REVIEW
- Scott, Robert Owens. PinkMonkey.com - Macbeth by William Shakespeare - Barron's Booknote
- <http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/macbeth.asp>
Visited: 29 September 2005
Note: The Pink Monkey site, which can be fairly confusing, has two study guides for Macbeth. This one is by far the best.
The Contents and Comments on Them:
"Message Board":
This one is just as useless as most. For example: the most recent message (9/15/05) is as follows: can anyone plz tell me what the significance of the main characters is? i need it asap! plz its for school!
But no one bothered to do this poor student's homework!!
"The Author and His Times":
Two paragraphs on why King James would have been interested in Macbeth, then a stew of various comments about Shakespeare's life and times.
"The Play - The Plot":
The whole story in about a thousand words. Scott tries to make it interesting, but the brevity of the whole thing gets in his way.
"The Characters":
Character analyses of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, the Witches, Malcolm, Duncan, and Macduff. They're pretty good, particularly the one of Macbeth. They don't depend on sweeping generalizations and they leave some room for you to do your own thinking.
"Setting":
Makes the common-sense point that the setting comes more from "dramatic needs of the story than from any literal sense of the place."
"Themes":
Three paragraphs on "An Anatomy of Evil"; one short paragraph each on "Ambition ," "Appearance Versus Reality," "Honor and Loyalty," and "Fate and Destiny."
"Sources":
Four paragraphs that emphasize the changes Shakespeare made to the stories he found in Holished's Chronicles.
"Point of View":
Asserts that Macbeth is a play in which good is rewarded and evil is defeated.
"Form and Structure":
Six paragraphs about how Shakespeare creates suspense.
"Vocabulary":
Mostly comments on the difference between Shakespeare's English and ours.
"The Story - Act Summaries with Notes":
The summaries are short and so they lack detail, but they're clear and down-to-earth. The notes, which are sometimes as long as the summaries, comment on character development (especially Macbeth's, of course), dramatic technique, imagery, etc.
"Tests and Answers":
There are two tests, each with ten multiple-choice questions and five essay questions. The answers to the essay questions are cast in the form of advice about how to write the answers, but they're really paint-by-the-numbers essays.
"Term Paper Ideas":
There are thirty, each with two or three sentences of suggestions about how to write the papers.
"Reference":
The glossary defines sixteen old words; the section entitled "The Critics" contains six short paragraphs by famous literary critics; the bibliography lists twenty critical or introductory works, of which three are specifically about Macbeth.
Bottom Line: Definitely better than CliffsNotes, but all free.
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