Fleance
Encyclopedia
Fleance is a figure in legend
ary Scottish history. He was depicted by sixteenth century historians as the son of Banquo
and the ancestor of the kings of the House of Stuart
. In reality both Banquo and Fleance are likely fictional. Fleance is best known as a character in William Shakespeare
's play Macbeth
, in which the Three Witches
prophecize that Banquo's descendants will be kings. Some screen adaptations of the story expand on Fleance's role by showing his return to the kingdom after Macbeth's death. Shakespeare's play is adapted from Holinshed's Chronicles
, a history of the British Isles written during the late sixteenth century. In Holinshed, Fleance escapes Macbeth and flees to Wales, where he fathers a son who later becomes Steward to the King of Scotland. His later descendants gain the throne and begin the Stuart
line of kings in England. James I
, who was king during the writing of Macbeth, was, as legend had it,
, whose Scotorum Historiae (1526–27) was a source for Raphael Holinshed
's Chronicles, a history of the British Isles popular in Shakespeare's time. In the Chronicles, Fleance—in fear of Macbeth—flees to Wales
and marries Nesta verch Gruffydd, daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
, the last native Prince of Wales. They have a son named Walter who makes his way back to Scotland and is appointed Royal Steward. According to legend, he fathered the Stuart
monarchs of England and Scotland.
The Stuarts used their connection with Fleance and his marriage to the Welsh princess to claim a genealogical link with the legendary King Arthur
. This, they hoped, would strengthen the legitimacy of their throne. In 1722, however, Richard Hay, a Scottish historian, presented strong evidence that not only was James not a descendant of Fleance, but also that both Fleance and Banquo never even existed. Most modern scholars now agree that Fleance is not a real historical figure.
In Act 1, Macbeth and Banquo meet the Three Witches
who foretell that Macbeth will be king and that Banquo "shalt get kings, though thou be none". Fleance also briefly appears in the first scene of Act 2, when his father tells him of "cursed thoughts that nature / Gives way to in repose!". Macbeth, aware of the threat Banquo and his son pose to his new throne, plans to have them murdered. Before Banquo goes traveling, Macbeth asks "Goes Fleance with you?" Macbeth sends three men to follow and kill them both, saying "Fleance['s] absence is no less material to me / Than is his father's." Macbeth holds a banquet that night and reveals to his wife his fears of what might happen unless Fleance and Banquo are both killed. Banquo and Fleance are ambushed and while Banquo holds the assailants off he cries "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! / Thou mayst revenge." When the murderers return to Macbeth and report their failure to kill Fleance, he says, "Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect, / Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, / As broad and general as the casing air: / But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears." Macbeth later meets the Three Witches again and is shown a vision of a long line of kings descended from Banquo.
The two scenes in which murderers attack Banquo and Fleance, Lady Macduff and Macduff's son
, have been compared to Herod's attempt to murder Christ
and save the throne for himself by killing all new-born children in Bethlehem. The conversation between Fleance and Banquo in their own murder scene is especially dark. Banquo's first line from within "Give us a light there, ho!" communicates the nighttime setting. The stage direction "Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE, with a torch", seems to foreshadow the fact that Fleance is a light for Scotland in the midst of the play's black deeds.
When Macbeth returns to the witches later in the play, they show him an apparition of the murdered Banquo, along with eight kings of his family, descending through Fleance. King James
, on the throne when Macbeth was written, was the ninth Stuart king. This scene thus suggests strong support for James' right to the throne by lineage, and for audiences of Shakespeare's day, was a tangible fulfillment of the witches' prophecy. The apparition is also deeply unsettling to Macbeth, who not only wants the throne for himself, but also desires to father a line of kings.
Theater expert Marvin Rosenberg theorizes that Macbeth has a son, and interprets the play as commenting on the rivalries between pairs of father and son: Banquo and Fleance, Macduff
and his son, Macbeth and his. He argues that the tension that exists between Fleance and Macbeth is made stronger if Macbeth has a child: his motive is not just selfish striving, but also fatherly ambition for his own son. Some productions of Macbeth show this tenderness by having the title character attempt to pat Fleance on the head, when Fleance withdraws to his father's side.
In Orson Welles
's film version of Macbeth (1948), Fleance is briefly seen again at the very end of the movie. He does not speak in this scene, but he has returned to Scotland with the army of Malcolm and Macduff, and is shown along with those hailing Malcolm as the new king after the killing of Macbeth.
