Alfred Harbage Ordre des livres (chronologique)

The Arden Shakespeare, founded in the 1890s, has, with a continuing process of revision, established itself as the Standard scholarly edition of Shakespeare's works. Each play appears in a seperate volume with critical notes, apparatus, appendices giving extracts from the relevant sources, and a full introduction. For the general Reader and for students who want something more substantial than school texts or a one-volume Shakespeare, the Arden Edition, edited to the highest standards of modern scholarship, has continued to prove invaluable.

This selection of his poetry-sonnets, and songs and verse from plays, some justly familiar, others less known-offers the quintessence of his remarkable art and provides an enticing introduction to his work.

The book explores themes of ambition, power, and guilt through the tragic story of Macbeth, a Scottish general whose encounter with three witches ignites his desire for the throne. As they prophesy that he will become king, dark thoughts of murder consume him, which he struggles to suppress. Encouraged by his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan in his sleep and ascends to the throne. However, Macbeth's reign is plagued by paranoia and fear of losing power, leading him to further violence, including the murder of his friend Banquo. Haunted by guilt and the specter of Banquo, he seeks out the witches again, who provide misleading assurances of his invincibility. Ultimately, his downfall comes at the hands of Macduff, who was born by cesarean section, fulfilling the witches' prophecy. The play concludes with the tragic fates of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who succumbs to madness, underscoring the destructive nature of unchecked ambition and moral decay.

Love and hate, loyalty and treachery, cruelty and self-sacrifice: all these contend in a tempestuous drama which has become an enduring classic of the world's literature.

SHAKESPEAR'S ROMANCES&COMEDIES COLLECTION,BY THE COMPLETE PELICAN ,1969. PAPERBACK,529 PAGES