Book Club Guide

Macbeth

by William Shakespeare · 1606 · Classics

Key themes

Ambition that unmakes the self
The equivocation of evil — promises that mislead
Guilt as a landscape that cannot be escaped

About this book

A brave general returns from battle to hear a prophecy that he will be king. Driven by his own ambition and his wife's darker will, he murders his way to the throne — and discovers that the crown brings terror, not peace. Shakespeare's shortest and most concentrated tragedy is a study in guilt, tyranny and the corrosion of the self.

Written around 1606 and first performed at court, Macbeth was probably tailored to please King James I, who was fascinated by witchcraft and claimed descent from Banquo. It is the most frequently performed Shakespeare play.

Discussion questions

Macbeth commits the murder but the play carefully prepares us to understand why. At what point does his guilt become inevitable — and is there a moment before the murder where he could have chosen differently?
Lady Macbeth calls on supernatural forces to unsex herself and fill her with cruelty. Yet it is she who breaks psychologically before Macbeth does. What does the play say about the cost of suppressing moral instinct?
The witches deliver their prophecies in technically true but misleading language. What is Shakespeare saying about the nature of fate — and about the responsibility of those who choose to believe convenient predictions?
The play is extremely short — Shakespeare's briefest tragedy. How does this compression serve the subject? Does the accelerated pace of destruction feel right, or does it sacrifice psychological depth?
Macbeth has been produced in almost every conceivable setting — as a corporate thriller, a political allegory, a gangster film. What in the play makes it so adaptable — and what does every production need to preserve?