MACBETH
By William Shakespeare
Compiled by Christa Grobbelaar 1
Act 1 Scene 1
While a battle is raging, the three witches appear.
They agree to meet again on the heath after the
battle.
They will then also meet with Macbeth.
There is no doubt that they have evil intentions
and they chant together:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
This introduces the audience to the theme that in
this play, many things are not what they seem.
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Act 1, Scene 2
A wounded captain brings King Duncan the news
that Macbeth has fought bravely, killed the
treacherous Macdonald and defeated the king of
Norway and his ally the Thane of Cawdor. Duncan
compliments Macbeth:
O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman.
Duncan pronounces the death sentence upon
Cawdor and sends Ross and Angus to inform
Macbeth that in addition to his current title,
Thane of Glamis, he will receive the title Thane of
Cawdor.
What he hath lost, noble Macbeth has won.
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Act 1, Scene 3
The witches are waiting for Macbeth and
Banquo. They greet Macbeth as Thane of
Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and king hereafter.
The witches call Banquo -
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Not so happy, yet much happier.
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
Banquo compares the witches to bubbles.
It is clear that Banquo does not attach as
much value to the witches’ predictions as
Macbeth does.
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Ross and Angus arrive with Duncan’s message
that Macbeth is now Thane of Cawdor; at first
Macbeth asks
Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?
because he knows the current Thane of Cawdor
is still alive. When he is informed of the death
sentence, Macbeth is tempted to trust the
witches, despite Banquo’s warning:
What, can the devil speak true? And:
…oftentimes, to do us harm,/The instruments of
darkness tell us truths;/ Win us with honest
trifles, to betray’s …
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Act 1, Scene 4
Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm will
inherit the throne of Scotland. He praises
Macbeth for his bravery and loyalty. Speaking in
an ‘aside’ (where the audience can hear him, but
the other characters on stage cannot) Macbeth
calls Malcolm (Prince of Cumberland) a step/On
which I must fall down, or else o’erleap.
Macbeth speaks about his black and deep desires
for the first time, admitting that he is harbouring
disloyal, ambitious thoughts against his cousin
and king, Duncan. He is, however, trying to resist.
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King Duncan and his attendants are going to
visit Macbeth at his castle (a great honour).
Macbeth hurries ahead of them to prepare.
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Act 1, Scene 5
Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her
husband in which he tells her about the
witches’ predictions AND that the first one
(Thane of Cawdor) has already been fulfilled.
She knows that Macbeth’s inner goodness will
prevent him from actively pursuing the other,
bigger promise (King of Scotland) made by the
witches. But she has no conscience …
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When she hears of Duncan’s visit, she invokes
spirits to remove all kindness from her: Come,
you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex
me here/And fill me from the crown to the toe
topfull/Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood…
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When Macbeth arrives shortly before Duncan,
she demands that they murder Duncan that
night:
He that’s coming/Must be provided for, and you
shall put/This night’s great business into my
dispatch …
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She refuses to listen to Macbeth when he tries
to stop her:
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.
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Act 1, Scene 6
King Duncan and his followers arrive at
Macbeth’s castle. The king and Banquo remark
how beautiful and peaceful the place is.
This castle hath a pleasant seat …
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The IRONY here is that Duncan and Banquo
see the castle as a place of peace while inside
Macbeth is preparing for murder.
Duncan speaks highly of Macbeth to Lady
Macbeth:
Give me your hand; conduct me to mine host.
We love him highly …
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Act 1, Scene 7
The feast for Duncan and his nobles is taking
place. Macbeth is nervous.
He leaves the table and goes outside to think. His
thoughts frighten him and he feels guilty for
betraying Duncan’s trust:
He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door …
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His wife finds him here and persuades him to carry
out the murder. She makes it clear that if he does
not work with her, she will consider his love to be as
weak as his ambition!
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?
….
From this time
Such I account thy love.
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ACT TWO
Act 2, Scene 1
This scene takes place in a courtyard inside
Macbeth’s castle. Most of the guests are in bed
but Banquo cannot sleep. He is talking to his son,
Fleance, remarking on how dark the night is:
There’s husbandry in heaven : their candles are all
out…
Banquo says that he is worried:
A heavy summons lies like lead upon me
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They are surprised to find Macbeth still awake.
Banquo and Macbeth talk again about the witches
and their prophecies – Banquo says he had a dream
about them, but Macbeth lies and says
I think not of them.
Banquo and Fleance leave, and Macbeth sends a
servant to tell Lady Macbeth to ring the bell when
his drink is ready. This is the sign they agreed upon:
when he hears the bell, Macbeth will know that it is
time for the murder!
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As soon as he is alone, Macbeth sees a vision:
a dagger with drops of blood on the blade.
