I just finished MacBeth (known in theater circles as “The Scottish Play” because it’s considered bad luck to say “MacBeth” outloud), and I have to say that the more of Shakespeare I read, the more I like him.
I don’t have a lot to say about this play that hasn’t been said more eloquently by someone much smarter than I, but I did really enjoy it. Of course, MacBeth is extensively quoted, so it was fun to read those famous lines (“out, damned spot!” and “double, double/toil and trouble” come to mind), but I also caught a quote from the BBC House of Cards that I didn’t realize was from Shakespeare.
MacBeth also really reminds me of the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire books (Obviously, given the centuries difference in publishing dates, ASOIAF borrows from MacBeth rather than the other way around, but I still need to point this out or else people get mad at me and try to “correct” me that MacBeth came first. Duh.). Several of the characters in ASOIAF are driven by prophecy. They hear “You will be Queen” and go mad with power. George R.R. Martin also keeps his prophecies vague and makes them come true in unexpected ways, similar to the “no man of woman born” line in MacBeth.
I don’t have much more to say. It’s Shakespeare. It’s a classic. It was a fun read.
See the full list of books that I’ve read for this project here.
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