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Macbeth
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published March 1, 2023
About the author
William Shakespeare
24.2k books48.2k followersWilliam 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
July 4, 2024
Top tier play 10/10 the witches serve c**t
April 4, 2025
This is so chock full of trans people. Like I think everyone in this play is trans in some way, I genuinely believe this. Someone let me direct a fully trans production of this (as though every production of Macbeth isn’t already trans)
June 12, 2024
My favorite Shakespeare. Can’t wait to teach it again in the fall…it’s been too long! NEVER SHAKE THY GORY LOCKS AT ME 💀😁
October 29, 2025
Remains one of my fav Shakespeare plays and is a perfect spooky reread for Halloween :))
July 9, 2025
‘Twas a rough night choral reading Macbeth at the Folger Library with a bunch of English teachers. Just kidding, super-fun.
February 25, 2025
I don't have any comparisons or other experience reading Shakespeare, but I really liked this edition. It does a really great job of explaining unfamiliar words and phrases, and it offers a lot of background and other info that helps someone like me, who doesn't really know any details about Shakespeare.
For the play itself, I really enjoyed it and I was surprised by how easy it actually was to read. I sort of expected it to be that kind of incomprehensible old English, but barring a few lines, it really wasn't at all. I did try to read as much as possible out loud, and maybe that helps.
It's crazy to imagine that people were watching this performed in 1600, it must've blown their minds. Some of the lines go so hard ("What's done cannot be undone", "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more!'") and there's turns of phrase and metaphors that are just so unique (well, in today's time, at least). It's also always interesting to read the source material of references from modern works ("something wicked this way comes", maybe "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow"?). It was just really obvious while reading why people keep coming back to stuff like this.
A couple of other things I found interesting: the ideas of masculinity/femininity, and how Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth he isn't a man if he doesn't kill Duncan. I also love stuff that handles prophecy and fate this well, like he tells you exactly what's going to happen, but it's still fascinating to watch how exactly it comes true. And you can't help but hope it can turn out differently. Even the way he resolves the part about Birnam Wood moving to Dunsinane, you're like, how's this going to happen?? And it's just a perfectly silly yet clever resolution of the prophecy there. Really fun.
Big fan of this and I'm very interested in getting more into Shakespeare now.
Oh, and I do think this makes Sleep No More make more sense to me, now. Better late than never, I guess.
For the play itself, I really enjoyed it and I was surprised by how easy it actually was to read. I sort of expected it to be that kind of incomprehensible old English, but barring a few lines, it really wasn't at all. I did try to read as much as possible out loud, and maybe that helps.
It's crazy to imagine that people were watching this performed in 1600, it must've blown their minds. Some of the lines go so hard ("What's done cannot be undone", "I heard a voice cry, 'Sleep no more!'") and there's turns of phrase and metaphors that are just so unique (well, in today's time, at least). It's also always interesting to read the source material of references from modern works ("something wicked this way comes", maybe "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow"?). It was just really obvious while reading why people keep coming back to stuff like this.
A couple of other things I found interesting: the ideas of masculinity/femininity, and how Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth he isn't a man if he doesn't kill Duncan. I also love stuff that handles prophecy and fate this well, like he tells you exactly what's going to happen, but it's still fascinating to watch how exactly it comes true. And you can't help but hope it can turn out differently. Even the way he resolves the part about Birnam Wood moving to Dunsinane, you're like, how's this going to happen?? And it's just a perfectly silly yet clever resolution of the prophecy there. Really fun.
Big fan of this and I'm very interested in getting more into Shakespeare now.
Oh, and I do think this makes Sleep No More make more sense to me, now. Better late than never, I guess.
November 22, 2023
Macbeth is one of my all time favourite plays, and one of Shakespeare's fastest, and most furious efforts. Everything happens at break-neck pace, in a world that's full of horror, strangeness, and otherworldly happenings. On this curious backdrop we find some of humanities worst elements projected.
I've always loved the Three Weird Sisters, and Hecate in this play. They're an oracular allusion, and their choral songs and spells are just that: spell binding.
I love everything about this play.
I've always loved the Three Weird Sisters, and Hecate in this play. They're an oracular allusion, and their choral songs and spells are just that: spell binding.
I love everything about this play.
January 1, 2025
A lot of people consider this to be their favorite Shakespeare play. Maybe it's because they read it in school. I personally enjoyed it but other than Lady Macbeth who was fantastic there weren't any gripping characters I found myself wanting to follow along with.
July 22, 2024
Read it for my English class, not great but like just above mediocre for me lowkey
January 30, 2025
4.5🌟 haven’t read this since 9th grade but it still HITS
February 28, 2025
i thoroughly enjoy Shakespeare’s plays about crazy men, they’re so fun
August 3, 2026
oh wow hamilton said that too what a coincidence
July 26, 2026
Hated reading it the first time, never had 72 pages go on for so long.
