassbender and Marion Cottilard and cast, but the directions and screen-writing made it a different story with a different meaning. Plus, it can be pretty confusing and much of the would be lost on people who are not familiar with the story, since so much is shoved into a short-ish movie. So, like I said, it is a slightly different story with a quite different meaning. Great reviews, awards, but… phew! It’s a depression slog (not to mention violence and depravity both in close quarters).
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH (2021):
So I haven’t seen this one because—thanks in part to its Oscar for Denzel Washington, I’m sure—its still only available on AppleTV. Despite being completely over the Macbeth movies by now (they are so dark and depressing), I will be screening this one once I can.
Actually, there are a few more adaptations that I would like to see, but they are all of the “based on” variety, as opposed to more versions of the play. They are: Scotland, PA and Throne of Blood. I’m also sure the Patrick Stewart/BBC version is great, but I couldn’t figure out a way to currently watch it.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
dnf
September 5, 2022I can’t get behind the language. I read his other books because they are plain speaking, not this one so much.
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