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Let's be honest, the only reason why I wanted to reread Macbeth so badly was to finally understand all of the Macbeth-references in Hamilton. So let's get those out of the way first because otherwise I cannot proberly concentrate whilst writing this review.

In Take A Break, Alexander writes to Angelica the following lines:

My dearest, Angelica
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day��
I trust you’ll understand the reference to
Another Scottish tragedy without my having to name the play
They think me Macbeth, and ambition is my folly
I’m a polymath, a pain in the ass, a massive pain
Madison is Banquo, Jefferson’s Macduff
And Birnam Wood is Congress on its way to Dunsinane

Props to you if you actually said that with the right rhythm. ;)

So let me break that down for you. One of the most important speeches in the Shakespeare play takes place after the lead character Macbeth learns that his wife has killed herself and all hope of victory is lost. The speech goes as follows:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps into this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

There are many similarities between Alexander Hamilton and Macbeth. Like all tragic heroes before them, their greatest lie is to themselves. They become blinded to their own ambition. Their overbearing pride is so great that they fail to see as they stumble toward their own fatal destiny. Both of them literally don't know when and where to stop.

Hamilton saw these similarities and refers to both his life and the play as a 'Scottish tragedy' (ya'll know that Ham was the son of a Scotsman). And by the by, in the metasense the musical Hamilton is also another Scottish tragedy. Lin-Manuel, man, he's such a genius. I can't deal!

In Macbeth, Banquo is Macbeth's loyal lieutenant who later opposes Macbeth's claim to the throne gained by regicide and is killed by the newly-minted tyrant. Similarly, Madison was Hamilton's ally in writing The Federalist Papers. However, afterwards, Madison split with Hamilton out of the fear of the tyranny that could result from an unrestricted federal government.

Macduff arrives in the play after Macbeth has already made his grab for power. He opposes the new tyrant and eventually overthrows him. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson only returned from France after Hamilton had influenced the Constitution to include more powers for the central government and then tried to oppose the putative economic tyranny of Hamilton's debt plan.

Macbeth is assured by three witches that he will be safe "until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane hill". Macbeth considered this comforting because, he reasons, how could a forest move? However, Macduff's forces cut the trees from Birnam wood and used the limbs as camouflage to hide their numbers as they marched on Dunsinane hill to attack Macbeth. Similarly, Congress is lying in wait, ready to march on Hamilton and depose him (remember Washington saying that Congress will call for Ham's removal if he isn't successful).

Later in the song, Angelica answer Ham by telling him:

Screw your courage to the sticking place ��

This is another reference to the Scottish play. With it, Angelica playfully positions herself as the Lady to Alexander's Macbeth (look at her being all cheeky and shit). This distinguishes her from Eliza who tried to temper with Hamilton's ambition. Angelica was always in favor of his political career and his rise to power.

There is another similarity between Angelica and Lady Macbeth. Both challenge the gender roles of their day and age. Lady Macbeth indicates that she must take on masculine characteristics (I mean, "unsex me" is one of her most iconic outcries). She is the one who propels her husband toward committing Duncan's murder by challenging his masculinity and calling him 'unmanly' and a 'coward'. She also takes on the dominant role in their marriage, something that applies to Angelica and her husband John Church as well. And that Angelica is one of the play's most iconic feminists isn't even up for discussion. Work, ladies!

Anyways, enough about Hamilton, let's chat about the play.

I was genuinely surprised at how well I understood it (when I read it for the first time a year ago I struggled so so much!) and how much I enjoyed it. Macbeth dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake, and it was honestly so fascinating to watch Macbeth's rise to power and fall from grace. It's always nice to read about the fall of man. Muahahaha!

Already a successful soldier in the army of King Duncan, Macbeth is informed by Three Witches that he is to become king. As part of the same prophecy, the Witches predict that future Scottish kings will be descended not from Macbeth but from his fellow army captain, Banquo. Although initially prepared to wait for Fate to take its course, Macbeth is stung by ambition and confusion when King Duncan nominates his son Malcolm as his heir.

The trouble with Macbeth is that, as a psychological drama, the characters in the play (accidentally or on purpose) do not see things so clearly: This play is full of shadows, foreshadowings, and shadowy meanings. So Shakespeare has to inform his audience, while allowing the characters to remain mystified, or "in the dark." This is one reason why the play is full of questions, most famously "Is this a dagger?" The answer, for both Macbeth and the audience, is unclear.

I'm not sure if this comes as a great surprise but my favorite character of the play was actually Hecat, the classical goddess of the lower world who represents the spirit of ancient witchcraft. She is super unimportant to the play, and to my disappointment, her scene was probably not even written by the Bard himself (ugh!), but I just loved her lyrical verses and that she just chimed in there to complain to the Weird Sisters about Macbeth, and that she herself wants to make his downfall complete. I mean, this is my aesthetic, ya'll.

I also loved discovering the famous rhyme "Something wicked this way comes" in the play, and in general, the whole "Double, double, toil and trouble" gave me major Prisoner of Azkaban-vibes. It was awesome. :D

I was pleasantly surprised by the humour of the play. There were several occasions in which I actually laughed out loud. Whether it was Shakespeare joking about the fact that all female roles would be played by men ("You should be women; / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so.") or him dragging the good ole Romans for running into their own swords ("Why should I play the Roman fool and die / On mine own sword?").

Well, lastly, I just want to say that the whole spiel about a king turning mad just really fascinates me. And yes, it totally gave me A Song of Ice and Fire-vibes! It enables so many great explorations of the psyche of human beings. I'm shook!