Macbeth

"Macbeth: Man and Myth is the first book to study Macbeth in all his manifestations: historical, mythological and dramatic. Bringing together much widely scattered material, it begins by placing Macbeth in the context of the turbulent politics of eleventh-century Scotland, before examining the evidence for the historical Macbeth and his reign. The book then traces the origins and development of the myths surrounding the king through a range of medieval source material to the culmination of this process in Shakespeare's Macbeth, as well as later adaptations and interpretations of the play. The author skilfully disentangles the real from the mythical Macbeth and puts into focus a blurring of fact and fiction that is as old as Macbeth himself. The concluding chapter goes in search of Macbeth, travelling from the 'blasted heath', where Shakespeare's Macbeth met the witches, to Dunsinane where he met his death at the hands of Macduff. The archaeology, architecture, topography and folklore of Macbeth's Scotland are here brought together for the first time. Book jacket."--Jacket.