Presents the complete text of Shakespeare's classic playabout Macbeth, a man who kills the king in an attempt to seize the crown of Scotland for himself, and includes an essay by Harold Bloom, introduction, and information about the Shakespearean stage."To be able to readMacbethwith the eye of one of our profession's top linguists and scholars is atreat for the heart as well as the mind."—Tita French Baumlin,  Southwest Missouri State UniversityPerhaps no other Shakespearean drama so engulfs its readers in the ruinous journey of surrender to evil as doesMacbeth.A timeless tragedy about the nature of ambition, conscience, and the human heart, the play holds a profound grip on the Western imagination.This extensively annotated edition makesMacbethcompletely accessible to twenty-first century readers and provides a rich resource for students, teachers, and general readers.Burton Raffel's on-page annotations offer generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings ofphrases and lines. And in his introduction he provides religious and social contexts that increase the reader's understanding of the play. In a concluding essay, Harold Bloom argues thatMacbeth--his favorite of Shakespeare's high tragedies--is the playwright's most internalized drama.