Wsmacbeth.com has included a small segment only of what has been written in the French's Acting Edition Commentary so that those interested could read some of their commentary....
Commentary Act 1 Scene 1:
"One of the neccesities of this play is to establish as graphically as possible the mighty valour of Macbeth, his tremendous spirit as a fighter, his virtue as a kings champion. We are not shown Macbeth in action as we are shown Coriolanus before the gates of Corioli engaged in mighty conquests. The play concentrates on his (Macbeth's) susceptability to 'supernatural solicitings' and its consequences in the subversion of his nature to evil things."
(Later in French's Acting Edition Commentary)
"Macbeth is not a craven coward in the later scenes but fundamentally a man of courage and virtue writhing under the torture of an imposed iniquity, his better man never completely mortified but crying out from the dungeon into which it has been thrown and making itself heard and felt in conflict with the tyrannical vice that has over-thrown it."
"Macbeth is the personal objective of 'opposite spiritual agencies' and we must therefore see a titanic struggle, a contest between will and desire, and the throes of an original and irrepressible divinity asserting itself as an earthquake in the mind that has suppressed it."
"They are not the agues of a neurotic, in the eventualities that form the play. Without this, the play loses its remarkable stature."
Commentary Act 1 Scene III:
"Macbeth is never normal. The powers within him, his nature, temperament and character are over-vigorous in whatever direction they work. It is the man, it is the substance of his mind and spirit, and evil has chosen him because it sees a rich victim in these endowments once they are perverted."
Commentary Section
French's Acting Edition, MACBETH
Type: Rare/Collectible
WSMacbeth.com has posted this rare resource that includes the play in our book store, and in what we suggest for books section for those who'd like to seek and find a copy.
