BASC70164 - Macbeth

Course Description

Instructor: Joseph Alulis.  Lincoln wrote that he’d read some of Shakespeare’s plays “as frequently as any unprofessional reader” and then continues, “Among the latter are Lear, Richard Third, Henry Eighth, Hamlet, and especially Macbeth. Nothing equals Macbeth.” What is it about Macbeth that made Lincoln single it out? Why do actors in production dare not speak the play’s name? How have man and play come to be such an object of fascination and horror?  Over four weeks we will explore these questions. The play’s shortness permits close attention to its language, especially the speeches with which Shakespeare portrays the successive stages of Macbeth’s journey to his fate. Course code: BASC70164 Literature