Reading Order
MacbethShakespeare Tragedies Reading Order
William Shakespeare's Macbeth (c. 1606) is the shortest and most intense of Shakespeare's major tragedies — a study in ambition, conscience, and the psychology of murder, following Scottish general Macbeth who kills the king to take the throne and then descends into a paranoia that destroys everything around him, including himself. The play's three witches, Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, and Macbeth's soliloquies are among the most famous moments in English drama.
Where to start
Macbeth
Complete Macbeth Book List
- 1Buy
Macbeth
William Shakespeare·1606·The source text — shortest of Shakespeare's major tragedies (approximately 2,100 lines), which means the violence and descent happen fast; best read in a good annotated edition. Theatrical superstition holds that the play is cursed and should not be named inside a theater (it is called 'The Scottish Play'). - 2Buy
Hamlet
William Shakespeare·1601·The most natural companion to Macbeth among Shakespeare's tragedies: where Hamlet cannot act, Macbeth acts too quickly, and reading the two plays together illuminates Shakespeare's sustained interest in the relationship between thought and action, and in the psychological cost of both paralysis and violence. - 3Buy
King Lear
William Shakespeare·1606·Written at roughly the same time as Macbeth, Lear is the other great tragedy of the middle period — a king who destroys his kingdom through a failure of judgment; where Macbeth's tragedy is driven by ambition, Lear's is driven by the desire for love and the inability to recognize it. - 4Buy
Richard III
William Shakespeare·1592·Shakespeare's earlier villain-protagonist play — the deformed, charismatic Richard of Gloucester who murders his way to the English throne; often read as a predecessor to Macbeth in its portrait of a self-aware villain who knows he is damned and continues anyway. - 5Buy
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky·1866·A destitute student reasons himself into committing a murder and then cannot bear the psychological consequences — the novel that most directly continues Macbeth's interest in the psychology of murder: the rationalizations before, the incapacity to escape conscience afterward, and the way a single act of violence reorganizes a person's entire relationship to themselves. - 6Buy
Dunbar
Edward St. Aubyn·2017·St. Aubyn's retelling of King Lear in the contemporary world of media moguls — an aging tycoon is deposed by his daughters while his youngest tries to save him; part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, which commissioned contemporary novelists to retell the plays. - 7Buy
Throne of Blood
Akira Kurosawa (dir.)·1957·Kurosawa's Japanese film adaptation sets Macbeth in feudal Japan — 'Washizu,' a samurai general, is prophesied to become lord by spirits in a forest; considered by many critics the greatest Shakespeare film adaptation; replace 'book' with film recommendation.
Macbeth — Frequently Asked Questions
What role does Lady Macbeth play in the tragedy?
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most psychologically complex characters — initially more ruthless than her husband, she calls on spirits to 'unsex' her and drives Macbeth toward the murder when his resolution falters; but the play suggests that she pays the highest psychological price for what they have done. Her descent into madness — the sleepwalking scene in Act 5 in which she compulsively tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands ('Out, damned spot!') — reverses her initial position: where Macbeth grew more brutal after the first murder, Lady Macbeth grew more fragile; she dies offstage, apparently by suicide, before the play ends. The tragedy is partly about the way violence destabilizes the perpetrators' relationship as well as their society.
Who are the three witches in Macbeth?
The three witches (or 'weird sisters') open the play in thunder and lightning and appear three times to Macbeth, offering prophecies: that he will become Thane of Cawdor (immediately fulfilled), that he will become King, and that he cannot be killed by 'man of woman born' and will not be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. The prophecies are true but equivocal — the third and fourth are fulfilled in ways Macbeth did not anticipate (Macduff was born by Caesarian section; soldiers carry branches from Birnam Wood to camouflage themselves). The witches represent fate, temptation, and the supernatural encouragement of Macbeth's existing ambition; they do not make him do anything, but they confirm what he already wants to believe.
Monthly Newsletter
Never miss a big release
Get the most anticipated upcoming books delivered to your inbox once a month — no spam, no filler.
Monthly only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, BookReleaseRadar earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.