The BBC Shakespeare version of Macbeth shows Fleance in the final scene, implying his future role in bringing Banquo's line to the throne,
In Joe Macbeth
(1955), the first film to transpose Macbeth into a gang and Mafia-like setting, Fleance is replaced by a character named Lenny. Lenny's father, Banky, is killed, but Lenny escapes, and gathers a group of angry mobsters to overthrow Macbeth, who has, through a series of murders, made himself the kingpin gangster in the area. Lenny is successful in killing Macbeth in the end, but only after Macbeth has murdered most of his family. In another gangster adaptation, Men of Respect
(1991), Fleance is replaced by a character named Phil, who similarly helps overthrow Mike (Macbeth) after his father, Bankie (Banquo), is murdered. Phil is inducted into the gang at the end of the film, when Mal (Malcolm) has taken over, suggesting that the violent gang culture will continue through generations. This sentiment echoes into the final scenes of Penny Woolcock's
Macbeth on the Estate. Macduff shoots Macbeth and takes a ring (representing his high status) off Macbeth's finger. Entering a bar, he flips it to Malcolm, saying, "Hail, king." Malcolm puts it on with some show and elbows his way to the front of the bar. One of the characters he elbows is Fleance (a skinhead
), who makes a mock gun out of his fingers and "shoots" at the back of the darker-skinned Malcolm's skull. Again this makes it clear that the violence will not end with the new generation.
In Throne of Blood
, a Japanese adaptation of the play, Fleance is replaced by Yoshiteru, a character played by Akira Kobu. The Macbeth and Banquo characters, Washizu and Miki, are told by an old woman spinning wool in a hut that while Washizu will rule the Forest Castle one day, Miki's son Yoshiteru will eventually inherit it for himself. Washizu takes the throne and at one point is about to make Yoshiteru his heir, but changes his mind when his wife tells him she is pregnant. Washizu instead arranges to have Yoshiteru and his father killed, but Yoshiteru escapes. Another foreign adaptation filmed in India, Maqbool
(2003), replaces Fleance with a character named Boji. Maqbool (Macbeth) attempts to have Boji murdered in order to strengthen power within the organized crime circle. Boji, however, survives and marries the daughter of the former crime lord.
In Macbett
, Eugene Ionesco
's 1972 stage adaptation, Fleance is merged with the Malcolm character. Macol (Malcolm), who is thought to be King Duncan's son, is revealed to be Banco's (Banquo's). Duncan, wanting a male heir, adopted Macol. Macol fills the role of Malcolm in taking the kingdom from Macbett (Macbeth) at the end of the play.
In the 2006 modern dress film adaptation
, set among gangsters in Melbourne
, Fleance (Craig Stott
) is depicted as a teenage boy, looking slightly older than in the original play. He also appears a bit more often, mainly in the scenes of Act V, where he sneaks on board a truck full of timber and witnesses the death of Macbeth before killing the maid and being directed home by Macduff
.
1942 short novel The Moon is Down
. Fleance's line foreshadows the evil encompassing the kingdom. The book was published just as the United States entered World War II
and signaled the threat of the Axis powers
by outlining the events in a European town occupied by foreign powers. Steinbeck's book became a Broadway play and a film.
In 2008, Pegasus Books published The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II
: The Seed of Banquo, a play by American author and playwright Noah Lukeman
that endeavored to pick up where the original Macbeth left off, and to resolve its many loose ends, particularly the prophesied ascension of the seed of Banquo. Written in blank verse, the play was published to critical acclaim. Another book published in 2009 by Penguin Books
, Banquo's Son, is the first in a trilogy that follows on from the Shakespearean story. The novels are written by New Zealand author and English teacher, T.K. Roxborogh.
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
ary Scottish history. He was depicted by sixteenth century historians as the son of Banquo
Banquo
Banquo is a character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play Macbeth. In the play, he is at first an ally to Macbeth and they are together when they meet the Three Witches. After prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his...
and the ancestor of the kings of the House of Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
. In reality both Banquo and Fleance are likely fictional. Fleance is best known as a character in William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's play Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, in which the Three Witches
Three Witches
The Three Witches or Weird Sisters are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth . Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of England, Scotland and Ireland...
prophecize that Banquo's descendants will be kings. Some screen adaptations of the story expand on Fleance's role by showing his return to the kingdom after Macbeth's death. Shakespeare's play is adapted from Holinshed's Chronicles
Holinshed's Chronicles
Holinshed's Chronicles, also known as Holinsheds Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, is a collaborative work published in several volumes and two editions, the first in 1577, and the second in 1587....
