《馬克白》（Macbeth）是莎士比亞最短的悲劇，也是他最受歡迎的作品之一。莎士比亞以弒君重罪，暴力謀殺與超自然能力為背景，交錯著野心與罪惡感。描寫蘇格蘭將軍馬克白，征戰榮歸的武將馬克白在途中遇上三名女巫，並獲知自己將會成為蘇格蘭之王之後，他意欲確保自己的地位，在妻子從旁協助之下，他著手進行罪孽深重的恐怖行為。
在他的性格中，爭奪權力的慾望，勝過任何的力量，使他終致瘋狂，即使最後他登上王位，也使百姓視他為「暴君」而合力討伐他。馬克白一心想改變命運的安排，最終卻不得不臣服在命運的腳下。
This is the first edition of "Macbeth" to be developed by and for the RSC, the world's leading Shakespeare theatre company and it includes unique material to help the reader understand and enjoy Shakespeare on the stage as well as on the page. It is illustrated with photographs of classic and unusual performances. Outstanding on-page notes explain words and phrases unfamiliar to a modern audience, including the slang, political references and bawdy humour often ignored or censored in competing editions. The book includes scene-by-scene summary, offering an easily understandable way into the play; presents a completely new introduction by Jonathan Bate, exploring the text and critical debates around it; contains a summary of the play's performance history, at the RSC and elsewhere; and features interviews with important Shakespearean directors Rupert Goold, Gregory Doran and Trevor Nunn discussing key productions at the RSC.
About the Author
JONATHAN BATE is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as "the best modern book on Shakespeare." In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'. ERIC RASMUSSEN is Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama and has edited volumes in both the Arden Shakespeare and Oxford World's Classics series. He is the General Textual Editor of the Internet Shakespeare Editions project - one of the most visited Shakespeare websites in the world. For over nine years he has written the annual review of editions and textual studies for the Shakespeare Survey.