Actually really enjoy it now that I'm analysing it!! its got a lot of cool themes and I can catch Macbeth references in other media now (two I've noticed so far being in Hamilton and Brutus by BUTTRESS).
Actually really enjoy it now that I'm analysing it!! its got a lot of cool themes and I can catch Macbeth references in other media now (two I've noticed so far being in Hamilton and Brutus by BUTTRESS).
July 8, 2026
Macbeth! What a story, what a play. So much of this has been appropriated by different literature and film. The witches, the tempted character caught in actions they cannot stop once in motion, the floating dagger, the apparitions, the descent into madness by Lady Macbeth. This is a story bigger than the sum of its parts.
I was casting about for some light reading after "Purity." Franzen needs some literature palate cleansing and I had read Klavan's non-fiction and wanted a good story. This fit the bill. I had not read it for a while so it was kind of fresh. I read slowly this time, I thought I got more from it than reading in one sitting.
I bought a Folger copy, even though I am certain I have a copy somewhere else. I have really come to like the physical Folger copies, the larger sized ones. They are like 6 bucks from Amazon, well worth it for a book I am certain to read again at some point.
I used Google Gemini to give me a synopsis after I had read a chapter or difficult scene. I feel as if I caught a little more than I usually do reading Shakespeare this way. It is actually quite helpful.
I was casting about for some light reading after "Purity." Franzen needs some literature palate cleansing and I had read Klavan's non-fiction and wanted a good story. This fit the bill. I had not read it for a while so it was kind of fresh. I read slowly this time, I thought I got more from it than reading in one sitting.
I bought a Folger copy, even though I am certain I have a copy somewhere else. I have really come to like the physical Folger copies, the larger sized ones. They are like 6 bucks from Amazon, well worth it for a book I am certain to read again at some point.
I used Google Gemini to give me a synopsis after I had read a chapter or difficult scene. I feel as if I caught a little more than I usually do reading Shakespeare this way. It is actually quite helpful.
June 6, 2026
Disclaimer: I did get the point of this book unlike Alice sun and thoroughly enjoyed it, ofc it was well written and the imagery was so peak like better than the other Shakespeare I’ve read
That being said: why are lady Macbeth and Macbeth like relationship goals besides the murder? Like he respects her enough for her to be his equal and he always looks to her for approval even in times where that wasn’t normal, and he was so devastated after she died and was doing everything, finding experts, worrying over her when she was going insane like 👏👏👏🫶
That being said: why are lady Macbeth and Macbeth like relationship goals besides the murder? Like he respects her enough for her to be his equal and he always looks to her for approval even in times where that wasn’t normal, and he was so devastated after she died and was doing everything, finding experts, worrying over her when she was going insane like 👏👏👏🫶
August 21, 2025
Reading Shakespeare now, it's so easy to see why his plays and poems are still read and performed today.
Macbeth was amazing, and the themes shone throughout the whole play. This particular version was very helpful for bits of dialogue and phrasing that (unless you study Shakespeare) is not commonly used, and could be hard to understand.
Shakespeare is always worth the read.
Macbeth was amazing, and the themes shone throughout the whole play. This particular version was very helpful for bits of dialogue and phrasing that (unless you study Shakespeare) is not commonly used, and could be hard to understand.
Shakespeare is always worth the read.
September 4, 2024
A haunting and thought-provoking tragedy. Would love to see it on stage. The language was difficult for me to follow at times but I was able to translate where I had difficulties and YouTube also offers reviews to make sure you understood the theme and conveyed message.
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October 14, 2024this was just one plot with no surprises
March 14, 2025
okay storyline but didnt understand anything
October 17, 2025
The witches be spitting straight bangers. Wierd sisters indeed lol 🫧🫕🔥 🐈⬛️✨️🔮🧙♀️🧙♀️🧙♀️👌✨️
February 16, 2026
highly recommend watching the play and immediately going home and then reading it all in one day
August 1, 2026
4.5/5 stars.
August 3, 2026
Amigo porque le hiciste caso a tres abuelas q cantan y meten animales muertos en un cazo
July 26, 2026
July 25, 2026: I read a Manga edition of MacBeth today. It was unabridged, but the text had been adapted to a "modern English" version and it was close, but not the same. I really enjoy listening to Shakespeare, and I wanted to hear the original words, so after reading each act, I'd stop to listen to that act in the original via audiobook. It proved a very moving way to experience the story. In fact, after I finished, I increased my rating to 5 stars. Like most of Shakespeare's works, Macbeth gets better with every reading.... dare I say it's starting to feel like a favorite?
