A Summary of Shakespeare's play Macbeth1

A scene by scene description of Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth.

1. A SUMMARY The Tragedy of Macbeth By William Shakespeare

2. The Tragedy of Macbeth – Act 1 Scene 1 : The play opens with three witches gathering amidst thunder and lightening. They plan to meet with Macbeth that evening, ‘when the battle’s lost and won’ at ‘the set of sun’. Three witches meet in a ‘wild place’, planning to cause mischief with Macbeth. They announce that they will meet him at a time of disorder, darkness and confusion; a time when ‘fair is foul’ and ‘foul is fair’. Scene 2 : At King Duncan’s camp, a wounded captain tells the king that 'brave Macbeth' fought well against the rebel forces led by Macdonald. He also reports that there was 'a fresh assault' from Norwegian troops after they had defeated Macdonald, but Macbeth and Banquo ‘doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe’ and pushed them back as well. Duncan thanks the Captain for the ‘ honour ’ of his words and his wounds and sends him to be treated by a surgeon. Ross arrives from Fife with further news of victory. The Norwegian king is pleading for a peace treaty and has paid a ransom, while the rebellious Thane of Cawdor has been captured. Duncan sentences Cawdor to 'present death' and tells Ross to 'greet Macbeth' with his 'former title’. King Duncan, king of Scotland, hears that his kingdom has been saved from rebels and invaders by two generals Macbeth and Banquo. Duncan announces that he will reward Macbeth. He bestows the title, lands and power of an executed traitor upon him, in his absence. This makes Macbeth both Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor. He is twice as powerful as the other Scottish lords; he just doesn’t know it yet. 2

3. Scene 3 : Macbeth finally walks on stage, travelling with Banquo. His first words are, ‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen.’ The witches approach the travelers and startle Macbeth by telling him that he is both Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor. They prophesy that he will become King. In soliloquy he admits to vile thoughts. The witches tell Banquo that he will never be king, but he will be father to a long line of kings. This detail damages the friendship. Before any more questions can be asked, The witches melt into air. King Duncan’s men arrive to tell Macbeth that he has been made Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is thrown into a trance. In soliloquy he says he can’t tell if the witches’ prophecies are ‘good’ or ‘ill’. Banquo as no doubt; he warns Macbeth ‘these instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s / In deepest consequence’ (I, iii). For Banquo, who can tell good from evil, the prophesy is a trick.

4. The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth – Act 1 continued King Duncan holds a meeting with all the thanes. First, he names Macbeth as ‘a peerless kinsman’ which is dangerous considering that Duncan himself is the only peerless kinsman. Then he confuses matters by naming his son Malcolm as heir. In an aside, Macbeth says Malcolm is an obstacle to his ambition which he must ‘o’erleap’. He then lists all the reason why he should not kill Duncan. Given that he can’t really decide, he says that he’ll let events take their course without him acting. King Duncan announces that he will feast and celebrate that night at Inverness castle, Macbeth’s home. Macbeth sends a letter to his wife to tell her about the witches’ predictions. Then he follows soon after. Lady Macbeth is clearly his closest confidante. Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth’s letter and calls on evil spirits to ‘unsex’ her so that she can plot Duncan’s murder. Like Banquo, she knows the difference between good and evil, and chooses to be evil. She knows how to seem ‘fair’ and ‘look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it’. She believes that Macbeth is ‘too full of the milk of human kindness’ to murder Duncan. So she will have to take charge. When her husband arrives, she goads him into murdering Duncan by attacking his courage and his manhood. She prepares the plot. All he will have to do is stab Duncan in his sleep. 4

5. The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth – Act 2 As Banquo and his son Fleance keep night watch, Macbeth comes by to chat about the witches. Banquo is mistrustful. He weighs his words: He wants ‘honour’ but only if by seeking it, he does not lose it. Lady Macbeth checks to see that Duncan is asleep and that his bodyguards, whom she has drugged, are unconscious. Tellingly, she says she would have stabbed the king herself, except he resembles her father. She is not as evil as she wishes to be. Macbeth hallucinates that a dagger is leading his way to Duncan’s room. Macbeth murders Duncan – his king, his guest and his kinsman. He immediately forgets to leave the incriminating daggers on the bodyguards, leaving his wife to return them and to witnesses the body. Overcome already by paranoia, Macbeth hears voices calling, ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep.’ All trust has been destroyed. Macduff, the Thane of Fife, arrives to rouse Duncan, commenting there have been reports of wild storms, with chimneys toppled. In the outcry, after Macduff discovers the murder, Macbeth slaughters the drowsy bodyguards. This is seen as suspicious. Why kill them? Duncan’s two sons, Malcolm and Donalbain flee into exile. Macbeth is named as king. But rumours and gossip spread. Who gained from the murder? Not the bodyguards, nor Malcolm, nor Donalbain. Only Macbeth has profited. 5

