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Gruoch ist zudem auch noch extrem unsympathisch dargestellt. Teils wirkt sie, als ob ihr alle Menschen um sie herum komplett egal wären. Und ich kann mir vorstellen, dass genau das das Ziel der Autorin war – eine meisterhafte Manipulatorin, für die alle anderen nur Werkzeuge sind. Leider ist sie aber eher naiv und muss ständig von anderen gerettet werden. Ich hatte hier leider das Gefühl, dass der Charakter, den ich erlebt habe weit von dem entfernt war, den die Autorin hier schreiben wollte und konnte einfach nicht nachvollziehen, wieso gewisse Charaktere ihr trotzdem immer wieder geholfen haben.
The book takes you through the eventful years of a Gruoch, who is driven by her grandmother's prophecy that promises her to be the greatest ruler of Alba. With her stern determination to do anything it takes to reach that position of power, she overcomes every obstacle that fate has placed her way. As a child, Gruoch's grandmother prophecies that she will one day be Queen of Alba and reclaim the lands of her Pictish kin. When, many years later, she is betrothed to Duncan, the heir-elect, the prophecy appears to come true. Determined to never to be as powerless as her parents, Gruoch leaves behind her home, her family and her friend MacBethad, and travels to the royal seat at Scone to seal her fate.I will admit that I did not receive what I thought I would receive with this story, however. While it did begin as a fictionalised account of Gruoch’s life, it soon became more of a semi-feminist origin story for the character from Shakespeare’s play. The ending in particular wraps in such a way that it would lend itself quite naturally to being a prequel for all the events that play out in Macbeth. In this way, I thought it was well-planned. I was a bit disappointed that I did not receive a story that was more separate from the play but it was still enjoyable.
She is told as a child by her grandmother, a Druid who has visions of the future, that she is destined for greatness and will be immortalised, and from that point Gruoch does whatever is in her power to achieve her destiny of being Queen of Alba. There’s sisterhood, betrayal, ambition, loss, marriage and - of course - murder, but Gruoch isn’t the Machiavellian wife we see in Shakespeare’s tale, nor is Macbethad the Macbeth you might expect. Here she is a strongwilled and determined woman carving out a life for herself in a man’s world, and doing her best for herself and those she loves. This is very much her story, with Macbethad being in England for much of the novel, and the reframing of this as Gruoch’s story is compelling and intriguing. The descriptions of Scotland are atmospheric and immersive, I loved side characters such as Donalda and it has such a satisfying ending.She proves herself a defiant, empowered nonconformist, and an explicit threat to a patriarchal system of governance in that, through challenging his masculinity, she manipulates Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. [5] Despite the fact that she calls him a coward, Macbeth remains reluctant, until she asks: "What beast was't, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? / When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man." Thus Lady Macbeth enforces a masculine conception of power, yet only after pleading to be unsexed, or defeminised. [6] Performance history [ edit ] Throughout Act 1, Macbeth is conflicted about whether or not he should kill King Duncan. In Act 1 Scene 7, for example, Macbeth talks about how Duncan is ‘both his kinsmen and his subject’ as well as his ‘host’, all reasons not to kill the king. However, he makes the choice to go ahead and commit ‘the horrid deed’ in Act 2. This choice is one of the central turning points for this character and it is vital for anyone writing about Macbeth, or playing Macbeth on stage, to look at his motivations at this point and ask: Inspired by the 'Lady Macbeth' character, this is a sort of retelling of a strong and fierce woman. Americans seem to think Scottish history is just there to be their playground and it doesn’t matter if they get it wrong or are disrespectful. And I doubt there will be consequences for this author, I’m sure she’ll continue to get published. But her readers should know she’s absolutely taking the piss out of them and out of Scotland. I know very little regarding Shakespeare's Macbeth, nor the true history that inspired the famous tragedy, but I do know that Lady Macbeth is a famous character known for her ruthlessness and ambition. QUEEN HEREAFTER follows Gruoch, the daughter of an ousted King and a descendant of ancient druids with Pictish roots, on her path to inevitably becoming Lady Macbeth. She is raised believing that she has a divine right to be queen, prophesied by her Gods, and nothing will stand in her way.
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