Macbeth review

One word. Incredible. When I first saw that I would be reading Macbeth I was definitely sceptical. I am personally not a fan of Shakespeare's poetry, and vocabulary is sometimes impossible to interpret. However, I was truly blown away by how amazing this play is. As I have already said I am a huge history nerd so this was the best possible setting for a play I could have read. The people are all very deep, and well thought out characters. The story is extremely interesting and page-turning,  but also with a sense of realism in that I feel the majority of what happened could have very well been a possible situation in Scotland during the 1600s. I could feel the emotions of each character, the fear, the sorrow, the happiness and the insanity. However, at a certain point near the end, it becomes somewhat predictable. Overall this has been one of if not the best stories I have ever read in an English class. I now completely understand why Shakespeare is a genius and how this is one of the best plays of all time. I am now dying to watch the different movie adaptations and maybe even one day see a play of it! An easy 9/10 for me.

Macbeth and Banquo meeting the three witches

If it weren't for destiny the entire story of Macbeth would not have been nearly as interesting. The three witches would never have appeared, Macbeth would have become the Thane of Cawdor, he would have thanked King Duncan and that would have been the end of it. But sadly the three witches had to tell Macbeth his destiny which had consequences we know too well. Destiny or destiny is what pushed Macbeth to do all his terrible deeds. The entire play comes into effect because the witches tell Macbeth of his future as king. Similarly where it is foretold his downfall will arrive when the trees and that no man born of a woman will harm Macbeth. Had Macbeth not been told his destiny, his destiny would never have happened which is almost in a way a paradox. There is an old Saxon saying "Wyrd bið ful aræd" which translates to fate is unchangeable and this play is the perfect example of that. Once something is set in motion, it cannot be stopped and that is the entire point of destiny in Macbeth

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Lady and Macbeth and Macbeth are very interesting characters that have somewhat strange developments throughout the play. I feel like initially, Lady Macbeth was the woman who would do anything no matter how evil or cruel to get ahead in life whereas Macbeth, to me, seemed like a good and honest person. However, as the story progresses, and Lady Macbeth continually pushes her husband to do terrible things he slightly goes insane and become more and more like his wife. Once he is the King of Scotland and all his dreams are fulfilled, it seemed to me like Lady Macbeth was suddenly realizing what she had done. I almost felt like as the play progressed Macbeth and lady Macbeth almost switched bodies with their personalities gradually evolving back into their spouse's personality in the beginning. That is why I find these two characters so amazing.

Macbeth instructing the murderers to kill Macduff's Family

I am a person who can go unfazed by a lot of stuff and in this play, there were very few things that I found over the top and unsettling but here they are. The murdering of Macduff's wife and children seemed very violent even with it being off screen. However, I do understand the impact it had on the story and see why it was necessary. Other then that everything here was stuff I had seen before and found interesting!

First off I would just like to say that I am hardly the person to start modifying Shakespeare's plays. But that being said there are one or two things in Macbeth that could be adjusted. I feel like some of the people who were killed deserved more time in the play or at least honourable deaths, perhaps with a great battle scene or something. Banquo for example who is one of the best characters in the story is simply murdered and that's the end of it. Same with King Duncan. I also wish that perhaps we could have seen a little more about life in Scotland under Macbeth's rule. This could have shown us more of what a terrible ruler he was instead of second-hand stories. Essentially I just feel like there were a lot of missed opportunities.

Banquo's ghost