Self-led Learning
Macbeth
Looking to broaden your knowledge of Shakespeare's Scottish Play? This is the course for you.
Our self-led course on Macbeth is for anyone who wants an overview of the play, is looking for a refresher, or wants to take a deep dive into Shakespeare’s tragedy. You can discover many new and intriguing aspects of the Scottish play, while working your way through the individual sections at your own pace. Our Shakespeare experts take you through the play, from its plot, characters and themes to the play in performance, its legacy and its social, cultural and textual history.
The course
The course is packed with interactive elements, lectures delivered by our experts and scenes from the play shot at the historic properties, and includes:
- an overview of the events of the play
- its characters and themes
- discussion of the social, cultural and historical context of the period
- explorations of crucial moments in the play
- a close look at the characters and Shakespeare's language
- examples of the play in performance
- a look at how the play continues to influence today
From our experts in Stratford-upon-Avon to you
Guided by our lecturers at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon and drawing on the fascinating archive, library and museum collections available at the Shakespeare Centre, this is a learning experience not to be missed.
Complete flexibility
Videos, short informative texts, infographics and other visually rich materials allow you to dip in and out of the individual chapters, or to work your way through the course curriculum in your own time.
Your Shakespeare Expert
Darren Freebury-Jones’s teaching and research interests include digital approaches to examining drama and performance studies. His doctoral thesis examined Thomas Kyd’s influence on Shakespeare’s early work and he is Associate Editor for the first edition of Kyd’s collected works since 1901. He is author of monographs Reading Robert Greene: Recovering Shakespeare’s Rival and Shakespeare’s Tutor: The Influence of Thomas Kyd.
Speakers were really engaging and sessions felt really unique, as speakers reacted to students. Really insightful thoughts, nicely explained.