So you filled your hands

@beatonna Whoaa RT @sbosma @koalaparty: I asked Mr. Sam Bosma to illustrate Lady Macbeth for Emily's birthday. He killed it! tinyurl.com/5rp2uuz

You will understand why this is AMAZING to me. \o/

Sometimes I try and kid myself that Cate Blanchett is not the face and voice of Gruoch. She always comes back and gives me that look and asks why I'm trying to so circuitous. Huffington Post had a slideshow detailing her fashion evolution (including the gladiator dress that I'm so in love with), and they had this picture of her at one of her earliest premieres, in 1994, and just. I see young Gruoch so clearly: there's something gawky and somewhat strange about her, and I can see her scaring the shit out of suitors who haven't done their research before they come courting.

( Read more... )

Macbeth, of course, comes out okay.

I'm starting to do a little more than just poke at revisions. Watch this space (I hope); I have set up my wall with the major projects I want to be working on these days, and, well, there are nine. All at once. I am a dope.

( Visual evidence )

Stone of Destiny: A Story of Lady Macbeth: "The true story of the life of Lady Macbeth, who ruled England for 17 years with great success."

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk: A Sketch: "Chastened and stifled by her marriage of convenience to a man twice her age, the young Katerina Lvovna goes yawning about the house, missing the barefoot freedom of her childhood, until she meets the feckless steward Sergei Filipych. Sergei proceeds to seduce Katerina, as he has done half the women in the town, not realizing that her passion, once freed, will attach to him so fiercely that Katerina will do anything to keep hold of him."

Lady Macbeth: "Lady Gruadh, called Rue, is the last female descendent of Scotlands most royal line. Married to a powerful northern lord, she is widowed while still carrying his child and forced to marry her husbands murderer: a rising war-lord named Macbeth. Encountering danger from Vikings, Saxons, and treacherous Scottish lords, Rue begins to respect the man she once despised–and then realizes that Macbeths complex ambitions extend beyond the borders of the vast northern region. Among the powerful warlords and their steel-games, only Macbeth can unite Scotland–and his wifes royal blood is the key to his ultimate success.
Determined to protect her small son and a proud legacy of warrior kings and strong women, Rue invokes the ancient wisdom and secret practices of her female ancestors as she strives to hold her own in a warrior society. Finally, side by side as the last Celtic king and queen of Scotland, she and Macbeth must face the gathering storm brought on by their combined destiny."

Lady Macbeth's Daughter: "Albia has grown up with no knowledge of her mother of her father, the powerful Macbeth. Instead she knows the dark lure of the Wychelm Wood and the moors, where shes been raised by three strange sisters. Its only when the ambitious Macbeth seeks out the sisters to foretell his fate that Albias life becomes tangled with the man who leaves nothing but bloodshed in his wake. She even falls in love with Fleance, Macbeths rival for the throne. Yet when Albia learns that she has the second sight, she must decide whether to ignore the terrible future she foresees—or to change it. Will she be able to save the man she loves from her murderous father?  And can she forgive her parents their wrongs, or must she destroy them to save Scotland from tyranny?"

(As far as the last one goes, its tagline, "The daughter Macbeth might have had, if Shakespeare had thought to create her..." is, well. Well intentioned, but we see pretty clearly in the text that the Macbeths had a child ["I have given suck..."] and it died. But never mind that. </canon purist, which is a little hilarious, given the givens>)

Ohmygod.

So, for the longest time I had Cate Blanchett in my head for Gruoch. She has the elegance, the cruelty, the poise, the ferocity — she's it. I made a conscious choice not to think of her in this latest incarnation of The Falling Woman.

So now what happens?

( Holy shit. )

Holy shit.

Oh dear. I am definitely feeling that 1 AM bedtime from last night. I'm contemplating leaving work early... to sleep and not feel like death, not to write.

When you're writing it, the story follows you wherever you go, doesn't it? Everything is relevant. For example: I love loldogs. And then I found this on IHasAHotDog:


see more dog and puppy pictures

Silly picture, and the dog's hair is too long and nice, but look at that face. There's something about the shape of that face, the long snout and the bump behind the nose and the lack of jowls so you can always see teeth that makes me associate sighthounds with Lady Macbeth. (More evidence.)

Last night I finished the reread of Macbeth that I started in July (oops). I think I understand part of why I'm so drawn to writing Lady M. Think about this: how many times have you seen a production of the play, onstage or on film? How is Lady Macbeth's madness always portrayed? It comes on very suddenly, mysteriously appearing between Macbeth's dinner party and the "Out, out, damn spot!" scene in Act 5. And she's alway so goddamn pathetic: she whines and weeps and mewls and cries.

I'm sorry, what? Why would this brilliant, amazing woman, this woman who asks for her blood to be made thick, "that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose," be brought so low and so passive?

Think of how much more terrifying and fitting this scene is if Lady Macbeth is dangerous, if she's frustrated and snarling and predatory. She wants to control the narrative, and no one can control her. She's a danger to the handmaidens, she's erratic and angry at her husband, she's watching all her work and deeds be lost. Think of it!

The thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? — What, will these hands ne’er be clean? — No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that; you mar all with this starting.

That's what I'm hoping to capture with Gruoch. This is someone who won't go down without a fight. Watch out.