{"product_id":"witches-and-jesuits-shakespeares-macbeth-9780195102901","title":"Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's Macbeth","description":"In his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1993 book \u003cem\u003eLincoln at Gettysburg\u003c\/em\u003e, Garry Wills showed how the Gettysburg Address revolutionized the conception of modern America. In \u003cem\u003eWitches and Jesuits\u003c\/em\u003e, based on his Oxford\/New York Public Library lectures, Wills again focuses on a single document to open up a\u003cbr\u003ewindow on an entire society. He begins with a simple question: If \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e is such a great tragedy, why do performances of it so often fail? The stage history of \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e is so riddled with disasters that it has created a legendary curse on the drama. Superstitious actors try to evade the curse by\u003cbr\u003ereferring to \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e only as the Scottish play, but production after production continues to soar in its opening scenes, only to sputter towards anticlimax in the later acts. By critical consensus there seems to have been only one entirely successful modern performance of the play, Laurence\u003cbr\u003eOlivier's in 1955.\u003cbr\u003e Drawing on his intimate knowledge of the vivid intrigue and drama of Jacobean England, Wills restores \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e's suspenseful tension by returning it to the context of its own time, recreating the burning theological and political crises of Shakespeare's era. He reveals how deeply \u003cem\u003eMacbeth's\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eoriginal 1606 audiences would have been affected by the notorious Gunpowder Plot of 1605, when a small cell of Jesuits came within a hairbreadth of successfully blowing up not only the King, but the Prince his heir, and all members of the court and Parliament. Wills likens their shock to that\u003cbr\u003eendured by Americans following Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination. Furthermore, Wills documents, the Jesuits were widely believed to be acting in conjunction with the Devil. We see that the treason and necromancy in \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e were more than the imaginings of a gifted playwright--they were\u003cbr\u003edramatizations of very real and potent threats to the realm.\u003cbr\u003e In this new light, \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e is transformed. Wills presents a drama that is more than a well-scripted story of a murderer getting his just penalty, it is the struggle for the soul of a nation. The death of a King becomes a truly apocalyptic event, and the witches on the heath, shrugged off as mere\u003cbr\u003esymbols of Macbeth's inner guilt and ambition by twentieth century interpreters, emerge as independent agents of the occult with their terrifying agendas. Restoring the theological politics and supernatural elements that modern directors have shied away from, Wills points the way toward a \u003cem\u003eMacbeth\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethat will finally escape the theatrical curse on the Scottish play.\u003cbr\u003e Rich in insight and a joy to read, \u003cem\u003eWitches and Jesuits\u003c\/em\u003e is a tour de force of scholarship and imagination by one of our foremost writers. It is essential reading for anyone who loves the language.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Garry Wills\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/25\/1996\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.59lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.99h x 5.13w x 0.57d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195102901\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/10\/1996 pg. 24\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGarry Wills'\u003c\/strong\u003e many best-selling books include \u003cem\u003eNixon Agonistes\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eReagan's America\u003c\/em\u003e, and the 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning \u003cem\u003eLincoln at Gettysburg\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40565781102707,"sku":"9.7802E+12","price":62.72,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_e3b1096f-bab3-4533-b300-f64b7ca56387.jpg?v=1668003606","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/witches-and-jesuits-shakespeares-macbeth-9780195102901","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}