Since we’re going to be in Scotland, I thought that ‘Macbeth’ would be the best Shakespearean play to read while in London, and though I’ve read it a number of times, this reading provided much pleasure and new awareness of its richness.

The story is familiar—Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, is heroic in defending Scotland from a Norwegian invasion which was abetted by the Thane of Cawdor.  Macbeth is rewarded by King Duncan with the additional title of Thane of Cawdor which fulfills one of the three predictions made by the three witches in the very first scene of the play.  The other two witches’ predictions then determine the remainder of the action as Macbeth, spurred on by his greedy and ambitious wife, murders Duncan to become the King and the has Banquo murdered to prevent his children from becoming king. The escape of Duncan’s son Malcolm and Banquo’s son Fleance threatens Macbeth’s plans, but he visits the witches again and they reassure him that no man born of woman can kill him and he will rule until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. As the killing continues, Lady Macbeth goes mad and kills herself, and Macbeth is slain by McDuff who had been ‘torn from his mother’ (evidently, an early C-section) and who used Birnam Wood as camouflage for the assault on Macbeth’s castle. Whew!

The play, even in the reading of it, is very powerful and is filled with memorable lines that have found their way into our everyday speech (e.g. “tomorrow,and tomorrow, and tomorrow”).  The lessons Shakespeare is proffering remain relevant today–the over-reaching for power driven by ego, greed, and lack of character (sound like someone in today’s US politics???). The play also points out the importance of choosing the right life partner and raises the issue of how seriously to take witches, omens, prophecies, etc.

Worth reading and even more worth seeing again.  There’s a production of the play starring Ralph Fiennes in a modern, war-torn setting that is playing in London now and will be playing in DC in April and May.  The Guardian gave it three stars out of five, commenting on their impression that the three witches looked like Gen-Zers in their dungrees and Doc Martens, but it’s almost certainly a show worth seeing;however,  after four plays this week, I think we’ll take a pass.