Original: Shakespeare 's sources for the tragedy are the accounts of King Macbeth of Scotland , Macduff , and Duncan in Holinshed 's Chronicles ( 1587 ) , a history of England , Scotland and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries .
Simplified: Shakespeare based some characters in the play ( Macbeth , Macduff , and Duncan ) roughly on records of real people in Holinshed 's Chronicles , a history book from 1587 .