, a history of the British Isles written during the late sixteenth century. In Holinshed, Fleance escapes Macbeth and flees to Wales, where he fathers a son who later becomes Steward to the King of Scotland. His later descendants gain the throne and begin the Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
line of kings in England. James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, who was king during the writing of Macbeth, was, as legend had it,
History
Fleance and his father Banquo are both fictional characters presented as historical fact by Hector BoeceHector Boece
Hector Boece , known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Aberdeen.-Biography:He was born in Dundee where he attended school...
, whose Scotorum Historiae (1526–27) was a source for Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed was an English chronicler, whose work, commonly known as Holinshed's Chronicles, was one of the major sources used by William Shakespeare for a number of his plays....
's Chronicles, a history of the British Isles popular in Shakespeare's time. In the Chronicles, Fleance—in fear of Macbeth—flees to Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and marries Nesta verch Gruffydd, daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, the only Welsh monarch able to make this boast...
, the last native Prince of Wales. They have a son named Walter who makes his way back to Scotland and is appointed Royal Steward. According to legend, he fathered the Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
monarchs of England and Scotland.
The Stuarts used their connection with Fleance and his marriage to the Welsh princess to claim a genealogical link with the legendary King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
. This, they hoped, would strengthen the legitimacy of their throne. In 1722, however, Richard Hay, a Scottish historian, presented strong evidence that not only was James not a descendant of Fleance, but also that both Fleance and Banquo never even existed. Most modern scholars now agree that Fleance is not a real historical figure.
In Macbeth
Fleance appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth. However, only his childhood is portrayed; the rest of his story, as it is described in Holinshed's Chronicles, does not appear in Shakespeare's play. Scholars suggest that Shakespeare does not elaborate on Fleance's life after his escape from Scotland in order to avoid unnecessary distraction from the story of Macbeth himself.In Act 1, Macbeth and Banquo meet the Three Witches
Three Witches
The Three Witches or Weird Sisters are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth . Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of England, Scotland and Ireland...
who foretell that Macbeth will be king and that Banquo "shalt get kings, though thou be none". Fleance also briefly appears in the first scene of Act 2, when his father tells him of "cursed thoughts that nature / Gives way to in repose!". Macbeth, aware of the threat Banquo and his son pose to his new throne, plans to have them murdered. Before Banquo goes traveling, Macbeth asks "Goes Fleance with you?" Macbeth sends three men to follow and kill them both, saying "Fleance['s] absence is no less material to me / Than is his father's." Macbeth holds a banquet that night and reveals to his wife his fears of what might happen unless Fleance and Banquo are both killed. Banquo and Fleance are ambushed and while Banquo holds the assailants off he cries "Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! / Thou mayst revenge." When the murderers return to Macbeth and report their failure to kill Fleance, he says, "Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect, / Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, / As broad and general as the casing air: / But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confined, bound in / To saucy doubts and fears." Macbeth later meets the Three Witches again and is shown a vision of a long line of kings descended from Banquo.
Analysis
In the first scene of Act 2, Fleance meets his father, who asks him to take his sword and tells him he is reluctant to go to bed due to the "cursed thoughts that nature / gives way to in repose!" On Macbeth's approach, however, Banquo demands the sword be returned to him quickly. Scholars have interpreted this to mean that Banquo has been dreaming of murdering the king. Doing so would make the throne more available for Fleance, and would fulfill the Three Witches' prophecy that his sons would become kings. Since Banquo's good nature is revolted by these thoughts, he gives his sword and dagger to Fleance to be sure he does not act on them. Still, he is so nervous at Macbeth's approach that he demands their return. Other scholars have responded that Banquo's dreams have nothing to do with him killing the king, but that they have revealed to him Macbeth's bloody nature. They argue that Banquo is merely setting aside his sword for the night, but when Macbeth approaches, Banquo, having had these dark dreams about Macbeth, takes back his sword as a precaution. In any case, this scene adds to the dark, uncertain, unsettling tone of the play. Fleance and his father are not even certain of what time it is throughout, as Fleance says when asked at the beginning of the scene "The moon is down; I have not heard the clock."The two scenes in which murderers attack Banquo and Fleance, Lady Macduff and Macduff's son
Macduff's Son
Macduff's son is a character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth . His name and age are not established in the text, and, typical of Shakespeare's child characters, the boy is cute and clever...
