šPassport To...Shakespeare's Macbeth
"Blood will have blood": The tragedy of ambition and tyranny.
This is the inaugural post in my āPassport Toā series (formerly known as āStudy Guidesā), where Iāll share a brief author biography, synopsis, and outline of a major work from the Western canon. Most selections are drawn from Mortimer Adlerās Ten Year Reading Plan, which Iām currently following with my reading group. Weāre now in Year 2, working from a modified listāhaving already covered many of the ancient texts during our time in the now-defunct Online Great Books program, and adding an occasional work like this one. My aim is to make these guides a valuable resource to anyone exploring the Great Books individually or with a reading community.
For a review of Mortimer Adlerās inspectional and analytical stages of reading, please see my post below.
Shakespeareās Life and Works
In at least two respects, writing a biography of Shakespeare is a futile endeavor. First, the Bard of Avon is so universally knownāboth to a literary audience and the general publicāthat I could get away with introducing him simply as āthe man who needs no introduction.ā Given his legendary status, many readers might be surprised to learn how few biographical facts we actually possess. While biographies abound, they often rely as much on speculation as on verifiable evidence. For our purposes, Iāll simply highlight a few key facts.
