Understanding Macbeth: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents

This rich interdisciplinary collection of primary materials and commentary about Shakespeare's Macbeth will help student and teacher explore historical, literary, theatrical, social, and political issues related to the play. Bringing together past and present in its approach to Macbeth, the guide explores topics ranging from Shakespeare's stage to modern political events—from historical focus on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and its influence on the play, to theatrical interest in the stage and performance, to thematic connections between Macbeth and modern events such as Watergate and the Oklahoma City bombing. Excerpted documents range from royal proclamations to court confessions, from an actor's journal to dramatic criticism, from a short story to movie reviews. Ideas for classroom discussion, student assignments, paper topics, and bibliographies provide additional sources for examining the play in context.

This guide encourages readers to see connections between the play and related events and ideas. Dramatic Context considers subjects such as the nature of tragedy, the historical source of the play (with timeline of Scottish history), and the language and thematic patterns within it. Historical Context includes a wide variety of seventeenth-century primary documents that bring the turbulent political context to life.Macbeth's journey to the present reveals how changing attitudes and expectations about acting styles, political viewpoints, and social values have influenced the play's performance and interpretation over the centuries. Contemporary Applications provides materials on political parallels such as Duvalier's Haiti, as well as the social and psychological impact of contemporary events on which the play casts a shadow. This resource book is an ideal companion for teacher use and student research. It will encourage a broad spectrum of approaches to the play and help the student discover and appreciate a wide variety of conflicting ideas and interpretations that can inform and enrich the student's experience of the play.

A rich source of primary materials and commentary about Macbeth that illuminates the historical context and draws connections to events in the 1990s.

School Library Journal

Gr 10 UpThis earnest volume reads like a graduate thesis. There is knowledge here. And information. And obvious enthusiasm for the subject. But the scope of the author's ambition far outstrips her ability to communicate it in the modest size of the book, and the pedantic nature of the writing subdues the inherently exciting material. Nostbakken never clearly decides whether this is a casebook for students or a planning text for teachers, but often seems to address herself only to teachers. The volume is divided into four chapters: "Dramatic Analysis," "Historical Context," "Performance and Interpretation," and "Contemporary Applications." Each contains modernized original documents (e.g., Aristotle, Holinshed), the author's synopses and thoughts on them and their connection to Macbeth, a short bibliography, and a question section chock-full of dauntingly ambitious projects. The text provides interesting views and support documents on several possible topics: the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a section on contemporary attitudes toward witches at the time of King James, and some intriguing discussions of specific productions of the play. There is a detailed table of contents and a workable index, but the book needs a good glossary. The "Contemporary Applications" chapter may overdo it in the argument for relevancy. Certain analogies can be drawn to Watergate, and the mood of the U.S. after the Oklahoma City bombing might compare with that of London after the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot. But paralleling Macbeth's vaulting ambition with Tonya Harding's is a stretch.Sally Margolis, formerly at Deerfield Public Library, IL

FAITH NOSTBAKKEN teaches literature at the University of Alberta, Canada.