A Guide To Reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Many guides dictate the meanings of Shakespeare’s scenes and translate his rich language into more ordinary speech. But A Guide to Reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth gives readers the tools to understand the play for themselves. The greater part of the guide is comprised of a sequence of carefully designed questions for each scene of the play. These questions give readers needed guidance to parse the play’s sometimes complex and obscure language and to begin to grasp its larger themes. Before these scene-by-scene questions to guide close reading, four brief chapters provide information key to understanding the play: a description of how modern editions of Macbeth adapt the 1623 First Folio text alerts readers to what editors may introduce; an introduction to meter provides the essentials needed to hear how Shakespeare composes differently for witches than for kings; an introduction to figurative language offers techniques to comprehend Shakespeare’s abundant imagery; and an outline of the play’s core topics prepares readers to consider its key motifs. A Guide to Reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth gives readers the methods and the confidence to arrive at their own interpretations of Shakespeare’s great tragedy.