Re-thinking Macbeth

A student came up with an entirely different reading of Macbeth yesterday, one that I would definitely class as ‘thoughtful’ or ‘critical’. These are key markers of a strong response at GCSE, and tend to push students towards the upper two levels.

I’d always seen the supernatural as a force of malevolence, in line with many of the usual readings of the play. However, this student argued that this was not always the case: in many ways, the apparitions that come to Macbeth in Act 4 Scene 1 set out to warn him of what is to come. The First Apparition could hardly be clearer: ‘Beware Macduff; / Beware the Thane of Fife.’

Equivocation aside, it had me rethinking the role of the supernatural, as well as Macbeth himself, in the wider play.

More broadly, I love it when a student makes a point that makes us rethink the usual readings of a text - readings we have often clung to for many years.