What is the play really about? Is Macbeth the plaything of a "giant malevolence"? In what sense is Macbeth a Christian play? What happens to the Macbeths' marriage? Is life "a tale told by an idiot/Signifying nothing"? How does Shakespeare create an atmosphere of evil? How sympathetic do we feel to Macbeth? Why is the relatively uneducated Macbeth's language so difficult? Is Duncan a saintly king? How good a man is Banquo? How close is the Macbeths' marriage? Is Macduff this play's real hero? What of the play's final scene? Is or isn't Macbeth triumphal? For much of the 20th century Macbeth was seen by critics as a deeply unsettling play but one in which Good finally overcomes Evil. In this concise, entertaining, easy-to-read guide, Graham Bradshaw puts these arguments in perspective. He shows that the play is much more terrifying than traditionalist critics allow, and, drawing on more than 30 years of studying Shakespeare, offers his own incisive view.
This book is essential reading for students, or lovers of the stage and literature, who want to understand the fascinating critical arguments which have long raged about Macbeth, and to know what Shakespeare's great tragedy is really about.