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Macbeth (William Shakespeare play, English)

  • The Tragedy of Macbeth
Sort Name
Macbeth
Type
Play
Language
English
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Wikipedia

The Tragedy of Macbeth, often shortened to Macbeth (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, Macbeth most clearly reflects his relationship with King James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.

A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then racked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.

Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy have been associated with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "The Scottish Play". The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.

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Annotation

The Tragedy of Macbeth, commonly shortened to Macbeth, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare possibly sometime between 1599 and 1605. It was first published in 1623.

Last modified: 2020-08-02 (revision #17291)

Editions

NameFormatISBNRelease Date
Macbeth: Englisch/DeutschPaperback978-3-15-009870-72012
Macbeth (William Shakespeare)eBook?2021-05-07
The Complete Works of William ShakespeareeBook?1994-01-01
Macbeth (Reclam Fremdsprachentexte)Paperback3-15-009220-51998
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Identifiers

LibraryThing Work
4948864
Wikidata Work ID
Q130283

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Last Modified
2023-04-20