Life, love and literature

One of my very favorite Shakespearean plays is MACBETH. I read it as a senior in high school. I had become a serious fan of the bard as a 10th grader when we read JULIUS CAESAR so I was excited to begin the play. My teacher told us that it would be difficult reading, but I think that because I had grown up reading the King James Version of the Bible. Shakespeare wasn’t that hard to grasp! Of course our textbooks had footnotes to aid with unfamiliar words or phrases. I loved the play and relished having to memorize 25 of our favorite lines! I don’t think my fellow classmates were all in agreement; one boy only attempted one line to memorize and didn’t even get it right! He took the very famous,“ Twas a rough night” and said, “It sure was a rough night! “I was frustrated with him! I taught the play many times during my 38 years; I never became tired of explaining what was going on to sometimes reluctant seniors whose reading levels had dropped significantly over the years. I loved leading their minds through the witches‘ prophecies that first of all warned him to beware Macduff, then gradually gave him such a false sense of security by saying that no one born of a woman would harm him, then telling him that he would never be vanquished from the throne until the forest would march to the castle! It remains one of the most satisfying downfalls of a villain in literature! It never gets old. I always used my front blackboard to show the location of Dunsinane and a side board to illustrate the location of Birnam Wood! I don’t know if Shakespeare had read about soldiers who used trees to hide their approach; I know he used historical sources for his plots; it doesn’t matter to me. The play is the thing and he is the master in my humble opinion!