Macbeth
In a nutshell
Macbeth is a brave Thane of Scotland who received the prophecy that he will become King. In this play about ambition, power and loyalty, Shakespeare shows us that not everything is what it seems, especially when witchcraft is involved.
Plot summary
Act I
We are introduced to Three Witches, who talk about meeting Macbeth. Then, we are introduced to Macbeth and Banquo, Thanes (Scottish lords) who were very brave and helped win a battle. The Witches appear and prophecise their futures (Scene 3):
- To Macbeth, they call him first Thane of Glamis (which he is), then Thane of Cawdor, and then King.
- To Banquo, they predict that his children will be kings, but he will not.
When the witches leave, Macbeth is told that he is to become Thane of Cawdor and realises that their prophecy is becoming true. But to be king, he may have to kill King Duncan and his heir, Prince Malcolm.
Macbeth is not too sure about this; his wife Lady Macbeth, however, is. She wants Macbeth to be King, and she sees an opportunity in the King sleeping at their castle, so she plans Duncan's death: she will drug the King's guards (so they fall asleep), and, after Macbeth kills Duncan, they will frame those guards for the King's murder.
Act II
Macbeth follows Lady Macbeth's plan and murders Duncan in Scene 2. But he is alarmed by a noise and goes back to Lady Macbeth with the guards' daggers, so she has to go back to the crime scene to set them up. She comes back with bloody hands.
Macduff, the Thane of Fife, arrives. The murder is uncovered, and a few things happen: Macbeth blames and kills the guards, Duncan's sons runs away (afraid that they too will be murdered), and the other Thanes decide Macbeth should be King. A banquet to honour his coronation is planned, but Macduff, suspicious, will not attend.
Act III
Banquo suspects Macbeth may have killed Duncan, and Macbeth fears Banquo's children will be future kings, so he sends assassins after them: Banquo is murdered, but his son Fleance escapes (Scene 3). At the banquet, Macbeth keeps seeing Banquo's ghost and acts mad (Scene 4). Is the guilt getting to him? Nonetheless, he is now King, and by the end of this act we see some Thanes suspecting he is not a good one. Macduff goes to England to seek help from Prince Malcolm in overthrowing Macbeth, who he calls a "tyrant".
Act IV
The witches come back to confuse Macbeth further by showing him three apparitions:
- An armed head and the message to beware Macduff.
- A bloody child and the message that no man born of woman shall harm him.
- A crowned child holding a tree and the message that he will not be defeated until Birnam Wood moves toward Dunsinane Hill.
This calms Macbeth down, for he feels invincible. But when he asks if Banquo's children will reign, they show him another apparition of kings following Banquo's ghosts. Very angry, he has Macduff's family murdered because he can't kill Macduff himself, who is in England (Scene 2).
Meanwhile, Macduff convinces Prince Malcolm to come back to Scotland and fight; and when he hears about his family's death, he decides to avenge them and kill Macbeth himself.
Act V
Lady Macbeth walks and talks in her sleep, and she doesn't seem to be okay. She talks about blood in her hands and repeats things she said to Macbeth about the murders. The doctor is very worried about her. Meanwhile, the English forces, led by the Prince and Macduff, approach. They decide to use branches of Birnam Wood as camouflage: Birnam Wood is moving towards Dunsinane Hill.
Macbeth realises the prophecy is coming true, and is also told that Lady Macbeth is dead. He is desperate, but doesn't lose hope because nobody "born of a woman" could defeat him, right? Well, here we see another double meaning to a prophecy: in Scene 8, Macduff reveals that he was "untimely ripped" from his mother's womb, that is, born by Caesarean section. He then kills Macbeth, making the prophecy come true. Malcolm becomes the new King of Scotland and honours those who fought with him against "this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen" (Scene 9).
Characters
MACBETH
| We meet him as Thane of Glamis, a brave and successful man in King Duncan's army. He is ambitious, but it is his wife who persuades him to kill for the throne. Once he is King, he keeps murdering people and being tormented by ghosts and dreams. |
LADY MACBETH | She is married to Macbeth and loves him very much. But she is also very ambitious and encourages him to kill the King. In the end, the guilt seems to be too much for her: she sleepwalks and re-enacts those horrible deeds. She kills herself.
