The Tragedy of Macbeth, Part II: The Seed of Banquo Book

In 1610, The Tragedy of Macbeth was first performed. 400 years later: the sequel, written as a five-act play in blank verse. Ten years king, Malcolm sits on an uneasy throne. If Malcolmâ??s mind is haunted by the ghosts of his royal father (â??gracious Duncanâ?) as well as the thane and lady who so bloodily betrayed him, Malcolmâ??s soul is sickened, as was Macbethâ??s, by the witchesâ?? prophecy that from Banquoâ??s seed would spring a line of Scottish kings: a prophecy that remained unfulfilled at the end of Shakespeareâ??s play. The witches also taunt Malcolm with riddles all his own: that sorrows will visit him from Ireland (where his younger brother fled upon their fatherâ??s death); that his love for Macbeth will breed fresh treachery. True to the Shakespearean model, its devious plot unfolding in five acts and its speech set to the measure of blank verse, Macbeth, Part II, draws bold the tragedy of a powerful man undone by the terrors he imagines and the truths he fails to see.Read More