who likes Macbeth?

doent anyone like it??? it doent matter if its a play. I have heard that someone else added some sceans in the play [%sig%]

You have my sympathies Sally. I also have to read and digest things I don't like for my exam too - Northanger Abbey in my case - bleurgh, horrible. I hate books that are all art and little substance. It's scenes not sceans by the way - dont spell it wrong in your exam! And probably best to remember if its a play or a novel too - you'll find it does matter to the examiner...

dont worry i wont spell scenes wrong in the exam. i know its a play.Well thanks for correcting me. [%sig%]

MacDonalds is no better. Umm...sorry, I'll behave.

It's crap Sally, your right. Student's shouldn't have to find way of making it sound like it's not - that's what politics is there for. Shakespeare may well have been exceptional - but then he was up against tough competion and had his arse well and truly kicked. Imagine trying get kids to watch "Muffin the Mule", by saying that it laid the foundation for all the children's television which is around today. "Yeah.... but mum - it's bollocks" Your'e not wrong kid.......Spongebob just started.

last year i had to suffer with Romeo and Juliet. I just dont understand one thing: Why do schools have shakespeare's play on their syllabus? there is just no point of doing that and the language is really different. [%sig%]

In Macbeth you have greed, lust for power, risking all for murder, finding the courage to do something, embarking on a path that means that you keep having to do worse and worse things because you can't go back and the consequences of your actions. The language may be old, but the themes of MacBeth have still got so much to offer. Trying to be helpful to Sally, MacBeth is one of the very easiest Shakespeare plays to study for an examination - the characters tend to wear their motivations upfront, rather than something like Hamlet or the Iago character in Othello where you have to puzzle at them. MacBeth wants to be respected for his valour in battle and becomes convinced by greed not to be satisfied with the respect he is given but to take more by murder; Lady MacBeth is ambitious and pushes her husband into murder to become Queen, but realises too late and to her cost that murder is harder to live with than she imagined. Take a highlighter pen and highlight every line that relates to blood, or to sleep - these are the big two motifs of the play. Shakespeare is saying that murder leaves a mark on the individual, that you don't get the benefits without the consequences - and it is also a way of illustrating with a huge dramatic example that the same is true of smaller things. If you treat people badly and do bad things, they have a cost on you - you might not get your comeuppance in an obvious way, but if you surrender your morals to take short-cuts to get what you want, you may not end up enjoying them as much as you thought. Blood, guilt, sleep, madness - those are the big themes of the play and the questions that always come up in exams. Generally with Shakespeare, when you stop struggling against the language and just relax into the story, you'll find it easier and more enjoyable. It'd be tough not to find something of interest in the story of MacBeth - particularly in our modern society where everyone wants to be famous without going to the trouble of having a talent and working at it. Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers...

thanks emily for trying to help. That's exactly what the teachers say as well. But it really is boaring i just dont like it

Sally - Macbeth was written to be performed. There's a production on at the Albery Theatre, I believe. Go and see it and then tell us if you still think it's boring!

My son's attitude to studying Shakespeare was to watch the video rather than read the play, and put in the slog work on things he enjoyed - like "Trainspotting". Amazingly, he got a "B" at A-level.

I think there's something in that, Neil. Shakespeare was a playwright. To tackle his work by reading the scripts is a little like trying to understand Raging Bull by reading Scorsese's script. You'll get a flavour, but the life is in the performance. I wouldn't dream of telling you that you should like MacBeth, Sally - my all-time most hated book was one I studied in English, Pride and Prejudice and if I could have built a time machine I would have gone back and kept taking Austen's pencils away from her so she couldn't write. But I think you'll get more out of it/pass the exam easier if you just relax and think "I might not like this play, but it's a goldmine for writing essays" Good luck with the exams.

Bob I dont have Albery Theatre here. I wish I had a movie of that play but I dont, and I dont know where to get one from. oh how i wish i was in your sons place neil. Getting a B....Wow. Emily your reply made me laugh. i wish i could do that as well. i got a C on my first assignment of Machbeth, now thats really disappointing. I wasn't expecting that even though i didn't like the play i worked so hard on that question. thanks for advice everyone. [%sig%]

For Macbeth movies, try amazon.

There was a very dark and atmospheric animated version on schools television that we stumbled upon last year some time - I think it was BBC but it could have been C4. It was a tad beyond my daughter's comprehension at the time but very watchable and I could see it really working for older students. Unfortunately we couldn't find it again otherwise we would've taped the series. Beats dissecting the play line by line in class before you've even seen it, which is what used to happen at our school. [%sig%]

well its starting to make sense. its not that boring i guess [%sig%]

I agree with Bob Roberts, Sally. Try and see a production of the play before you start analysing the text.

There's a brilliant film of MacBeth directed by Roman Polanski with music by the Third Ear Band - I have the LP, which shows my age. Ho hum. Try and find it on video or DVD or whatever- it'll help. I must admit that I loved MacBeth at school, I love it now and so find it difficult to empathise with you. Likewise with Emily and Liana - Jane Austen is probably the finest novelist England has ever produced, in my opinion.

I live in a different country and i dont think there is a movie of macbeth in this country but i will try to find one. i am not saying that just because i dont like it no one likes it or no one should like it. i know many people who like it but i really dont know why they like it? Whats so interesting about this play i really cant understand that. [%sig%]

Austen is very clever... unfortunately for me, that isnt enough. I can admire the satire of Northanger but not the plodability.

I'm trying desperately to get my students to like Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet at the moment, which I find really bizarre because I think they're both great - I agree with the points made about watching the play and also about how people get so worked up about the language, it's not like you have to understand every word, just go along with the storylines. As for Austen, I can't stand the woman - Mansfield Park is, without exception, the worst book I've ever had the unfortunate experience of having to plod through. Mind you, she's great for essays because she's so easy to rip apart which, from what I remember, made getting a good grade all the easier. I never had anything bad to say about Shakespeare and so all my essays about him were a bit crap.

Not everyone hates it. Its just my opinion that its boaring [%sig%]

oh....... people, tell me What exactly is 'so' interesting about this play??? I really don't understand that.... but everyone is different so i guess there is nothing wrong in liking it. [%sig%]

Power, murder, greed, ambition, witchcraft, betrayal of friendship, ghosts, madness, guilt, revenge, war... The whole play would be worth it if it only contained the one magnificent line about MacBeth being so steeped in blood that to turn back would be as tedious as going onwards. But nearly every line is cracking. You let I dare not, wait upon I would, like the cat of the adage.

i if the only one like macbeth

i like it.

I think it's a great novel...especially the bit at the beginning where his father the king appears as a ghost. Brilliant! *returns to comfy chair, opens Possession by A S Byatt, falls soundly asleep*

king is'nt his father and he does not appear as a ghost. [%sig%]

and Macbeth is a novel?

I was always told it was a play. By some dead bloke, wasn't it?

Yeah, but have you heard that they think Shakespeare's plays weren't written by Shakespeare, but by another bloke of the same name? Er, Macbeth's ok, prefer Othello, Hamlet and King Lear, if you're going for tragedy. . . . . . . out damn spot... Oh, bloody period.