Book Bearings
Macbeth
- 135 pages · about 2 hours
- First published 1623
- 1,867 editions
- Free to read
Bookshop.org links may earn us a commission. It supports independent bookstores and costs you nothing.
1 About this book
Macbeth, a Scottish general, is returning from a victorious battle when three witches hail him with a prophecy: he will be king of Scotland. When part of what they say comes true at once, the idea takes hold of him. His wife, Lady Macbeth, urges him to make the rest come true by murdering King Duncan while the king is a guest in their castle. The play follows what the deed does to them both, as guilt, fear and suspicion lead Macbeth to one act of violence after another to keep the crown. First performed around 1606, it is the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies.
- Classics
- Historical drama
- Drama
- Regicides
- Kings and rulers
- Greed
- Fear
- Comic and Graphic Books
2 What to expect
Shakespeare's shortest tragedy: a Scottish general, told by three witches that he will be king, murders his way to the throne with his wife's urging. Ambition, guilt and the damage that power does to the mind are its subjects, in an atmosphere of night, blood and the supernatural. It moves fast, with almost no subplot, and the verse is dense, so an edition with notes helps.
Good for readers who want: a fast, dark tragedy, the supernatural, and a study of ambition and guilt.
3 Read it free, right here
A free scan from the Internet Archive opens right here on the page, with no sign-up.
Read it on the Internet Archive4 About William Shakespeare
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
5 More by William Shakespeare
6 Similar books
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- White Fang by Jack London
- The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
- The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
- The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
- Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell