The first scene-by-scene philosophical study of any Shakespeare play, this book demonstrates why Shakespeare's poetic writings still arouse and sustain serious inquiry and reflection. Using a combination of philosophical rigor, political insight, and textual thoroughness, Jan H. Blits delineates the competing forms of virtue within Macbeth—the courageous public virtue of warriors like Macbeth and the internal Christian virtue evoked by Duncan. This new interpretation of Macbeth explains crucial paradoxes overlooked by previous scholars and will serve as a model for future scholarship in the field.