It is the first of many upsetting visions for Macbeth.
Macbeth hears the bell:
I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
Macbeth goes to Duncan’s chamber.
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Act 2, Scene 2
Lady Macbeth enters; she has drugged Duncan’s
guards and is waiting for Macbeth to do his part.
He enters with blood on his hands.
His mistake was to bring the
daggers with him instead of
leaving them with the guards
so that suspicion will fall on
them.
Lady Macbeth takes the
daggers back.
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She makes no secret of it that she thinks
Macbeth is a coward for not wanting to return to
his crime scene:
My hands are of your colour; but I shame
To wear a heart so white!
There is knocking at the castle gate and Lady
Macbeth urges Macbeth to go and wash his
hands so that everything can appear normal.
Guilt is already starting to eat away at Macbeth
as he expresses the wish that the knocking could
wake Duncan up!
Wake Duncan with thy knocking!
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I hear knocking at the
south entry. Retire we to
our chamber. A little
water clears us of this
deed; How easy is it
then!
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Act 2, Scene 3
After the very dramatic murder scene,
Shakespeare provides relief with the drunken
porter being awakened by Macduff. Macduff has
come to wake the king, but he soon comes back.
The light-hearted scene changes back to high
drama as Macduff announces the murder – he
can scarcely bring himself to say the words:
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O horror! Horror! Horror!
Tongue nor heart cannot conceive nor name
thee!
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The alarm bell is rung and everyone is called.
Lady Macbeth pretends to know nothing:
What’s the business … Speak, speak!
Macbeth expressed the wish to have died in
Duncan’s place:
Had I but died an hour before this chance …
We know that he is deadly serious – he has lost
the will to live!
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It seems that the plan has worked, as Lennox
says that it seems the guards are the killers.
Macbeth has killed the guards immediately.
Lady Macbeth pretends to faint with shock.
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In an aside, Malcolm and Donalbain make it clear
that they suspect Macbeth and they decide to
leave Scotland for their own safety.
Where we are there’s daggers in men’s smiles.
Donalbain goes to Ireland and Malcolm to
England.
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Act 2, Scene 4
Ross and an old man are discussing the events of
the previous night. Macduff enters and tells them
that Malcolm and Donalbain have fled – the two
princes are now being blamed for the murder!
Macduff is not convinced that they killed their
father.
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Macbeth is chosen as the new king and has
gone to Scone to be crowned. Macduff refuses
to attend the coronation!
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ACT THREE
Act 3, Scene 1
Macbeth has been crowned King of Scotland.
Banquo expresses his suspicion that Macbeth
acted dishonourably for his position as King:
I fear/ Thou play’dst most foully for’t.
Macbeth invites Banquo to a banquet that night.
Macbeth arranges Banquo’s murder with two
murderers and stresses that Fleance must be
killed too.
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Act 3, Scene 2
When Macbeth and his wife talk, it is clear that,
despite Duncan’s death, he does not feel secure in
his position as King of Scotland.
It is significant that he does not tell his wife about
the plan to kill Banquo and Fleance.
Lady Macbeth urges him to act as if nothing is
wrong during the banquet he is planning for that
night:
Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.
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O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
It is clear that Macbeth is finding it difficult to sleep.
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Act 3, Scene 3
It seems that Macbeth no longer trusts his own
hitmen and sends a third to join them.
The three murderers kill Banquo.
Fleance escapes, and Banquo urges him to take
revenge.
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Act 3, Scene 4
Macbeth’s banquet is attended by many Lords
and their attendants.
One of the Murderers enters to report to
Macbeth that Banquo has been killed but
Fleance got away.
Macbeth is not too upset and calls Fleance
the worm that’s fled, saying that he has
no teeth for the present.
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Lennox invites Macbeth to sit down, and then
Banquo’s ghost (covered in blood) enters and
sits down in Macbeth’s place!
When Macbeth notices the ghost (which
cannot be seen by anyone else) he speaks to it:
Never shake thy gory locks at me!
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Lady Macbeth is quite irritated at Macbeth’s
‘crazy’ behaviour and scolds him for letting his
imagination run away with him – she believes he
is addressing an empty chair:
This is the very painting of your fear…
Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,
You look but on a stool.
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Macbeth tries to point the ghost out to her, but
she cannot see it. The ghost leaves for a while but
returns.
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When Macbeth proposes a toast to Banquo, pretending
to miss him, he notices that the ghost is back.
Macbeth is highly upset and remarks on the horrifying
appearance of the ghost:
Let the earth hide thee!
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with.
He tries to drive the ghost away:
Hence, horrible shadow!
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Lady Macbeth explains that Macbeth is overcome
by this strange illness from time to time, and tells
the guests to leave.
