Macbeth before Shakespeare

by Benjamin Hudson

Macbeth is arguably the world's most famous monarch. Both the historical king and the literary character have fascinated writers and audiences for centuries, beginning with the poets who recited their verses at the medieval monarch's court. Macbeth's legend began almost immediately after his death as medieval and Renaissance writers gradually replaced the king with a semi-literary character developed and embroidered to suit their own political and cultural agenda. The process of transformation culminated in playwright William Shakespeare's The Tragedie of Macbeth.

Investigating the man and the legend, Benjamin Hudson traces the eleventh-century prince's rise to prominence from local warlord to international ruler. Battling Vikings, English, and his fellow Scots, Macbeth was involved in a Dano-Norwegian conflict, made a pilgrimage to Rome, and gave refuge to Norman knights. He was more than a mere warlord. With his queen, Gruoch, the widow of a man who killed Macbeth's father, he was a benefactor of churches. The historical prince was an important innovator who used new fighting tactics, developed an international outlook to government, and encouraged intellectual pursuits. Hudson also tracks the ways in which popularizers developed the women behind the fictional Lady Macbeth and the weird sisters.

Drawing on centuries of Celtic and Scandinavian sources, popular entertainment, political theory, folklore, and art, Macbeth before Shakespeare recovers the genuine king from the historical record and shows how he was replaced by the legendary monster of ambition.

Genres: Shakespeare

312 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2022

Reviews

[Mora · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book traces how the macbeth story changed over time - the authors, their sources, and their motivations for portraying macbeth how they did. the book was easy to follow and felt fairly comprehensive, though i would have liked maybe one more chapter summarizing some analysis for why shakespeare's version made its own deviations from all these sources rather than ending at shakespeare's version, and i think i will peruse the extensive reference list for a few topics that i want to explore in more depth. i was most interested in the primary source analysis in the earlier chapters, and it was very interesting to see how the very little information available cohered into what is known about macbeth today (and what is contradictory, or just conjecture!). would recommend!

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been working on the story of Macbeth for many years and have accumulated shelves of books and notes. Benjamin Hudson pulled it all together in this authoritative but reader-friendly work of scholarship.