Watching Vs Macbeth

Many schools have students read plays written by people such as William Shakespeare, Sophocles, or Oscar Wilde. In fact, our own school required us to read plays by all three of these men. Many people believe that reading a play before watching it is more beneficial to a person, but this is simply not true. The best way to initially read or see a play, such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is to watch it rather than read it. Watching a play prior to reading it gives people an enhanced impression of what the play is about because if people watch a play, they will better interpret the stage directions and settings, stay more focused while watching it, and have an opportunity to observe other people’s interpretations of the play. All of these are important …show more content…
After watching the play, the student can read over it to ensure that he is ready for whatever test or quiz he has in school the next day. If someone has a good first impression of a play, that person will likely find the task of reading that play much more entertaining. Therefore, it is immensely important for students to watch a play before they read it.
One important benefit of watching a play instead of reading it is that it is much easier for the human mind to understand something that it viewed versus something that it read. This is why plays were written as plays in the first place: “The plays weren’t written to be read, they were written to be spoken out loud and acted- Sir Ian McKellen.” A great example of this is Shakespeare’s Macbeth. A reason for this is that this play was written in a very confusing language, mainly because people do not speak Shakespearean English today, so they are not used to it. This can make the task of reading one of Shakespeare’s plays a seemingly impossible one, especially for students in middle school, high school, or even college. However, if these students watch the play before reading it, it will not be as hard to …show more content…
This is because in order for a student to get the full effect of this, the student absolutely must view the play, not read it. For example, in act one, scene one of Macbeth, the stage setting is “Thunder and lightning.” A student must watch this to fully comprehend how intense the setting truly is. If someone were to read “Thunder and lightning,” instead of watch it, that person would merely read it, instead of understand it; however, if students watch the play, they would hear loud, roaring booms, and they would see bright, crackling lights. Also, watching a play makes it much less of an effort to pay attention to the stage settings, and the viewer can simply listen to, watch, and enjoy the