Macbeth realises that he has started a cycle of
killing that will be difficult to stop:
Blood will have blood…
Lady Macbeth remarks that Macduff is not at the
banquet and Macbeth’s distrust of everyone
around him becomes clear as he says he has a spy
in every house!
Lady Macbeth is worried as her husband lacks
the season of all natures, sleep.
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Act 3, Scene 5
The witches meet Hecate who scolds them for not
including her in their dealings with Macbeth.
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Act 3, Scene 6
Lennox and another Scottish Lord are discussing
affairs. It is clear that they mistrust Macbeth.
They mention that Malcolm is in England,
gathering forces against Macbeth, and that
Macduff has joined him there.
Macbeth’s reign of terror has Scotland in its grip.
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ACT FOUR
Act 4, Scene 1
Macbeth returns to the witches, who show
him three visions:
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1.A helmeted head, who warns Macbeth against
Macduff.
Macbeth! Macbeth!
Macbeth! Beware
Macduff. Beware the
Thane of Fife. Dismiss
me. Enough.
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2. A blood-covered child who assures Macbeth
that no man born from woman can harm him.
Be bloody, bold and
resolute. Laugh to scorn
the power of man, for
none of woman born shall
harm Macbeth.
This vision
seems to ‘cancel
out’ the first
one!
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3. A crowned child, carrying a tree.
Macbeth shall never vanquished
be until Great Birnam Wood to
high Dunsinane Hill Shall come
against him.
We have to agree
with Macbeth when
he says:
That will never be!
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Even when the witches tell Macbeth to
Seek to know no more
He insists to know if Banquo’s issue (descendents)
will ever rule Scotland.
He is then shown the fourth and last vision:
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Eight kings. The last one is carrying a mirror.
Banquo’s ghost is following them.
Macbeth
interprets this as a
line of Banquo’s
offspring that will
stretch out to the
crack of Doom!
The fact that they
are kings means
that Banquo’s
issue will indeed
be kings.
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When the witches disappear, Macbeth meets
Lennox who tells him that Macduff has fled to
England.
In an aside, Macbeth decides to kill Macduff’s
entire family:
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
That trace him in his line.
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Act 4, Scene 2
Ross discusses Macduff’s whereabouts with Lady
Macduff. It seems that he left without saying
goodbye.
A messenger comes to warn Lady Macduff that
she and her children are in danger but it is too
late to flee.
Macduff’s family is massacred.
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Act 4, Scene 3
Malcolm and Macduff discuss the terrible tyranny
in Scotland: everybody lives in fear of Macbeth.
Without knowing what has happened to his
family, Macduff says:
Each new morn / New widows howl, new
orphans cry …
Malcolm agrees:
I think our country sinks beneath the yoke;
It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds.
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Ross brings the horrific news to Macduff.
My children too?
My wife killed too?
All my pretty ones? Did you say
all? O hell-kite! All? |What? All
my pretty chickens and their dam
at one fell swoop?
Macduff swears that he will
kill Macbeth.
Malcolm goes to the English
king as he feels
Macbeth is ripe for shaking.
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ACT FIVE
The 9 short scenes of the final act all take place in or near
Macbeth’s castle, Dunsinane.
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Act 5, Scene 1
Unlike Macbeth, Lady Macbeth has kept her guilt hidden.
But she gives herself away at night:
She walks and talks in her sleep
and she refuses to sleep in the dark.
She vividly re-lives the murder of
Duncan at Inverness, and even
imagines that she
can hear the clock striking.
One. Two. Why then it’s time to do it.
… who would have thought the old
man to have had so much blood in
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She admits to knowledge of the murder of Macduff’s
family and seems to think that her hands are literally
covered in blood!
The Thane of Fife had a wife, where is she now?
What, will these hands ne’er be clean?
She also confirms that her husband killed Banquo!
Banquo’s buried, he cannot come out on’s grave.
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This scene is made even more dramatic because the
audience know that a doctor and a gentlewoman
(probably a lady-in-waiting to the queen) are witnessing
Lady Macbeth’s madness and confessions.
The doctor is afraid that Lady Macbeth may be insane
enough to commit suicide.
Look after her;
Remove from her the
means of all annoyance,
And still keep eyes
upon her.
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FLASHBACK TO ACT 2, SCENE 2:
A little water clears us of
this deed; How easy is it
then!
But, as we have
seen, and as Lady
Macbeth is now
starting to realise,
things are not as
they seem!
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ACT 5, Scene 2
Some soldiers are discussing the nearing battle:
The English power is near, led on by Malcolm, old
Siward and Macduff…
They call Macbeth “the tyrant” and say that
Some say he’s mad …
They decide to join the forces opposing Macbeth
at Birnam: Well, march we on,
To give obedience where ‘tis truly owed.
