William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is a difficult and laborious read that has a lot to offer to the patient reader.

We had an entire course on it on the IB, during which I found it very hard to follow and often somewhat cringy when I managed to understand the characters’ lines in the first place. However, on my second read through the next year when I tried to figure out a topic for my individual oral presentation I found myself getting a lot more out of it thanks to my increased English proficiency and the context provided by the course. (Although I did not end up doing the presentation on Macbeth, it rhymes surprisingly well with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”)

With the previously acquired context, enough determination and urgency and the help of the Kindle app’s in-text definitions, translations and highlights, which I highly recommend for difficult reads such as this, I got through the entire play in a single afternoon and actually even enjoyed it. Consequently, my Kindle highlights are now full of various great quotes illustrating Shakespeare’s literary genius ranging from the most creative insults to the most profound insights concerning human nature pondering themes of good and evil, natural and unnatural, trust and betrayal and cowardice and valour.

Macbeth is certainly not for anyone or even most but those with the interest, patience and perseverance will, after a couple read throughs, find its value and learn to appreciate it as the literary classic it is. After all, most often, even if it sometimes seems so, being a classic is not an empty status but an indicator of the discoverable layers of depth and meaning, which people have previously found from the work. Hence, Macbeth is absolutely for all Shakespeare and literature enthusiast as well as aspiring writers and English linguists but not necessarily for the casual reader who does not identify as a representative of above categories.