Adapted Classics Macbeth Se 96c.

by Gabriel Cuellar and GLOBE

Book Overview

This classic series of plays, novels, and stories has been adapted, in a friendly format, for students reading at a various levels. Reading Level: 4-8 Interest Level: 6-12

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0835918548
• ISBN13: 9780835918541
• Release Date: January 1950
• Publisher: Globe Fearon
• Length: 103 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

A Very Nice Version of A Veritable Work of Genius

I am taking a Shakespeare course at my high school and this was the issued version of Macbeth I got. I like that the book starts out by talking about Will's life and times. It helps put things into historical context. Readers need to know that King James VI of Scotland and I of England had just ascended the thrown, and that Shakespeare would be performing this with his fellow actors infront of him. They need to know that attempts to take the King's life using "black magic" were made, and tales of witches and sorcery abounded. It also helps you learn how to read Shakespearean verse and has an interesting perspective essay written by Susan Snyder which is helpful if, after reading the play, you're wondering what to make of all the sorcery, evil, and murder. All in all, I love this book. I didn't want a book that "translated" Shakespearean verse into modern English, because that actually hurts more than it helps. You may "understand what's going on" if you read something like that, but Shakespeare chose the words he did for a reason: he rhymed, made allusions, used alliteration, metaphors, similes, backspeak, poetic compression, and all the rest, for a reason. And you can't find that complexity when you use the modern English versions. It couldn't hurt to also buy Macbeth (Cliffs Complete) (Paperback) too...It has the text on one page, and helpful definitions of outdated words on the adjacent page, as well as interpretations of certain references and allusions. The text is a bit different (some word and less poetic compression) and there are additional accompanying definitions. If there's one thing a reader should do when reading Macbeth, it's make notes and annotate! I never thought I'd say that...teachers always beat you over the head with it, and I never found it necessary before, but it is with Will, and the CliffsComplete version will help you with that. Regardless, I've never understood a Shakespearean play so thoroughly, and I enjoyed Macbeth incredibly. I highly recommend this book!!!

Yale's may be the best edition of Macbeth

Virtually all editions of Macbeth will have at least some annotations. Rummaging through five different editions, I preferred the Yale University Press version, edited by Burton Raffel, as having the most comprehensive and comprehensible notes, as well as an excellent introduction to Shakespeare's play. Raffel not only explains the meanings of obscure words, but also gives brief notes pertaining to relevant history, geography, stage directions, etc, that are rarely addressed as fully by other editors. In addition, Raffel frequently gives the proper way to stress the syllables in a line when reading it aloud, which can be extremely helpful. (However, in most places these stresses need to be very subtle, so that you don't sound like "taDUM taDUM taDUM".) And Yale's page layout is among the clearest that I've seen. (To find this edition: at Avanced Search, enter ISBN 0300106548; or, enter Macbeth as title, and either Raffel as author or Yale as publisher.) As a bonus, this edition includes at the back a long essay on the play by Harold Bloom. This is not an uninteresting commentary, but Bloom desperately needs a good editor. His essay is not only at least three times longer than it should be, but is startlingly repetitious. Yale would have been wise to have asked Bloom for a rewrite.

Sound and fury signifying nothing

From the opening foreboding lines of the witches on the heath " When shall we three meet again in thunder lightning or in rain, when the hurly burly's done when the battle's lost and won;/ to the concluding realization of the prophecy of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane , the seeming impossible happening, and Macbeth being deposed and done away with the drama is one of cold ambition and cruel horror. The great Macbeth spurred by the ambition of Lady Macbeth let's ambition turn him to murder , and this murder and its consequences are the heart of the tragic tale. The powerful figure of Lady Macbeth dominates her less strong husband, and he the great warrior follows her toward ruthless realization of his own ambition. The fall of all is the justice of the end of the play. The play contains one of Shakespeare's greatest speeches , the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow " soliloquy of Macbeth .And the work as a whole does raise the question of the meaning of the sound and fury signifying nothing. As a young person reading this work for the first time I could never reconcile myself to the cruel end of the story - I simply could not understand why such a sad and unhappy ending had to happen to them all. For this reason my love of the play as a whole was tempered, though I very much loved its great passages and language. I just could not bear in those days to see such an ' unhappy ending'.

Macbeth

a tragic story of death and betrail. A great play to watch, read, and perform. Read this play!