, have been compared to Herod's attempt to murder Christ
Massacre of the Innocents
The Massacre of the Innocents is an episode of infanticide by the King of Judea, Herod the Great. According to the Gospel of Matthew Herod orders the execution of all young male children in the village of Bethlehem, so as to avoid the loss of his throne to a newborn King of the Jews whose birth...
and save the throne for himself by killing all new-born children in Bethlehem. The conversation between Fleance and Banquo in their own murder scene is especially dark. Banquo's first line from within "Give us a light there, ho!" communicates the nighttime setting. The stage direction "Enter BANQUO, and FLEANCE, with a torch", seems to foreshadow the fact that Fleance is a light for Scotland in the midst of the play's black deeds.
When Macbeth returns to the witches later in the play, they show him an apparition of the murdered Banquo, along with eight kings of his family, descending through Fleance. King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, on the throne when Macbeth was written, was the ninth Stuart king. This scene thus suggests strong support for James' right to the throne by lineage, and for audiences of Shakespeare's day, was a tangible fulfillment of the witches' prophecy. The apparition is also deeply unsettling to Macbeth, who not only wants the throne for himself, but also desires to father a line of kings.
Theater expert Marvin Rosenberg theorizes that Macbeth has a son, and interprets the play as commenting on the rivalries between pairs of father and son: Banquo and Fleance, Macduff
Macduff
Macduff may refer to:* Macduff , the character in Shakespeare's Macbeth* Macduff, Aberdeenshire, the former burgh which is now within the Aberdeenshire council area of Scotland* the Clan MacDuff, a Scottish clan...
and his son, Macbeth and his. He argues that the tension that exists between Fleance and Macbeth is made stronger if Macbeth has a child: his motive is not just selfish striving, but also fatherly ambition for his own son. Some productions of Macbeth show this tenderness by having the title character attempt to pat Fleance on the head, when Fleance withdraws to his father's side.
Theatre and screen versions
Theatre and screen versions of Macbeth have sometimes elaborated on Fleance's role.In Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
's film version of Macbeth (1948), Fleance is briefly seen again at the very end of the movie. He does not speak in this scene, but he has returned to Scotland with the army of Malcolm and Macduff, and is shown along with those hailing Malcolm as the new king after the killing of Macbeth.
The BBC Shakespeare version of Macbeth shows Fleance in the final scene, implying his future role in bringing Banquo's line to the throne,
In Joe Macbeth
Joe MacBeth
Joe MacBeth is a 1955 British-American crime drama, directed by Ken Hughes and starring Paul Douglas, Ruth Roman and Bonar Colleano. It is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in a 1930s American criminal underworld...
(1955), the first film to transpose Macbeth into a gang and Mafia-like setting, Fleance is replaced by a character named Lenny. Lenny's father, Banky, is killed, but Lenny escapes, and gathers a group of angry mobsters to overthrow Macbeth, who has, through a series of murders, made himself the kingpin gangster in the area. Lenny is successful in killing Macbeth in the end, but only after Macbeth has murdered most of his family. In another gangster adaptation, Men of Respect
Men of Respect
Men of Respect is a 1990 crime drama film, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It stars John Turturro as Mike Battaglia, a Mafia hitman who climbs his way to the top by killing his boss....
(1991), Fleance is replaced by a character named Phil, who similarly helps overthrow Mike (Macbeth) after his father, Bankie (Banquo), is murdered. Phil is inducted into the gang at the end of the film, when Mal (Malcolm) has taken over, suggesting that the violent gang culture will continue through generations. This sentiment echoes into the final scenes of Penny Woolcock's
Penny Woolcock
Penny Woolcock is a British filmmaker, opera director, and screenwriter. She was raised in a British community in Montevideo, speaking English and going to English schools...
Macbeth on the Estate. Macduff shoots Macbeth and takes a ring (representing his high status) off Macbeth's finger. Entering a bar, he flips it to Malcolm, saying, "Hail, king." Malcolm puts it on with some show and elbows his way to the front of the bar. One of the characters he elbows is Fleance (a skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
), who makes a mock gun out of his fingers and "shoots" at the back of the darker-skinned Malcolm's skull. Again this makes it clear that the violence will not end with the new generation.
