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"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more: it is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing" -- from "The Tragedy of Macbeth" by William Shakespeare.

Without Shakespeare to compose the tragedy of John Edwards, we'll have to settle for lesser writers. But political reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin in "Game Change" have a character worthy of the bard himself.

Former North Carolina Sen. Edwards' over-reaching presidential ambitions, prodded by his strong-willed wife, ultimately collapsed in personal and political ruin.

There is no murder in this morality play; no witches' prophecy, bloody hands or battle scenes -- not literally. But comparisons to "Macbeth" are eerily apt.

"Game Change" covers the 2008 campaign. It has generated the most national publicity so far for its revelation that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assessed Barack Obama's chances favorably because he was a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Reid promptly apologized.

The book's segment about Edwards should create more interest here. A long excerpt was published over the weekend in New York magazine. It's not flattering to John or Elizabeth Edwards.

Much is written, of course, about Edwards' affair with Reille Hunter, whose behavior, the authors assert, was "freaky, wildly inappropriate, and all too visible.

"She flirted outlandishly with every man she met. She spouted New Age babble, rambled on about astrology and reincarnation, and announced to people she had just met, 'I'm a witch.'

"But mostly, she fixated on Edwards. She told him that he had 'the power to change the world,' that 'the people will follow you.' She told him that he could be as great a leader as Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. ... She reinforced everything he already believed, told him everything he wanted to hear."

Ironically, it wasn't his affair that most precipitated Edwards' personal downfall but his out-of-control ego, which Hunter fed with her witch's brew. Elected to the Senate in 1998, Edwards appealed to many North Carolina voters for his down-to-earth charm and common touch. His good looks, exceptional speaking skills and brainy, personable wife all contributed to his quick political ascent.

But, when Al Gore strongly considered making Edwards his 2000 running mate despite the senator's mere 18 months in office, Edwards reacted like Macbeth at the witches' cauldron. He began to believe he was destined for greatness. From that moment, all his energies were spent trying to attain the crown.

His unsuccessful 2004 campaign, when he ended up as No. 2 on John Kerry's ticket, did nothing to douse his aspirations. By 2006 he was running again, this time believing nothing could stop him -- just as Macbeth never thought Birnam wood to high Dunsinane would come.

His own sense of invulnerability led to terrible recklessness in his private life.

Even as his campaign was falling apart, Edwards employed more and more desperate ploys to save his political viability: putting long-time aide Andrew Young up to claiming paternity of Hunter's baby (his loyalty apparently shattered, Young has his own tell-all book due out soon); possibly using campaign funds to pay off Hunter and Young, for which Edwards could face a federal indictment; proposing deals to Obama and Hillary Clinton for roles in their future administrations in exchange for his support, even as the value of his endorsement was dwindling to nothing.

When the tragedy was complete, the man who once had so much was left shattered, Heilemann and Halperin write: "Isolated, scorned, turned into a national punch line, Edwards slipped into a dark place. His weight plummeted. His countenance turned sickly. Some of his former aides began to fear that he might kill himself. And though the extent of his ruin didn't reach that depth, the nightmarishness of his circumstances remain hard to overstate."

Or, as Shakespeare's Macbeth lamented:

"I have lived long enough: my way of life

Is fall'n into the sear, the yellow leaf;

And that which should accompany old age,

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,

I must not look to have; but, in their stead,

Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath,

Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not."