Macbeth, a Play for our Time. 2

Such is the genius and so great is the scope of Shakespeare's writings that there can be little doubt that a common perception is one of an imaginative mind concocting stories. In fact Shakespeare had many sources and much of his work was based on historical fact. Holinshed chronicled in the sixteenth century, the histories of England, Scotland and Ireland, and it is from the "Historie of Scotland" that Shakespeare built significant parts of this …

…that in some strange way his plays belong to us. Sources I. The Tragedy of Macbeth New Haven: Yale University Press Revised 1954 II. Shakespeare's Macbeth Total Study Edition Coles Editorial Board 1990 III. Holinshed R. Historie of Scotland (2nd Ed. Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland 1587) "Historie of Scotland" IV. Paul. Henry N. The Royal Play of Macbeth 1950 pp. 213-17 V. Bradley A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy 1912 pp. 468-9 VI: Shakespeare Web : Queries from Genuinely Interested Students