Macbeth
Shakespeare's shortest and most relentlessly intense tragedy dramatizes the fall of a great soldier into tyranny through a combination of external instigation (the Witches, Lady Macbeth) and his own ambitious will. The play's darkness — the literal darkness of its staging, the psychological darkness of its protagonists — is unrelieved.
At a Glance
- Genre: Tragedy
- Approximate date: c. 1606 (possibly written for the visit of King James I's brother-in-law)
- Setting: Scotland; briefly England
- Source: Holinshed's Chronicles of Scotland
- Acts: 5
Dramatis Personæ
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| MACBETH | General; thane of Glamis and then Cawdor; ambition leads him to regicide |
| LADY MACBETH | Macbeth's wife; drives him to murder; breaks under guilt |
| DUNCAN | King of Scotland; virtuous; murdered by Macbeth |
| MALCOLM | Duncan's elder son; flees; reclaims throne |
| DONALBAIN | Duncan's younger son; flees to Ireland |
| BANQUO | Macbeth's fellow general; the Witches prophesy his descendants will be kings |
| FLEANCE | Banquo's son; escapes Macbeth's murderers |
| MACDUFF | Thane of Fife; Scotland's avenger; "not of woman born" |
| LADY MACDUFF | Macduff's wife; murdered with her children |
| LENNOX | Scottish nobleman |
| ROSS | Scottish nobleman; messenger of ill tidings |
| MENTEITH | Scottish nobleman |
| ANGUS | Scottish nobleman |
| CAITHNESS | Scottish nobleman |
| SIWARD | Earl of Northumberland; English general supporting Malcolm |
| YOUNG SIWARD | Siward's son; killed by Macbeth |
| SEYTON | Macbeth's officer |
| BOY | Son to Macduff |
| AN ENGLISH DOCTOR | |
| A SCOTTISH DOCTOR | |
| A SOLDIER | |
| A PORTER | Provides comic relief after Duncan's murder |
| AN OLD MAN | Comments on the unnatural omens |
| THREE WITCHES | Agents of prophecy; "the weird sisters" |
| HECATE | Queen of the Witches |
| THREE APPARITIONS | Summoned by the Witches |
| GHOST OF BANQUO | Appears at Macbeth's banquet |
| LORDS, GENTLEMEN, OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, MURDERERS, ATTENDANTS, MESSENGERS |
Plot Summary
Act I: Macbeth and Banquo, returning from victory, meet the Three Witches on a heath. They prophesy: Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor, then King; Banquo's descendants will be kings. The first prophecy is immediately fulfilled (Duncan makes Macbeth Thane of Cawdor). Macbeth writes to Lady Macbeth, who resolves to push him to kill Duncan. Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle. Macbeth debates ("If it were done when 'tis done...") and decides against murder — until Lady Macbeth overcomes his will.
Act II: Macbeth murders Duncan in his sleep. He hallucinates a dagger. After the murder, he is unable to return the daggers to Duncan's chamber; Lady Macbeth does it for him. The Porter's scene (comic; the "equivocator" speech). The murder is discovered; Macduff finds the body. Malcolm and Donalbain flee. Macbeth is crowned king. Banquo suspects Macbeth.
Act III: Macbeth, fearing Banquo's children will inherit the throne, hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Banquo is killed; Fleance escapes. At a great banquet, Banquo's ghost appears (only to Macbeth); Macbeth raves; Lady Macbeth covers for him. The feast ends in disorder.
Act IV: Macbeth visits the Witches again; they give him three prophecies: beware Macduff; no man born of woman can harm Macbeth; he will not be conquered until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. He seems invulnerable — but resolves to kill Macduff's family anyway. Macduff's wife and children are murdered. In England, Malcolm and Macduff prepare to retake Scotland.
Act V: Lady Macbeth, broken by guilt, sleepwalks and cannot wash away the imagined blood ("Out, damned spot!"). She dies (suicide implied). The English army approaches; soldiers are ordered to cut branches from Birnam Wood as camouflage — Birnam Wood "comes to Dunsinane." Macbeth learns of Lady Macbeth's death: "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow..." He fights with desperate courage, kills Young Siward. Macduff confronts him: he was "untimely ripped" (Caesarean section) from his mother's womb — not "born of woman" in the conventional sense. Macbeth is killed. Malcolm is proclaimed King of Scotland.
Key Themes
- Ambition — "Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself"
- The supernatural — the Witches' role: do they cause Macbeth's fall, or reveal what is already in him?
- Guilt and consequence — both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are psychologically destroyed by their crime
- Time — the play is obsessed with "equivocation" and the gap between what is said and what is true
- Masculinity and violence — Lady Macbeth's "unsex me here"; the equation of courage with killing
Notable Quotations
"Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?" *(Macbeth, II.i)*
"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!" *(Lady Macbeth, V.i)*
"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day." *(Macbeth, V.v)*
"Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." *(Witches, IV.i)*
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage." *(Macbeth, V.v)*
LibriVox Recording
Macbeth audiobook on LibriVox — Free public domain recording.
Cross-references
- Tragedies — genre context; one of the four "great tragedies"
- Hamlet — the consequences of murder and the troubled conscience
- King Lear — destruction of the natural order through a ruler's catastrophic choices
- Richard III — another ambitious usurper; Richard is more calculating, Macbeth more tormented