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Looper

Just finished reading MacBeth.

I have no idea what the fuck was going on.

Is there a version written in English or maybe a version that at least has an explanation of what they fuck they are banging on about.

Looper

Just done a bit of googling and looks like its the good old Daily Mail to the rescue

Shakespeare dumbed down in comic strips for bored pupils | Mail Online



Thanks Daily Mail!

They also have a snippet from MacBeth



I will follow that trail and see if can download a version of MacBeth for dummies.
Haven't read the whole Daily article but it sounds like a Daily rant.

What is wrong with a dumb version. I am only saying I will use it to help me actually understand WTF is going on. I am still going to re-read the original text at the same time.

sabang

Lear and Othello are even worse.
The comedies are much better imo.

Thormaturge

I passed the OU A361 Shakespeare. If you study it then it makes a lot more sense.

It is true the comedies are easier to follow although they often have similar themes, espcially women dressed as men. I would suggest Twelfth Night as a good starting point.

Steer well clear of King Lear and The Tempest until you are very familiar with Shakespeare's style.

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Latindancer

Wikipedia gives a synopsis of most Shakespearean plays.
Go here: Macbeth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

kmart

We read Twelfth Night at school. Comedies tend to work better when its a bit more immediate and doesn't have to be dissected and explained to you 2,000 times.

kingwilly

Quite a number of his plays, if not all. have school book versions of the book with one page the text and the opposite (facing) page with explanations.

Well worth it,

Latindancer

Depends on which version you want for which sub-culture.
Well, there was this dude named Macbeth, see....and he was out in a vacant lot one day and he met these wrinkled old bitches brewing up some crack, see, and they told him he'd be the next gang leader, see, and he almost shat himself cause he had a vision of a ginormous flick knife .... but thought he'd try to stay looking cool......cause it was probably the crack fumes screwing up his head......
etc

Looper

Thing is I watched Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet and enjoyed and understood the whole thing even though it was using mostly the original text. I think it was due to the visuals making it obvious what the dialog meant.

It would be good if there was a cartoon strip/picture book version of MacBeth, not using dumbed down language but using the original text. I think the cartoon pictures would make it easier to guess what was happening.

There is no point in reading only a dumbed down text as the whole point of Shakespeare is the language. Once you understand what a passage means the power of the language becomes much clearer and a pictorial narrative would help. Just reading the plain text is a guessing game for me. It would be more enjoyable to interpret the text using visuals than using dumbed down parallel translation.

kingwilly

FlyFree

KISS. Just find an educated Thai chick to explain it all to you during sex.

the dogcatcher

Witches are saying, chill, do nothing and you will be Thane of Cordor, when burnam wood do come to high dunsinain. etc.
But the missus wants to push the issue and kill Duncan.

FLucas

I have read Othello, As we were to perform a play. But the play was never performed.
It is not that worse in my opinion.

Koojo

What?

robuzo

Watch a good movie version of the tale "told by an idiot." Orson Welles and Roman Polanski both made good ones. The plays are meant to be watched, not read.

slimboyfat

That Richard III is on in Singapore in a few months time. Kevin Spacey is in it.

Too expensive for my liking. Well I thought it was until I saw the prices for Elton John tickets

palexxxx

I have a vague recollection of John Wayne saying the words in the title of this thread. Was it really him or someone doing an impersonation? I think it was from a comedy show but I can't remember which one, can anyone remind me?

BaitongBoy

^ Dunno...Shakespeare is the most quoted person in the English language...
Alexander Pope is second..."Hope springs eternal in the human breast," etc.
Perhaps John Wayne is up there, too...copycat!...

palexxxx

I remember now, it was Robin Williams in 'Dead Poets Society', he was doing impressions of various people doing Shaekespere, one of which was John Wayne

9999

Did you watch Polanski's MacBeth? It's pretty good production and you can understand it.

I used it to cheat on a MacBeth text in High School where we were only to read the text.

Crap story anyway. MacB is a tortured sole still sucking his mummies nipples. A wh9ole heap of backstabbing ensues in the court and ends with everyone dying from poison and stab wounds in the same room.

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nidhogg

Polanskis McB is very good indeed.

Think you might have the wrong play in your synopsis though. McB pretty much ends with MacDuff killing MacB in a sword fight....

Davis Knowlton

OP: One word. CLIFFSNOTES. All will be claro.