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Susan Fraser King gives readers a different take on the Lady Macbeth whom William Shakespeare’s brilliant play MACBETH characterized as such a monster. As with all tales, there are two different sides and Ms. Fraser tells it from the side of Lady MacBeth who lived in perilous times and did it “her way”. Gruadh (Rue), the future Lady MacBeth was born of illustrious royal lineage. She survived several kidnappings during her childhood. After one of her perilous kidnappings Rue convinced her father she should be taught to fight like a warrior as were her fierce and warrior-like Celtic woman forebears. Thinking the only real protection afforded a woman in the eleventh century was marriage to a strong wealthy warrior, Rue was married off to a powerful northern lord. Nearly ready to birth her child, Rue’s husband was killed and she was forced to marry his murderer that same day – a warrior by the name of Macbeth. Determined to protect her small son and her royal blood legacy Rue calls upon some of the secret practices handed down by her female ancestors. As the years marched on Rue came to admire and love her husband and, as the last Celtic king and queen of Scotland, Rue and Macbeth would face their destiny and enemies together as one. *** So now who are we to believe; Shakespeare’s eloquent and brilliant creation of a monster in his play, or the strong and fierce young girl who endured a life that was rife with tradition, duty, obedience, and political treachery and ambitions? One thing you can be assured of, both writers portrayed Lady Macbeth as a woman of uncommon strength, fortitude, and ambition. Ms. King thoroughly researched her subject weaving together a brilliant work of exciting adventure, fact, fiction and making it very hard to put down – the story is a fascinating one. Initially, not anxious to try to read anything that smacked of Shakespeare’s’ flowery and hard to understand writing, this turned out to be entertaining and very well-written based partly on historical fact as well as new theories combined with dashes of fiction, which may or may not have occurred. Forced to marry against her will, it was interesting to see Rue actually content with her first husband. Although not a love match, there was a measure of respect here which was surprising to see. Rue’s marriage to Macbeth came immediately after her first husband was killed and the question remains, was it solely for access to strengthen his own blood claim to the crown or, was there a remote chance that MacBeth actually admired and cared [loved] for Rue whom he’d met before her marriage? The fact remains they were married for twenty-five years and in that time, as was a man’s right, he could have easily set aside Lady MacBeth for not providing him with an heir. Again, one must make the assumption that they actually loved one another and the author’s treatment and description of Lord Macbeth’s battles and his later seemingly devotion and inner spiritual awareness (possibly to atone for his sins) was a beautiful portrayal of a strong and ruthless man who loved Scotland and wanted to keep her, as well as his lady and step-son safe from harm. Susan Fraser King’s captivating tale of Lady Macbeth is a most compelling read which should be placed high on historical romance readers ‘buy list’ as a second look at a very much maligned icon of history. Reviewed by Marilyn Rondeau, for CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
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LADY MACBETH
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