Book Review: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

I’ve worked in theater for nearly a decade and minored in Elizabethan Culture in college, but when it comes to William Shakespeare, I’ve never described myself as a fan. Generally, I think this is because I’ve yet to see most of Shakespeare’s plays onstage. Of course, when in showbusiness, I’ve often had to read a script for an evaluation of the company’s ability to produce it, and there are many I’ve enjoyed reading, even though scripts are meant to be performed.

Hamlet earned three stars from me (review here) while Romeo and Juliet (review here) earned five. Part of the reason I named my daughter Katherine was because of Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew, who remains one of my favorite characters in all theater. Recently, though, while reading Macbeth, I found myself struggling to focus on the story.

As I said about Hamlet, I think that sometimes there are elements of Shakespeare’s works that are lost on moderners because of the cultural divide imposed by the four centuries between Shakespeare’s Globe Theater and today. While murder has always been wrong and ambition has always been dangerous, there is an aspect I believe to be lost when reading one of Shakespeare’s plays about nobility. Additionally, as I said last week in my analysis of Macbeth’s placement on the Amazon/Goodreads Lifetime Reading List, the stock Macbeth places in the prophecy by the Weird Sisters is also lost on modern readers/viewers because we don’t generally frequent fortune tellers for the same reasons as those in the Renaissance did.

That said, there were a couple of passages within Macbeth that I found particularly striking.

At the end of Act I, Scene 2, Macbeth says, “False face must hide what the false heart doth know,” then he exits. In other words, he’s saying that one’s face must conceal what is in their heart, which is something I think we all do. We put on a smile when we’re broken inside, or we play ignorant when we’re seeking to conceal information.

In Act III, Scene 2, Lady Macbeth says:

Naught’s had, all’s spent

Where our desire is got without content.

’Tis safer to be that which we destroy

Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.

Macbeth,William Shakespeare

I found this passage profound because I’ve always been a risk-taker, and more than once I’ve gambled quite a lot in a bid for happiness or peace. Usually, it’s worked well; however, the risk is still there, and Lady Macbeth’s words of caution are ones I think we all should know. I also agreed with her notion that it’s better to be the one who was risked/sacrificed than the one who takes the risk because the long-term anxiety from an impulsive act can be crippling. While I don’t think that means we should never take risks, I do think we should always stop to consider the potential ripple effort of our actions.

These quotes aside, though, the only other element I liked of Macbeth was the Weird Sisters. I enjoyed their lines immensely, and frankly, I wish Shakespeare had written a spin-off play about the Weird Sisters! Perhaps some superfan of Shakespeare will write their origin story (and if you happen to know of one, let me know in the comments please!).

At best, I can give Macbeth two stars. I know it’s a classic work, but I’m simply not a fan. Maybe when the pandemic ends and Shakespeare in the Park resumes, I’ll have a different opinion after seeing it performed by professionals. The reading experience of the story itself, though, is not one I care to repeat.