Theatre
Macbeth
William Shakespeare · 1606
Synopsis
A heath in Scotland, after a battle against rebels and the Norwegians. The generals Macbeth and Banquo meet three witches, who hail the former as thane of Glamis, the title he holds, thane of Cawdor, then king, and tell the latter that he will beget kings. Two messengers of the king arrive: Macbeth has just been made thane of Cawdor. He writes to his wife. The king announces that he is coming to Macbeth's castle that very evening, and Lady Macbeth welcomes him there.
Context
The play was written a few years after the accession to the throne of England of the king of Scotland, who was thought to descend from Banquo, had published a treatise on witchcraft and gave his name to the company. It has also been read in the light of the Gunpowder Plot, discovered in 1605, and the trial that followed. The text survives only through the posthumous edition of 1623, and it is thought to have been revised by another hand: two songs, merely indicated, are given in full in a play by Middleton, and the Hecate scenes are held to be additions. The play remains short, and the printed text perhaps comes from a prompt copy already cut.
Who it is for
The shortest of its author's tragedies; in French, the bilingual translation by Jean-Michel Déprats, and in paperback the one by Yves Bonnefoy.
Prizes and reception
Adapted for the cinema from Kurosawa to Polański and Kurzel, it has also been transposed to India, in a gangster film.
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