Book Review
Title: Manga Classics: Macbeth
Author: Crystal S. Chan (Adapted by), William Shakespeare & Julien Choy (Illustrations)
Genre: Manga
Rating: *****
Review: So, from all the manga classics I have read all stick very close to the original source material so I won’t be going in-depth into the story as most people have read Macbeth at some point in the educational lives or they are familiar with the source material. When I read Macbeth in Comprehensive school, I found it to be a very raw, gritty and visceral story so I was excited to see how the story would translate to a more visual format.
To summarise Macbeth: A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. I was correct about this particular play translating well into manga as it opens with a bang and Macbeth makes a great entrance into the story and from the moment, he meets the witches we can see his path laid before him.
One thing I love about Macbeth is a lot of the key scene are foreshadowed in earlier scenes, for example, when the witches first meet Macbeth, they reveal that he will someday be king, but they do not specify that he will obtain that position by murdering Duncan.
There is an astounding amount of the original information from the play in this manga, but most aren’t in dialogue although this manga does contain far more dialogue than there is in traditional manga. I found the way the manga was drawn really allowed the bloody and grim nature of the play to blossom in a way the original material doesn’t. However, I did find that much of the tension and suspense found in the original play are lost be seen a visual representation.
Overall, I really loved the version of Macbeth and seeing both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s decent in madness and eventual death and I highly recommend all the manga classics series, however, there is a fair amount of dialogue in all of them which isn’t common in manga.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from NetGalley
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