Macbeth the King

There's no doubt that Macbeth got a very unfair deal from the Bard and has been wrongly portrayed as an arch-villain ever since. Tranter. working from the very sketchy records of the time, does his best to restore the usurper to his rightful place in history. His Macbeth is a much more noble figure, striving to rescue Scotland from warring clans, rampaging Vikings and a weak and feckless king. There's no doubt that Tranter goes a bit over the top into making Macbeth into a hero, but from what records we have of the time, its clear he was at least a halfway decent king. Also rescued by Tranter at her husband's side is Lady Macbeth, here named as Gruoch, daughter of a deposed king, no treachery or scheming here, she nobly supports her show more husband through his reign and the following brief reign of her son Lulach. A great read, especially for those like myself whose only exposure to Macbeth has been their high school production of the Bard's tragedy. show less

MacBeth was not well served by the Holinshead Chronicle, one of Shakespeare's constant sources. By working with the Barbour verse chronicle and other sources, Nigel Tranter, produced this quite entertaining novel. Mr. Tranter, however has a habit of providing us with extensively (dare I say excessively?) detailed route descriptions, and, battle scenes which seen to be far more detailed than most levels of research can provide. Okay, sometimes I find them too clever by half. But as he works happily in poorly recorded periods for many of his accounts, no one can contradict this quite competent writer. You will have a pretty good couple of days with this chapter of Tranter's epic of Scotland.
Just don't precede this novel with a close show more reading of either "The Orkneyinga Saga" or the "Heimskringla", Some holes will suddenly appear Tranter's tapestry. show less