MacBeth ~ Graphic Novel

*Book source ~ Library

Title ~ MacBeth

Series ~ Barron's Graphic Classics

Author ~ William Shakespeare, Stephen Haynes

Illustrator ~Nick Spender

Publisher ~ Barron's Educational Series

Published ~ 1 April 2008

Genre ~ Graphic Novel | Classics

Pages ~ 48

My Rating ~ 3 bites

From Goodreads:

In its concentration of interest upon the protagonists, Macbeth can be seen as Shakespeare's experiment in unity of focus, whose chief appeal arises from the struggles of the central characters with each other and with the infernal powers that inspire or govern them. Ok, whatever. It’s freakin’ MacBeth. By that dude Shakespeare.

I will admit that I am not a fan of Shakespeare. He’s so damn hard to read! For fuck’s sake! I remember reading Romeo & Juliet in school, but that’s about it. I’d read more, but I get so bored and frustrated that I decided I was going to be someone who never reads his shit anymore. But then I spotted this graphic novel at the library and thought, Well, hell. Maybe I can finally get the gist of this without the headache. And I was right! The basic story is here without all the fancy language and wow, is MacBeth an asshole. And don’t get me started on his power hungry wife. Bonus that a couple of famous quotes were included and now I know where the hell they came from. I could never remember when I heard them, so maybe I will now. Anyway, the footnotes were a bit annoying only because I’ve read historical romances for more years than I care to admit to, so I knew a lot of what was being noted. However, I can understand, this being an educational series, the need for definitions. The illustrations aren’t too bad considering they’re small panels, but they don’t particularly float my boat. Plus, the historical facts and such at the end were very interesting. Overall, a good telling of an old classic.