There's somthing about Lady Macbeth's insane lust for power that is both fascinating and terrifying. She's a woman driven mad by the limitations of being a woman in a Patriarchal world. The 3 weird sisters told her husband he would be King, but they both know it will require some killing. She immediately knows that he doesn't have what it takes - but SHE DOES - and she emasculates the shit out of him because she's so mad that he's the man when she would be better at it! And, truly, he's ruthless af. She brags that she could smash her own child's brains in if that's what she needed to do! She's a scary, ruthless bitch, but I'm kind of into her. She makes me think about Clymenestra, Penelope, and first ladies. I also love the way their guilty consciences drive them insane. It made me think about "Crime and Punishment".
And I must also mention how much I love the weird sisters cooking with eye of newt, etc.
July 2, 2026: Listened to the audiobook in preparation for reading "Fair or foul - the Lady Macbeth guide to ambition". I think about Lady Macbeth trying to get the blood off her hands more than I think about anything else in the play. I just read Crime and Punishment, so I found myself thinking about guilt and how it impacts people while listening to Macbeth this time around.
April 14, 2025:
I had a new appreciation for Lady Macbeth reading it this time. And for that knocking. I love the fair-foul dialectic that runs through this work. And the fact that they call the witches the "weird sisters" - and the witches call themselves that - will never not be funny.
There's somthing about Lady Macbeth's insane lust for power that is both fascinating and terrifying. She's a woman driven mad by the limitations of being a woman in a Patriarchal world. The 3 weird sisters told her husband he would be King, but they both know it will require some killing. She immediately knows that he doesn't have what it takes - but SHE DOES - and she emasculates the shit out of him because she's so mad that he's the man when she would be better at it! And, truly, he's ruthless af. She brags that she could smash her own child's brains in if that's what she needed to do! She's a scary, ruthless bitch, but I'm kind of into her. She makes me think about Clymenestra, Penelope, and first ladies. I also love the way their guilty consciences drive them insane. It made me think about "Crime and Punishment".
And I must also mention how much I love the weird sisters cooking with eye of newt, etc.
July 2, 2026: Listened to the audiobook in preparation for reading "Fair or foul - the Lady Macbeth guide to ambition". I think about Lady Macbeth trying to get the blood off her hands more than I think about anything else in the play. I just read Crime and Punishment, so I found myself thinking about guilt and how it impacts people while listening to Macbeth this time around.
April 14, 2025:
I had a new appreciation for Lady Macbeth reading it this time. And for that knocking. I love the fair-foul dialectic that runs through this work. And the fact that they call the witches the "weird sisters" - and the witches call themselves that - will never not be funny.
July 17, 2026
This text has some beautiful passages but I had difficulty connecting with the characters. I particularly don't understand the motivations for the actions of the Macbeths. After reading the play I did some googling and can better understand now. Sadly, Shakespeare had to entertain the fancies of the ruling king at the time when he was writing the play. I wonder how and what he would have written if he had enjoyed complete liberty. What was interesting was his analysis of feelings of guilt and how they effect a person. In this way, the play sometimes reminded me of "Crime and Punishment".
July 14, 2026
De lo que leí de Shakespeare este mes es el más débil. No porque sea malo, porque Hamlet y Romeo & Julieta son lo que son.
Macbeth es un antihéroe que a manera de las tragedias griegas, al querer manipular su destino termina invocandolo, de manera casi deterministica no hay manera de evitar las cosas. O quiza si, no dejándose corromper por la codicia y el deseo de su esposa.
Macbeth, de esta manera se ve como un personaje feroz en combate pero pobre al tomar decisiones, dejándose influir y después teniendo que llevarlo todo a las últimas consecuencias, siendo un gobernante tirano, el cual actuó más por miedo de perderlo todo que por otra cosa.
Macbeth no murió por grandes acciones de los otros, fue víctima de sus propias acciones. Lo cual lo hace poético y trágico.
Macbeth es un antihéroe que a manera de las tragedias griegas, al querer manipular su destino termina invocandolo, de manera casi deterministica no hay manera de evitar las cosas. O quiza si, no dejándose corromper por la codicia y el deseo de su esposa.
Macbeth, de esta manera se ve como un personaje feroz en combate pero pobre al tomar decisiones, dejándose influir y después teniendo que llevarlo todo a las últimas consecuencias, siendo un gobernante tirano, el cual actuó más por miedo de perderlo todo que por otra cosa.
Macbeth no murió por grandes acciones de los otros, fue víctima de sus propias acciones. Lo cual lo hace poético y trágico.
July 15, 2026
Who destroyed Macbeth? Who was the villain? Lady Macbeth cries to the witches, "Unsex me" as she destroys all womanly tenderness to murder the king and grasp the power. What a haunting tale of the evil a grieving greedy woman can cause. Absolutely horrific, haunting, and hellish! Double, Double toil and trouble!
July 17, 2026
Periodic reread. My favorite Shakespeare play since I acted in it in college. That it was my favorite President's favorite play as well makes it even better.
July 13, 2026
forgot i read this. pretty good but gives me trauma
July 10, 2026
god i hate shakespeare
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews