Introduction
- written by author William Shakespeare in 1606, published in 1623
- Macbeth is Shakespeare‘s shortest and bloodiest tragedy revolving around a hero who has a tragic flaw and whose downfall is predestined
- the story follows the Scottish general Macbeth who is predicted to become king by three witches and who is ambitioned to make his prophecy come true; hence, he seizes the throne and becomes a tyrannical ruler
- presumably set in the 11
th century in Scottish landscapes and castles (however, Shakespeare did not go into a lot of detail about the setting) - thematic topics include the fall of man, gender roles, fortune in combination with fate, free will, kingship/natural order and ambition
- main characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Duncan, Macduff, Banquo, Malcolm
- it is a widely held superstition in the world of theater that saying the play‘s name aloud brings bad luck which is why everyone refers to it as "the Scottish play"
- Macbeth was turned into several film and television adaptations, Macbeth (1948), A Performance of Macbeth (1979), and the modernized version Scotland, Pa. (2001)
Aus: William Shakespeare: Macbeth, Philipp Reclam jun. GmbH & Co. KG, 1977, 2014, Stuttgart