If It Were Done: Macbeth and Tragic Action

by James L. Calderwood

Book by Calderwood, James L.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1986

About the author

James L. Calderwood was Professor of English and Associate Dean of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine. His publications include 'Shakespearean Metadrama' (Minneapolis, 1971); 'Metadrama in Shakespeare's Henriad' (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1979); 'To Be And Not To Be: Negation and Metadrama in Hamlet' (New York, 1983); 'If It Were Done: Macbeth and Tragic Action' (Amherst, 1986); 'Shakespeare and the Denial of Death' (Amherst, 1988); and 'The Properties of Othello' (Amherst, 1989).

Reviews

[Matt]

Just a phenomenal piece of work. Helped me see Macbeth as a work of moral theology and a penitential aid. Reading this work helped me be a better person

[David Loveland]

Very relevant reading for my dissertation and incredibly interesting. Calderwood's writing is accessible and his ideas are very enlightening.