6. The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth – Act 3 Privately, Banquo says that Macbeth has acted ‘most foully’. He and Fleance go riding for the day. Meanwhile Macbeth convinces three men that the misfortune in their lives is all Banquo’s fault. To prove themselves as men, they must kill Banquo, for themselves and for him. Oh, and Fleance too. Macbeth avoids his wife and keeps his plans from her. He is paranoid rather than guilty. With maddening insomnia and nightmares, Macbeth longs for the peace that King Duncan enjoys in his grave. Worse still, he has tortured his mind only for the crown to go to Banquo’s descendants. Lady Macbeth says, ‘What’s done is done’ but for him, he says that he will keep killing. With spies in every castle, he knows who is rebelling. Banquo is murdered but Fleance escapes. At that night’s banquet, Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth. Everyone else sees a mad king raving, at the air and an empty chair. Lady Macbeth orders everyone to leave before her husband incriminates himself more. Macbeth notes that Macduff was absent from the banquet. Hecate, queen of witches, has missed out on tricking Macbeth. She plans to use false ‘security’ against him. A group of lords laugh sarcastically about Macbeth. Suspicions about him murdering Duncan and Banquo have become open scathing jokes. Macduff has gone to England to convince Malcolm, as the rightful heir, to return with English forces and free Scotland from the ‘tyrant’ Macbeth. 6

7. The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth – Act 4 A coven of witches, including Hecate, brew a disgusting potion and chant spells to trick Macbeth. Macbeth is shown three apparitions. A head warns him, ‘Beware Macduff.’ A child declares, ‘No man of woman born shall harm Macbeth.’ Then Macbeth is told that he will only be defeated when Birnam Wood marches to Dunsinane Hill. But Banquo’s ghost reveals that his descendants will reign for generations. The witches disappear. Macbeth hears that Macduff is in England, so he orders the slaughter of his entire household. Lady Macduff knows she is defenseless. Her son quips that if his father is a traitor then he is one of many. Moments later, Macbeth’s soldiers kill Macduff’s family and servants. An innocent child dies on stage. Macduff pleads with Malcolm to save Scotland as Macbeth’s tyranny means there are new widows and orphans every day. (Little does he know.) Malcolm says traitors always look like loyal men so he cannot trust him. Malcolm tests Macduff by saying he is too lustful, deceitful and greedy to be a good king. Macduff says it doesn’t matter; he is the rightful king. Malcom then reveals that he is was just tricking him. He is already uniting with the English King - a man with miraculous healing powers – to return and ‘cure’ Scotland. Macduff receives news that Macbeth has murdered his entire household. He declares that he must be the one to kill Macbeth. But he sits crying, as first he ‘must also feel it as a man.’ 7

8. The Tragedy of Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth – Act 5 Lady Macbeth’s maid and a doctor watch as the queen sleepwalks, scrubbing her hands clean of King Duncan’s blood. Guilt-stricken, Lady Macbeth cries, ‘the Thane of Fife had a wife, where is she now.’ She needs god’s healing forgiveness, not a doctor. The doctor warns that Lady Macbeth is a danger to herself. Some Lords note that Macbeth is at Dunsinane, while Malcolm has assembled his forces nearby at Birnam The lords decide to join Malcolm and ‘give obedience where ‘tis truly owed.’ In Dunsinane, Macbeth hears that his enemy is 10,000-men strong. He rants that he is invincible. Macbeth is scathing about the doctor’s view that Lady Macbeth’s mind is diseased’ with ‘sorrow’. The doctor flees. In Birnam Wood, Malcom’s army chop down trees to disguise their numbers as they approach Dunsinane. Lady Macbeth kills herself. Macbeth has little reaction; life is short and meaningless. When told that Birnam Wood is advancing to Dunsinane, he realises that Banquo was right. The witches betrayed him with truths. He returns to some of his former nobility and resolves, ‘at least we’ll die with harness on our back’. Macbeth kills all opponents … until Macduff reveals that he was ‘from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.’ He is not ‘of woman born.’ Macduff kills Macbeth. Malcolm is king. The rightful order is restored. 8