Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Returning from battle in medieval Scotland, the brave general Macbeth meets three witches on a lonely heath. They greet him with strange titles and tell him he will one day be king. When part of the prophecy suddenly comes true, Macbeth and his ambitious wife begin to wonder how far they would go for the crown.
- Length
- About 18,000 words
- To read it
- About 12 days
- Stage
- Key Stage 3, GCSE
Reading time at 1,500 words a day, the pace we start from until we know your child’s own.
Where it is taught
Why Macbeth is on the list
- Year 9, Stretch. A step up in length or difficulty, for a confident reader. The most-taught GCSE play.
- Year 10, Core. The books most schools teach in this year. A good place to start. GCSE Shakespeare (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas).
- Year 11, Core. The books most schools teach in this year. A good place to start. GCSE Shakespeare (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas).
Reading it here
What your child does with it
- 1
Choose it and set a finish date
You get a suggested target from the length of the book and your child's reading pace.
- 2
Check in along the way
A longer book has short check-ins every week or two, so it keeps moving and nothing is forgotten.
- 3
Answer two questions
When they finish: a review of the book, and a deeper question about how it works.
- 4
Get it marked, and redraft
Every answer is marked against the rubric for their year, with a reason for every score.