Macbeth has endured over the centuries for the following reasons: (1) the emphasis on Western world literature in English-speaking education (2) the veneration of Shakespeare that has been traditional in studies of English literature (3) the undoubted genius with language that Shakespeare (or whoever, if you want to quibble) employed in his tragedies leading to many frequently quoted passages:
"Life is a tale told by an idiot/full of sound and fury/signifying nothing"; "Lead on, MacDuff!"; Lady Macbeth's lament that no ocean will wash the blood from her little hands (4) the supernatural elements that lend themselves to great stage effects such as the witches and their cauldron, the ghost of Banquo, Lady Macbeth's sleep-walking (5) the universality of the theme of a good man brought to destruction by his own weakness and the influence of a woman, as well as his hubris (overweening pride).
