Macbeth (William Shakespeare play)
Published 2021-12-31
In anticipation of the new Joel Coen film adaptation, I reread Macbeth for the first time since high school. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. In fact, I was surprised by how well I understood it. I’ve been hesitant to revisit Shakespeare since I’ve perceived it to be fairly impenetrable unless you’re willing to bounce back and forth between the text and a set of annotations, or Sparknotes. But I read this play without doing that, and while there were of course some lines I didn’t understand, the plot was perfectly clear. And overall, the experience was highly rewarding.
Right after I finished reading the play, I read Harold Bloom’s book about it, which helped me to better understand and, more importantly, appreciate it. I’m equally excited to see the new film and to explore more Shakespeare.