Shakespeare Magazine ~ Fall 1997

Shakespeare
Volume 1, Issue 4
FALL 1997

Sex Me Here
Phyllis Rackin (University of Pennsylvania) asks "Why did Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth nurse her own baby?"

"Because this conception of womanhood has become so well established, Shakespeare's characterization of Lady Macbeth has been both accessible and acceptable to modern audiences. But it would not have seemed so familiar at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Lady Macbeth states that she has 'given suck, and know[s] / How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me' (1.7.54-55); but a real woman of Lady Macbeth's station would have been extremely unlikely to do so in Shakespeare's time."

King James and the Witches
Boyd Berry (Virginia Commonwealth University) connects Shakespeare's "Weird Sisters" with Renaissance works on witchcraft.

Wake Duncan with Thy Knocking -- An Improvisation
Michelle Peeling brings Duncan back to life and stages a murder investigation.

"Give Sorrow Words": Shakespearean Lessons on Loss
Hilary Zunin teaches the art of condolence in the context of Macbeth.

Macbeth: The Love Story
Julia Shields looks beyond the violence to find a tragic story of sacrifice.

"If we recognize the love of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it is easier to understand the temptation to which they succumb. Selfish ambition may be contemptible to most of us, but sacrifice in the name of love is something else again."

Volume 1, Issue 4, Fall 1997

Found Poetry in Macbeth
Kathleen Breen sends her students to the words of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to find poetry.

Wicked dreams abuse the firm-set mind,
Ravishing curtained sleep.
Witchcraft howls words, deeds, and
Bloody business.
Let me hear not.
Let me see not before me
Fatal vision--
Now?

It is done.

"We're Making Macbeth" on the Web Robert Mantell as Macbeth/Courtesy of Michael Morrison
Sheffield (UK) University students get elementary students on their feet and onto the Web.

Murdering Macbeth: The Education of a Shakespeare Schoolteacher
Paul Sullivan talks about teaching Shakespeare through performance from the perspective of a crusty veteran.

"To th' Amazement of Mine Eyes": Macbeth on Video
Michael LoMonico takes a close look at four of the best Macbeths for the classroom.

Broadsheet ~ Improving(?) Macbeth
The take-it-to-the copier feature for this issue is an exercise in which participants use a scene from Davenant's 1660 version of Macbeth to teach editing and revising.

Shakespeare Magazine Navigation

Shakespeare Archives

Shakespeare Home