Macbeth: The Graphic Novel, Modern Text

by William Shakespeare, John McDonald, Clive Bryant (Editor)

This full colour graphic novel presents Macbeth in modern English, verse-for-verse. Ideal for readers who may find the language of the original text difficult. Can be used in conjunction with the original text versions of the play. Also includes background information on Shakespeare, the history of the real Macbeth, and Shakespeare around the globe today.

144 pages, Paperback

Published March 19, 2010

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

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me almost 2 years to finish... Macbeth isn't my favourite Shakespeare play. The original is decent and this is an accessible version of the text. I don't have any major complaints or praises. It was overall just an okay read.

[Bjorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. The drawings are... OK. The modernisation of the text is... OK. At some point, you have to decide just how much to modernise both the dialogue and the actual action to make it fit the medium you've chosen, and I'm not sure this made the right decisions there. There are a LOT of thoughtbubbles and off-screen killings that don't really make sense for the format.

[Ann Kinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like the graphics and the easier to read text. I’m really glad I read it- I just think the story isn’t for me. I probably do not have the sophisticated taste required to appreciate Shakespeare:))

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

ye it ok

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Macbeth is probably my favourite Shakespearean plays.  I liked this particular version because it translated the Shakespearean language into a more modern language, which was nice.  The art style was nice as well.