Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid: an invigorating romp that cleaves to the real history of Macbeth’s wife

By Marion Gibson, Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures, University of Exeter

“Out, damned spot,” Lady Macbeth famously says as she wrings her hands, attempting to remove a bloodstain her guilt-ridden mind has conjured. Her hands are clean in reality, but her conscience is not. Ambition and cunning drove her to influence her husband, Macbeth, to murder their king – and now that it is done, the crime haunts her.

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known and powerful female characters. She is often seen as a smart, ruthless figure, but one who miscalculates what she can get away with. In her new book Queen Macbeth, Val McDermid takes on this formidable…

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