Macbeth
by William Shakespeare · first published 1508
15% recommend82% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Short, tightly plotted tragedy that many call their favorite Shakespeare play; readers find it a strong entry point, and it works without deep historical background. Useful for students and anyone wanting a compact read.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The play concerns a trusted general who secretly lusts for power. Encouraged by the prophecies of three witches and urged on by his ambitious wife Macbeth commits regicide. Left fearful and superstitious by this desperate act he is driven to a spiralling course of murder and outrage, almost inevitably culminating in his own death. One of Shakespeare’s most popular tragedies, Macbeth is ostensibly based on the Scottish king although the story represented in the play bears no relation to historical fact as the true King Macbeth was well respected by his contemporaries. This book includes the her
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…underrated comedy. Some of the best comedy I have ever encountered is in Shakespeare’s so-called tragedies, a situation that very much matches my own tragedy-marred life. Reread “Hamlet”, “Richard III”, and “MacBeth” for a barrage of hilariously inappropriate one-liners.) Anyway, a decade and half ago wife wants to take the kids, ages 7 & 9, to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. I tell them they don’t have to see…
on “Why Read the Classics? (1986)” ↗…almost never lead you wrong. But, here we go anyway (and yeah, some of these are just off those lists): 1) Shakespeare's big four tragedies are, in fact, out-fucking-standing. Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth. IMO Hamlet reads the best of those. Any would be fine to watch, as well, and may be better that way. The language, especially, is easier to understand when performed, because you have body language,…
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗…literature. He's got much more in common with Stephen King or Dan Brown, as a writer of popular, mainstream entertainment, than he does with critically acclaimed, popularly ignored capital L Literature. MacBeth and Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet are great, timeless works, but Shakespeare turned out a lot of historical plays and comedies that are kind of meh. Particularly the comedies are pretty formulaic, if you…
on “Teaching a Different Shakespeare Than the One I Love” ↗You are aware that de Vere died in 1604, and Shakespeare published 13 plays between then and his death in 1616? Among those 13 are some of his best works, like King Lear and Macbeth, so it's not like he was running out of 'A' material in those years either. >Maybe the plays and sonnets read like late Tudor court poetry because they are late Tudor court poetry? I imagine you as…
on “Shakespeare: Actor, Playwright, Social Climber” ↗I don't think you'd have much trouble following to follow Macbeth without knowing much about 16th century England or 11th century Scotland. It's one of Shakespeare's shortest plays, you try it for yourself: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/william-shakespeare/macbet...
on “Shakespeare’s Latin and Greek” ↗I think that's why I enjoy House of Cards (both of them) so much. Macbeth is easily, by far, my favourite Shakespeare play, no contest.
on “The Post-Hope Politics of ‘House of Cards’” ↗> I was weighed down by words and phrases that we no longer use and found myself losing the meaning. I have the same problem. I found a used physical copy of "No Fear Shakespeare - Macbeth" to be very helpful. On the left page is the original text, on the right page is are notes and a translation. I was able to get through the book and understand it. You can access online here: https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/…
on “Ask HN: What are some must read books?” ↗As an alternative perspective, I am glad that my middle and high school curriculum included several works of Shakespeare, especially Macbeth and Hamlet, and several 19th century classics. They really do require time, they’re hard to make time for, and while reading them wasn’t exactly fun, I’m glad that I did it. Many of the themes are timeless,…
on “Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun” ↗I would replace your number 5 with "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" or "MacBeth" or "Calvin & Hobbes" or maybe even Natsume's "I am a Cat." Also fun fictional books with impressive protagonists. Other than that, your first four points are wonderful.
on “How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity” ↗…reflexively to code that doesn't look familiar to them and call it unreadable, the same way that a person unfamiliar with Shakespeare and unprepared (or unwilling) to make the effort to read it will dismiss Macbeth as hard to read. A person new to Shakespeare picking up Macbeth will find the book challenging because of the antique language, the poetic form and dramatic devices, maybe the historical setting and…
on “What does code readability mean?” ↗Yeah, that's the chart in the middle of the article of the log likelihood of each word. The higher that score, the more a word is used in Macbeth relative to the rest of his plays. However ... the author blips right over the fact that "our" and "she"--two very common words--both have a higher log likelihood than "the".
on “Overuse of the word “the” in “Macbeth”” ↗James Thurber wrote a short story for The New Yorker [1] where a fan of whodunnits picks up a copy of Macbeth and proceeds to read it while looking to solve who the real murderer of Duncan was (not Macbeth, too obvious). [1] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1937/10/02/the-macbeth-mur...
on “With No Inkling of the Contents: Viewing Narnia Through a Hindu Lens” ↗…barroom at the border, one of three auguries of doom delivered by various elders the Kid happens upon. With these McCarthy repeatedly points the reader back to a long heritage of epic tragedy: Moby Dick, Macbeth, and The Iliad. Any other obsessive re-reader out there care to recall the other two such episodes?
on “Crossing the Blood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy and American History” ↗The disordered Mennonite recalls Elijah's prophecy in Moby Dick Macbeth - I'm guessing you mean the Tarot divination scene where we hear an obscured version of Glanton's fate (echoes of the three witches)? The Iliad - It's been a while since I read this one so I'm having…
on “Crossing the Blood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy and American History” ↗…Shakespeare’s plays, according to Knights, were first and foremost “dramatic poems,” works of literary art unified through metaphor and language, rather than a record of interactions between characters. To treat Macbeth as the final episode in the life of Macbeth was to confuse literature and history, to take the figures of drama for real persons, with biographies that reached back before the beginning of the play and,…
on “How many children had Lady Macbeth?” ↗