Joe Pondella, age 15, of Middletown, Ohio, for his question:

WAS MACBETH A REAL PERSON?

Macbeth was a real person who was king of Scotland from 1040 until 1057. In 1040 Macbeth was a commander of the forces of the Scottish king Duncan I, and was chieftain of the Moray district. After murdering King Duncan, Macbeth claimed the kingdom and ruled for 17 prosperous years.

In 1057 Macbeth was killed in battle by Malcolm Canmore, a son of Duncan I who was later, as Malcolm III, king of Scotland.

"Macbeth," a tragedy in five acts written by William Shakespeare, is based on the career of the real King Macbeth. Possibly performed as early as 1606, the play was first printed in the edition of Shakespeare's works that was published in 1623 and is known as the First Folio.

The principal source used by Shakespeare for his "Macbeth" play was "Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland" (1577) by the English chronicler Raphael Holinshed.