SCHOOLCHILD GRASPS ESSENCE OF VILLAINY IN `MACBETH'

January 6, 1993

A class of 9- to 10-year-olds in Glasgow were shown the "Animated Shakespeare" tale of "Macbeth." None of these children had ever heard of this play. Most were baffled. Among the brightest responses was this by Paula Bremner:

"I think this story is about greed. It is about a man called `Macbeth' and his wife. He killed the king so he would become king then his wife killed all the maids. And they killed a man and Macbeth kept seeing the man when they were eating there [sic] dinner. And they couldn't get the blood away.

"I think it was a good film. I didn't really understand the first five minutes but then I started to understand it. And I think he deserved to get killed at the end and so did his wife because they killed people so they could become king and queen."