Out Damned Spot
‘IN the spirit of a new straight-talking Britain, we at Anorak feel bound this morning to right an old wrong.
| ”Is that another new dress I see before me? |
Macbeth was, it seems, not the ambitious and ruthless tyrant represented in the Shakespeare play, egged on by his wife to murder King Duncan in his sleep.
Instead, say a group of eminent historians, he reigned wisely over a prosperous and united Scotland in the 11th Century and encouraged the spread of Christianity.
And, the Telegraph says, they have persuaded members of the Scottish parliament to support their campaign to have Macbeths reputation restored and his achievements recognised.
Ted Cowan, professor of history at Glasgow University, said one of his earliest obituaries described his time as the fertile seasons.
Some of the Highland clans looked to Macbeth as the last great Celtic ruler in Scotland, he said.
Although Macbeth may have killed his rival Duncan, he didnt do so while he slept (as the play claims) but at the battle of Pitgaveny in Moray in 1040.
However, it is doubtful that this attempt at rehabilitation will have any more effect than similar moves with the likes of Richard III.
As Macbeth himself says in the play, Whats done cannot be undone.’
Posted: 3rd, February 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
