The silent past

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Consider Sueno’s Stone, the magnificent sculptured monument that stands in the town of Forres. Of course, Forres as we know it today did not exist then.

In the audio story that complements this web site, Macbeth stands at the stone and reflects on his royal ambitions. He would have been alone with his thoughts, followers perhaps waiting nearby. A favourite hunting dog by his side maybe?

When we stand at the same spot today we hear the sounds of passing traffic; we hear agricultural machinery; we hear domestic sounds from nearby houses – televisions, radios, voices; we hear passing aeroplanes; perhaps our phone rings or someone else’s nearby. And so on, and so on.

Our environment is a noisy one. Macbeth’s environment was a much quieter one and we can imagine him being attuned to the sounds of the natural world, largely undisturbed by artificial, man-made noises.