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NOT
QUITE!
Macbeth shall never
vanquished be until Great
Birnam Wood to high
Dunsinane Hill Shall come
against him.
Remember the 3rd apparition?
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Act 5, Scene 3
Macbeth speaks to his attendant, Seyton after being
informed of the approach of ten thousand soldiers.
Shakespeare often uses the ambiguity (or possible
mispronunciation) of characters’ names to heighten the dramatic
effect. Producers sometimes play along by instructing actors to
“mispronounce”…
‘Seyton’ sounds very similar to ‘Satan’, doesn’t it?
(The correct pronunciation is “See-ton”)
Macbeth calls for his armour, but then decides against
wearing it:
I will not be afraid of death and bane
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.
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Act 5, Scene 4
Malcolm orders the soldiers to cut branches off the
trees in Birnam wood to conceal their numbers.
Let every soldier hew him down a bough …
Thereby shall we shadow the numbers of our host …
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Act 5, Scene 5
Inside Dunsinane castle, Macbeth and Seyton hear
women crying. Seyton investigates and brings the news:
The Queen, my lord, is dead.
It is not clear what caused her death but it can be
assumed that it was not a peaceful death.
Macbeth does not seem overly sad about it, but reflects
about how short and meaningless life is:
Out, out brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow …
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
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Now a messenger enters with strange news:
As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I looked toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.
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Macbeth is convinced that he is doomed.
He now realises that the witches tricked him!
He admits that the witches are the messengers
of the devil as he calls their double-talk
the equivocation of the fiend…
He warns everybody to
arm themselves and
seems to know his end
is near:
At least we’ll die with
harness (armour) on
our back.
(He is using the royal
plural here.)
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Act 5, Scenes 6 and 7
Both scenes are set outside Dunsinane castle and serve to
heighten suspense and atmosphere, leading up to what will
be the final confrontation between good and evil.
Malcolm now orders the soldiers to throw down the
branches.
Macbeth realises he is cornered:
They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly.
His last hope is the apparition he saw:
What’s he that was not born of woman? Such a one I am to
fear, or none.
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FLASHBACK!!
Be bloody, bold and
resolute. Laugh to scorn
the power of man, for
none of woman born shall
harm Macbeth.
This one still
seems watertight
… but then … are
things always as
they seem?
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Young Siward enters (he is the son of Siward, the leader
of the English army) and when he realises that he is
facing Macbeth, he makes no secret of his feelings:
The Devil himself could not pronounce a title more
hateful to mine ear. They fight and Macbeth
kills him. This encourages
Macbeth that all is not
lost:
Thou wast born of
woman…
Macbeth leaves the stage
full of bravado and
seemingly trusting the
witches
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Now Macduff enters. He is looking for Macbeth, the
object of his revenge. Killing Macbeth is all he wants:
Tyrant, show thy face!
My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still.
Let me find him, Fortune, and more I beg not.
Malcolm and old Siward enter go into the castle to look
for Macbeth there.
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Act 5, Scene 8
Macduff and Macbeth meet on the battlefield.
Macduff, as expected, is in no mood for
conversation:
I have no words. My voice is in my sword …
Macbeth remains quite arrogant, relying once
again on the witches’ promise:
I lead a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born!
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This is where Shakespeare draws his trump card
to create a stunning climax!
Macbeth is dazed when Macduff reveals the very
unusual and (for the middle-ages) unnatural way
in which he was born:
Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely
ripped.
This shows that the witches’ premonitions were
never intended to protect Macbeth, but only to
deceive him, and indeed to foretell his death!
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Macbeth and Macduff leave the stage fighting.
Surprisingly for such a violent play, Macduff
does not kill his enemy on stage. He does,
however, have a very frightening promise for
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We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole, and underwrite,
‘HERE YOU MAY SEE THE TYRANT!’
The audience is in no doubt
that Macbeth will be killed by
Macduff …
but exactly how it happens is
left to their imagination.
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Act 5, Scene 9
Malcolm and Siward discuss the battle and Ross brings
the news of young Siward’s death. (The audience is
actually more anxious about Macduff, who seems to be
missing!)
The three soldiers pay tribute to young Siward
… (suspense is building … where is Macduff?)
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Macduff makes a very dramatic entry, carrying
Macbeth’s head!
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Hail, King! For so thou art. Behold, where stands
The usurper’s cursed head…
Hail, King of Scotland!
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• Malcolm is hailed as the rightful King of Scotland.
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BUT …
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WAIT …
THERE’S
MORE!
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REVISION
IS ALWAYS
A GOOD
THING,
isn’t it?
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Who said Shakespeare was boring and ancient?
Unfortunately, this version is useless for exam purposes!
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THE END
(really!)
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