Over the last few months the Literature teachers have been taking a few of their classes to see two extremely successful plays, “Macbeth, by William Shakespeare” and “Of Mice & Men,” by John Steinbeck. The “Macbeth” play took place at the City Auditorium and the “Of Mice & Men” play took place at the Desoto Theatre. Not only are both plays different to one another but so are the reactions that both groups of students had to them. Though one thing that they did have in common was that each group of students were overjoyed to see these classic pieces of literature performed on stage in front of them.

Macbeth is a tragedy and it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatizes the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Each student who attended Macbeth had their own thoughts and feelings about the tragedy. “My favorite part was when Macbeth got what was coming to him and got his head cut off,” said Nathan Mathis, Sophomore. As they watched the story unfold, each student had their own reaction to Macbeth. “I found it kind of disturbing how Macbeth was just able to kill his friends like they were nothing. It just goes to show what greed can do to a person,” said Maggie Young, Senior. As the play continued, the students became more interested in the story and the history of Macbeth. “I like how the story tells how someone is willing to do anything for even a little bit of power,” said Anna Smith, Senior.

Of Mice and Men is a novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1937. It tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced, migrant ranch workers. They move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States. As the students and teachers watched the story unfold, they each created their own opinions and thoughts, though others had more to say about the comparison of the book and play. “The book is a classic because it explores universal values of friendship, sacrifice, and loss. The play will be a depiction of the text. It’s always interesting to be able to compare a written text to one performed on stage. A scene or a character that you may not have paid attention to in the text could stand out more on the stage, for example,” said Mrs. Mowery. The AP English juniors and seniors have read Of Mice and Men the summer between their sophomore and junior years. Some students focused more on the emotional themes of the story. “I’ve read the book two times and seen the play once and every time I cry,” said Janna Early, Senior. “I cried equal amount of tears for both the book and the movie. It’s a great story and everyone has something that they can both learn and love from it,” Senior, Lily Watson said.