A different take on Lady Macbeth
YA, historical fantasy, feminist retelling
Del Rey
August 13,2024
Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook
320
The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men.
The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.
The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.
But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.
She does not know this yet. But she will.
“Madness, of all things, is the most unforgivable in a woman.”
Ava Reid gives a feminist interpretation to the classical character Lady Macbeth in her book Lady Macbeth. Personalized with the moniker, Roscille, Lady Macbeth is a young woman with beauty and supposedly intrancing eyes, who is subsquently married off to a waring, up and coming Lord of Scotland, Macbeth, as a way of forming an alliance. Roscille’s understanding of a woman’s role in society, especially one of noble birth, shapes her thoughts and actions in this new union and becomes the catalyst for the traditional Shakesperean plotline.
“Roscille consoles herself that she is doing the same thing, surviving…”
Reid creates an intriguing narrative with her retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, from the perspective of Lady Macbeth. Medieval society had very restrictive and subservient roles for women, especially at the hands of their husbands, women were more or less property. Reid uses this backdrop as well as the rugged and brutal landscape of Scotland to shape our understanding of Lady Macbeth. Historical interpretations portrayed her quest for power as the driving force behind her husband’s murderous thirst for the crown. Reid proposes a different take on Roscille’s motives and actual influence in this gothic infused story.
As a fan of Shakespeare and well-versed in Macbeth I was happy to take on this book after one of our other bees was ready to DNF it. She explained she was really bogged down by all the descriptors starting out. While that didn’t hinder my experience as much, it was indicative of a broader conclusion that I felt detracted from the overall story. Too much of Reid’s narrative on Roscille’s experiences, as interpreted through a feminists lense, and her actions, as the supposed weaker being, were told and not shown. I also felt as if there were contradictions in Reid’s constant premise of the “brutish” Scots when Macbeth was consistently chivalrous and willing to instigate war to satisfy the marriage request of his new wife. Roscille was also inconsistent in my view as she frequently oscillated between innocent victim and shrewd manipulator.
“A wife is only a clever as her husband permits her to be.” She hates herself for saying this. But every moment she is here, in a chair, with embroidery in her lap, is a moment she is not being whipped or forced or made to kneel. Her life has cleaved into two simple halves: the time when there is pain, and the time when there is not.
Notwithstanding these critiques I found Lady Macbeth to hold my attention and keep me engaged. Her easy to read style of writing as well as her creative storytelling resulted in a book that is worth reading, even if you are not normally a fan of Shakespeare.
Tanya’s love for books has been a lifelong passion that she likes sharing with others. Reading is also the thing that relaxes her after a day of juggling the many responsibilities that come with being being wife to an amazing man, mother to four great kids spread around the world, business manager, and farm hand on their place in southwest Missouri; home to Akaushi cattle and a menagerie of pygmy goats, horses, chickens, dogs and cats.