# Macbeth

**Author:** William Shakespeare
**Grade range:** Grades 9–12
**Age range:** 14–18
**First published:** 1623
**Page count:** 272
**Genre:** Tragedy
**ISBN-13:** `9780743477109`
**ISBN-10:** `0743477103`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/macbeth
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Shakespeare's shortest tragedy: a Scottish nobleman, spurred by the prophecies of three witches and his ambitious wife, murders the king to seize the throne — and is destroyed by guilt. A near-universal 10th-grade English text; cited in Common Core Appendix B and on AP English Literature reading lists.

## Themes

- ambition
- guilt
- fate vs free will
- corruption
- supernatural

## Content notes

- murder
- supernatural
- violence

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 14+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: AP Lit drama representative text](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### AQA GCSE English Literature (8702)

- **required** · 9th grade — [source: Set text in the AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) specification, component: Shakespeare. Specification for first teaching in 2015. Read 2026-10-03.](https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-8702/specification/subject-content/shakespeare-and-the-19th-century-novel)
- **required** · 10th grade — [source: Set text in the AQA GCSE English Literature (8702) specification, component: Shakespeare. Specification for first teaching in 2015. Read 2026-10-03.](https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-8702/specification/subject-content/shakespeare-and-the-19th-century-novel)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 10th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 9-10 drama exemplar](https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/standards-instruction/appendix-b-text-exemplars-and-sample-performance-tasks.pdf)
- **recommended** · 10th grade · Massachusetts — [source: MA ELA Framework grade 10 Shakespeare](https://www.doe.mass.edu/)

### IB Diploma Programme — English A: Literature

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: William Shakespeare is on the IB Diploma Programme English A: Literature Prescribed Reading List (author-eligible; schools select from the full PRL). Verified via independent author-roster cross-reference, 2026-09-04.](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)
- **recommended** · 12th grade — [source: William Shakespeare is on the IB Diploma Programme English A: Literature Prescribed Reading List (author-eligible; schools select from the full PRL). Verified via independent author-roster cross-reference, 2026-09-04.](https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/)

### OCR GCSE English Literature (J352)

- **required** · 9th grade — [source: Set text in the OCR GCSE English Literature (J352) specification, component: Shakespeare. Version 3.0 (November 2025). Read 2026-10-03.](https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/168995-specification-accredited-gcse-english-literature-j352.pdf)
- **required** · 10th grade — [source: Set text in the OCR GCSE English Literature (J352) specification, component: Shakespeare. Version 3.0 (November 2025). Read 2026-10-03.](https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/168995-specification-accredited-gcse-english-literature-j352.pdf)

### Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature (1ET0)

- **required** · 9th grade — [source: Set text in the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature (1ET0) specification, component: Shakespeare. Specification Issue 2, June 2019. Read 2026-10-03.](https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/English%20Literature/2015/specification-and-sample-assesment/9781446914359_GCSE_2015_L12_Englit.pdf)
- **required** · 10th grade — [source: Set text in the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature (1ET0) specification, component: Shakespeare. Specification Issue 2, June 2019. Read 2026-10-03.](https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/English%20Literature/2015/specification-and-sample-assesment/9781446914359_GCSE_2015_L12_Englit.pdf)

## Banned / challenged record

Documented removals or formal challenges in at least one school district in 1 state: TX. Source: [PEN America's Index of School Book Bans](https://pen.org/banned-book-list/) 2022-2024.

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