Macbeth
1606
Macbeth
1606
Translated by Dorothea Tieck
The witches speak, and a good man's soul rots. When three sisters prophesy that Scottish general Macbeth will wear the crown, his ambition ignites. Urged by his formidable wife, he murders King Duncan in cold blood and seizes the throne. But power is a disease, and the crown carries a fever of guilt, paranoia, and madness. As bodies pile and hallucinations haunt him, Macbeth transforms from reluctant killer to tyrant, while Lady Macbeth crumbles under the weight of their shared sin. Blood begets blood until nothing remains but ghosts and an empire of ash. This is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, but its psychological devastation knows no limits. The play crackles with some of the most famous lines in English, from the dagger that "is the vision of a sleeping mind" to the hollow "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" that echoes across centuries. It is for readers who understand that some ambitions, once fulfilled, consume everything they touch.
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“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.””
— William Shakespeare
“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.””
— William Shakespeare
“Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires.””
— William Shakespeare
“Double, double, toil and trouble;Fire burn, and cauldron bubble!””
— William Shakespeare
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.””
— William Shakespeare
“Look like the innocent flower,But be the serpent under it.””
— William Shakespeare
“What's done cannot be undone.””
— William Shakespeare
“Who could refrain, That had a heart to love, and in that heart Courage to make love known?””
— William Shakespeare
“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.””
— William Shakespeare
