Introducing... Macbeth

Now, I'm not going to be talking about these Macbeths...

but about these Macbeths...

 

   Yep... pretty bloody, I know. But, what can you expect from a play that is centered around murder?  

Some interesting things about this play:

The word "blood" or "bloody" shows up 36 times in the play. Some of these quotes stating it more than once.

This play begins with a war and ends with a war. 

There are three significant murders plus the murder of an entire family (minus one) and a suicide.

This play is thought to be cursed, causing members of the production to call it "the Scottish play"  backstage rather than referring to it by name.

This is truly an action-packed play and it will be my pleasure to cover it over the course of the next month. This will include my thorough reading of it and my listening to an audio recording. I will also be watching a video of it, though I am not sure which one yet. There have been many productions of Macbeth through the years (some amazing, and some critiqued as not so amazing), yet one has been noted to stand out as one of the greatest productions. That is the production directed by Rupert Goold - starring Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood. It is more of a modernized production that can easily be accessed online (see link below). However, through viewing the first scene, I believe that this movie must be watched on Halloween (or in preparation for it) seeing as it left me light-headed after the first 5 minutes. This should be congratulated, though, as I believe from simply viewing the first two scenes, that it has truly captured the nightmarish mood that Shakespeare was searching for.

So there you have it. More to come on Macbeth. But before I go, I just wanted to add- for those men who think that Shakespeare is beneath their manliness- to give Macbeth a shot. I'd say that if you like action and violence, I think you'd be pretty satisfied with this play.

To view a summary of all the action, check out SparkNotes at: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth

To view the totally wicked production of Macbeth directed by Rupert Goold, good luck, and check out this link:

   http://video.pbs.org/video/1604122998

or for a short preview, check this out:

              

My First Encounter . . .

All through my life I've heard of the infamous William Shakespeare. The same William Shakespeare who turned high school English class into a living torture for its unsuspecting students. When my turn finally came, however, I found that it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I'm not sure if it was that I had a knack for actually understanding the language (that was for some reason labelled as English), or if it was the fun, quirky teacher that brought it to life. I'm leaning towards the second reason. My teacher had the courage to introduce a class of thirteen-year-olds to the madness of King Richard the Third. Yet, amidst the betrayals, beheading, and bemoaning of those killed I found that I couldn't wait to see how it all ended. Of course the evil Richard was going to be dethroned, but how much madness could he create before it finally caught up to him? And thus, my curiosity was sparked.

Now, they often say curiosity killed the cat. If that's true, then I should only have myself to blame for signing up to study Shakespeare. By the time high school had ended I had thouroughly studied Richard the Third, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, and Hamlet. And yet, that wasn't enough. I was like the monkey who'd reached into the jar and would rather be caught than let go of the food he'd found. And that's what has brought me here. I'm about to dive head-first into the complex world of William Shakespeare.

I hope I'm up for the challenge.