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THE WITCHES | They are bringers of chaos. They serve Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Their prophecies are told in a way that confuse Macbeth and end up bringing him his death.
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MACDUFF | The Thane of Fife, a good man, loyal to King Duncan and Scotland. He ends up being the one who defeats Macbeth in revenge for the death of his own family. |
Relationships
Macbeth ↔ Lady Macbeth
They have no children, but are clearly in love. Macbeth trusts Lady Macbeth, and calls her "my dearest love" (Act 1, Scene 5). Lady Macbeth knows she has a lot of influence over her husband, and uses this to plan the King's death and have him execute it. But when he fails to cover it up, she does it herself. They are both ambitious, and they both end up feeling the guilt of their acts and are haunted by it, either in the form of ghosts or dreams.
Macbeth ↔ The Witches
The witches meddle in Macbeth's life, for without their prophecies he would not have felt the need to murder anybody. But once he starts, he doesn't stop, and so they answer his call and show him more of the future. At first, he fears them, saying they "look not like th'inhabitants o'th'earth", and not answering to their first prophecy immediately. But later on, he trusts their words.
Macbeth ↔ Banquo
Banquo is a friend of Macbeth, and he is also there when the witches prophecise the future. He is the first to suspect Macbeth of evil deeds, and for this, he ends up dead. As a ghost, Banquo is the one who haunts Macbeth.
Macbeth ↔ Macduff
Macduff also suspects Macbeth for killing the king and helps the prince to overthrow him. When Macbeth has his wife and children killed, Macduff, who loved them very much, vows revenge. Macduff is then revealed to be the only one who can defeat Macbeth because he was born by Caesarean section. The loyalty of Macduff is presented in direct opposition to the betrayal of Macbeth.
Themes
Ambition and power
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want power, and the way they react to the witches' prophecies reveals their ambition. To get that power, they plan to murder the King, and keep getting corrupted more and more, as we can see when Macbeth, already on the throne, kills those that are suspicious of him, like Banquo. Macbeth's ambition, in the end, leads to his downfall.
Witchcraft
This theme is obvious: the Witches, the "three weird sisters", are characters in the play. In Shakespeare's time, people really believed in witchcraft, including King James I who wrote a book about it, Demonology.
Appearance and reality
In this play, things are often not what they seem. Appearances can be deceptive. We see this through apparitions, dreams, fake hospitality (Lady Macbeth being called "honoured hostess" by the very same man she has planned to kill), ghosts, etc.
Key quotations
Act/Scene
| Quotation | Theme
|
| Act 1, Scene 4 | MACBETH: "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap"
| Ambition and power
Here, Macbeth talks about Duncan's heir. If he wants to become King, he deliberates, he must also kill the Prince. |
Act 1, Scene 5 | LADY MACBETH: "Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round" | Ambition and power
Here, Lady Macbeth asks Macbeth to come back home to her, so she can whisper in his ear and manipulate him to take the crown. A metaphor is used in the pour my spirits. |
| Act 1, Scene 3 | FIRST WITCH: "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis." SECOND WITCH: "All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor."
THIRD WITCH: "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter." | Witchcraft
The three witches each greet Macbeth and let him know of his future: first, as Thane of Cawdor, and then as King of Scotland. Here we see how the use of repetition emphasises the unnatural tone of the witches. |
Act 2, Scene 4 | OLD MAN: "'Tis unnatural, even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last, a falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed." | Witchcraft This old man is talking about unnatural things that have been happening since the murder of the King (the deed that's done). These, like an owl killing a falcon, horses eating each other or it being dark in the daytime, are all related to the witchcraft at hand. |
| Act 5, Scene 1 | LADY MACBETH: "Wash your hands, put on your nightgown; look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on's grave."
| Appearance and reality
This quote may not seem out of place, but this is Lady Macbeth speaking in dreams. She is replaying over and over the scene that happened after the King's and Banquo's murders. |
Act 1, Scene 3 | BANQUO: "What are these, that look not like the inhabitants o’ th’ earth, and yet are on’t?"
| Appearance and reality
Banquo asks about the witches they are seeing, who do not look like from this Earth, but are on it. A play on the duality of appearance and reality.
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