In Throne of Blood
Throne of Blood
Throne of Blood is a 1957 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa. Its original Japanese title is Kumonosu-jō , which means "Spider Web Castle". The film transposes the plot of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth to feudal Japan.-Plot:...
, a Japanese adaptation of the play, Fleance is replaced by Yoshiteru, a character played by Akira Kobu. The Macbeth and Banquo characters, Washizu and Miki, are told by an old woman spinning wool in a hut that while Washizu will rule the Forest Castle one day, Miki's son Yoshiteru will eventually inherit it for himself. Washizu takes the throne and at one point is about to make Yoshiteru his heir, but changes his mind when his wife tells him she is pregnant. Washizu instead arranges to have Yoshiteru and his father killed, but Yoshiteru escapes. Another foreign adaptation filmed in India, Maqbool
Maqbool
Maqbool , a 2004 Indian film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and starring Pankaj Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Tabu and Masumeh Makhija is an adaptation of the play Macbeth by Shakespeare....
(2003), replaces Fleance with a character named Boji. Maqbool (Macbeth) attempts to have Boji murdered in order to strengthen power within the organized crime circle. Boji, however, survives and marries the daughter of the former crime lord.
In Macbett
Macbett
Macbett is Eugène Ionesco's satire on Shakespeare's Macbeth.-Plot:Two generals, Macbett and Banco, put down a rebellion. In payment for their heroic service, Archduke Duncan promises to bestow on them land, titles and cash, but he reneges on the deal. Encouraged by the seductive Lady Duncan,...
, Eugene Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd...
's 1972 stage adaptation, Fleance is merged with the Malcolm character. Macol (Malcolm), who is thought to be King Duncan's son, is revealed to be Banco's (Banquo's). Duncan, wanting a male heir, adopted Macol. Macol fills the role of Malcolm in taking the kingdom from Macbett (Macbeth) at the end of the play.
In the 2006 modern dress film adaptation
Macbeth (2006 film)
Macbeth is an Australian 2006 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was directed by Geoffrey Wright and features an ensemble cast including Sam Worthington, Victoria Hill and Lachy Hulme...
, set among gangsters in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Fleance (Craig Stott
Craig Stott
Craig Stott is an Australian actor. He is best known for his role as Josh Watkins in East of Everything.-Career:He has appeared in McLeod's Daughters, City Homicide and has a regular role in Kick...
) is depicted as a teenage boy, looking slightly older than in the original play. He also appears a bit more often, mainly in the scenes of Act V, where he sneaks on board a truck full of timber and witnesses the death of Macbeth before killing the maid and being directed home by Macduff
Macduff
Macduff may refer to:* Macduff , the character in Shakespeare's Macbeth* Macduff, Aberdeenshire, the former burgh which is now within the Aberdeenshire council area of Scotland* the Clan MacDuff, a Scottish clan...
.
Influence
Fleance's line "The moon is down, I have not heard the clock" was the inspiration for the title of John Steinbeck'sJohn Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
1942 short novel The Moon is Down
The Moon Is Down
The Moon Is Down, a novel by John Steinbeck fashioned for adaption for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian Haakon VII Cross of freedom, was published by Viking Press in March 1942...
. Fleance's line foreshadows the evil encompassing the kingdom. The book was published just as the United States entered World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and signaled the threat of the Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
by outlining the events in a European town occupied by foreign powers. Steinbeck's book became a Broadway play and a film.
In 2008, Pegasus Books published The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II
The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II
The Tragedy of MacBeth Part II: The Seed of Banquo is a novel-cum-play published by Pegasus Books in 2008 and written by American author Noah Lukeman...
: The Seed of Banquo, a play by American author and playwright Noah Lukeman
Noah Lukeman
Noah Lukeman is an American literary agent, actor, script-writer and author of works about writing and literature. A number of his books are widely used in creative writing programmes. Lukeman also contributes to a number of newspapers and journals, including The Wall Street Journal and The New...
that endeavored to pick up where the original Macbeth left off, and to resolve its many loose ends, particularly the prophesied ascension of the seed of Banquo. Written in blank verse, the play was published to critical acclaim. Another book published in 2009 by Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, Banquo's Son, is the first in a trilogy that follows on from the Shakespearean story. The novels are written by New Zealand author and English teacher, T.K. Roxborogh.