Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth, often shortened to Macbeth, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. Scholars believe Macbeth, of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of King James I, contains the most allusions to James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company.
In the play, a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by his latent ambition and spurred to violence by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Then, racked with guilt and paranoia, he commits further murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, becoming a tyrannical ruler in the process. The violence perpetrated by the power-hungry couple leads to their insanity and finally to their deaths.
Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles, a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth.
There was a stage superstition that the name of the play should not be spoken, and that it should instead be called "The Scottish Play". The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.
Plot
Act I
Amid thunder and lightning, three witches decide that their next meeting will be with Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis. In the following scene, soldiers report to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals Banquo and Macbeth have just defeated a rebellion led by the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, allied with forces from Norway and Ireland. Duncan praises his kinsmen for their bravery and fighting prowess, announcing that the title of Thane of Cawdor shall be transferred to Macbeth.Wandering on a heath, Macbeth and Banquo are puzzled when the three witches appear, prophetically hailing Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis" and "Thane of Cawdor", next saying he shall "be king hereafter". When Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches respond that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. The witches vanish, and the Thane of Ross arrives, informing Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor. The witches' first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth immediately begins to harbour nervous ambitions of becoming king. King Duncan himself soon welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, declaring they will all spend the night at Macbeth's castle in Inverness; also, Duncan's son Malcolm is announced as his official heir. Macbeth sends a letter about the witches ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is resolute that she and her husband should murder Duncan in order to obtain the crown. When Macbeth arrives in Inverness, she persuades him to kill the king that very night. They plan to get Duncan's two chamber attendants drunk so that they will black out; thus, the next morning they can frame the attendants for the murder.
Act II
That night, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural omens, including a hallucination of a blood-smeared dagger, Macbeth goes offstage and stabs the sleeping Duncan to death. Returning, he is so shaken that Lady Macbeth finds him still holding the bloody daggers, which she scolds him for, reminding him they must be left on Duncan's sleeping servants. She takes the knives and places them back in Duncan's chamber. When the couple hears knocking at the castle gate, they hurry to bed.A drunken porter opens the gate, admitting Macduff and a nobleman named Lennox: they wish to visit the king. Macbeth, greeting them, leads them to Duncan's chamber. Macduff enters the chamber then returns to the stage, announcing with shock the murder of Duncan. Macbeth and Lennox rush into the chamber where, offstage, Macbeth impulsively kills Duncan's servants to prevent them from professing their innocence. He reappears and confesses to the other nobles that he has killed the servants, but lies that his intentions were to avenge the king's murder. Duncan's two sons flee the country, fearing that they will be killed next. Macduff explains that their flight makes them the main suspects in the king's death, and Macbeth, as Duncan's next of kin, assumes the throne offstage as the new King of Scotland. Banquo remembers the witches' prophecy about how his own descendants would inherit the throne, and he is suspicious that Macbeth might be Duncan's true killer.
Act III
Despite Macbeth's success, he remains uneasy about Banquo's role in the prophecy. Inviting Banquo to a royal banquet, Macbeth discovers that Banquo and his young son Fleance will be riding out that night. Macbeth rapidly arranges to have Banquo and Fleance killed, hiring two men and later adding a third murderer to the plan. During the ambush, the murderers succeed in killing Banquo, but Fleance escapes. Macbeth is furious that an heir of Banquo remains alive.At the banquet, Macbeth has invited his lords and Lady Macbeth to a night of drinking and merriment, though Macduff has refused to come. Banquo's ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, as the ghost is visible only to him. The others panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth lies that her husband is merely afflicted with a harmless lifelong illness. The ghost departs and returns once more, causing the same riotous anger and fear in Macbeth. This time, Lady Macbeth demands that the visitors leave. Elsewhere, Hecate, queen of witchcraft, scolds the three witches for communicating with Macbeth without consulting her. Hecate instructs the witches to next give Macbeth a false sense of safety and overconfidence about his new position. Through verbal irony, Lennox reveals to another lord his suspicions that Macbeth is a murdering tyrant and they discuss how Macduff, refusing to attend Macbeth's banquet, has gone to England to find allies who will help take back the Scottish throne.
Act IV
Macbeth visits the three witches and asks them to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. They summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers further supernatural pronouncements. First, they conjure an armoured head, which tells him to beware of Macduff. Second, a bloody child tells him that no one born of a woman will be able to harm him. Thirdly, a crowned child holding a tree states that Macbeth will be safe until Great Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is relieved because he knows that all his enemies are born of women and a forest cannot possibly travel across the land. However, the witches also conjure a procession of eight crowned kings, the last carrying a mirror that reflects even more kings, and finally the ghost of Banquo pointing to the procession. Macbeth realises nervously that these are all Banquo's descendants who will acquire kingships in numerous countries.In light of the latest prophecies, Macbeth orders the disobedient Macduff's castle seized and sends assassins to slaughter all its inhabitants, including Macduff's wife and young son. Meanwhile, Macduff himself is in England meeting with Prince Malcolm to discuss Macbeth's tyrannical regime. Malcolm, who must be cautious for any traps, confesses that he would be a terrible leader if the crown were handed to him, but this is merely a lie to see how Macduff will react. Macduff shows that he is more loyal to Scotland than any particular leader, impressing Malcolm, who now reveals the lie and says Macduff has won his trust. The Thane of Ross arrives to deliver the horrible news to Macduff that his "castle is surprised, your wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd". With this news of his family's murders, Macduff is stricken with grief, but he is quickly provoked to vengeance by Malcolm who explains that he has raised an army with the help of the English King Edward. Together, they can defeat Macbeth and take back the Scottish throne.
Act V
At night, in the royal palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth's sudden frightening habit of sleepwalking. Lady Macbeth enters in a trance, bemoaning the recent murders and trying to wash off imaginary bloodstains from her hands. Her observers marvel at her guilt-ridden confessions. Meanwhile, Prince Malcolm's allied forces plan to join up at Birnam Wood, additionally supported by Macduff and defecting Scottish thanes alarmed by Macbeth's recent barbarities. While encamped in Birnam Wood, Malcolm orders his soldiers to cut down and carry tree boughs to camouflage their numbers.As Macbeth readies for the attack, he receives news that his wife has suddenly died, causing him to deliver a despairing "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy. Still, he is emboldened by the witches' seeming guarantee of his invincibility against any "man of woman born", until a servant reports that Malcolm's army is advancing on Dunsinane in the form of moving trees. As the invaders take his castle, Macbeth is confronted by Macduff. Macbeth tells him that he cannot be defeated by "one of woman born", but Macduff reveals that he was born by Caesarean section and thus did not have a natural childbirth. In the ensuing duel with Macduff, Macbeth is killed offstage. Macduff reenters with Macbeth's severed head, and Malcolm discusses how order has been restored. He implies that Lady Macbeth's death was a suicide, declares his benevolent intentions for the country, promotes his thanes to earls, and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.