Source: Shmoop Study Notes
Act by act summary
Background:
(1) It was written in 1605 or 1606, right after King James I, the first Stuart king, took
up the crown of England in 1603. James I was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots
(cousin to Elizabeth I) and this less-than-direct connection meant that James was
eager to assert any legitimacy he could over his right to the English throne.
Coincidentally, Macbeth is the only of Shakespeare's plays that takes place in
Scotland, and it includes a nice little moment where he ties James I's ancestry to the
rightful succession.
(2) Witchcraft was a hot topic at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th
century. James I was particularly excited about witches—excited about hunting them
down, that is—publishing his very own book about the subject, Daemonologie, in
1597. So the witches' prophecies are a key aspect of this play.
Coincidentally, Act I of Macbeth begins with the stage directions, "Enter three
witches." (Also known as the weird sisters.)
(3) In 1605, James was also the target of the Gunpowder Plot, where a group of
rebel Catholics tried to blow up the King and Parliament. (This is where we get Guy
Fawkes, that guy in V for Vendetta.)
Coincidentally, Macbeth shows the murder of a king and alludes in Act II, scene iii, to
the Catholic priest who encouraged Catholics to be deceptive and treasonous. These
allusions would have struck a sensitive chord with the play's audience—a lot like
referring to the attacks of September 11th.
In case you haven't picked up on it, we don't actually think these are coincidences.
Shakespeare was consciously writing a play that would be topical, touching on the
subjects that everyone—from the groundlings to the king himself—would be thinking
about.
Presumably, King James was happy enough with the play: Shakespeare's theater
company The King’s Men, which was under the patronage of the king himself,
survived the performance. But, even though the world is restored to normal at the
end of the play, we have to wonder: was Shakespeare's critique of power intended to
hit home? And did it?
What is Macbeth About and Why Should I Care?
Consider this, if you will: Would you convince your frenemy to eat weight-gaining
nutrition bars by telling her they'd help her lose weight?
Probably not. But would you cheat on a test? Pretend to be nice to the smart kid so
he'll let you copy his calculus homework? Deface a rival's student body campaign
flyer? Spread a rumor about a girl who stole your boyfriend?
We bet more than one of you is feeling a little uncomfortable now. Because as you
watch Macbeth stab his way to becoming the new King of Scotland, you might start
to wonder just how much separates the average person from the guy who betrays
his friends King Duncan and Banquo in the worst way possible.
We’d all like to think we’re more like the good characters—but, if destiny was on the
line, could we end up more like Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?
Macbeth asks a lot of heavy questions, and we had a hard time narrowing our list
down to just one. But out of all the motifs of destiny, fate, time, and nation-building,
we think this question just might resonate the most: how far would you go to have
power and achieve your deep desires?
Macbeth plot summary:
Macbeth Summary
1. We start with some creepy witches cackling about some guy named
"Macbeth," and then cut to post-battle, where we learn that this Macbeth has
been having success in the Norwegian and Scottish war (Macbeth is on the
Scottish side) —so much that King Duncan has decided to give him the title
Thane of Cawdor.
2. Now it's time to meet Macbeth. He's prancing home on a dark and stormy
night after defending King Duncan in battle with some skilled enemydisemboweling. Understandably, he's feeling pretty good about himself. Just
then, he and his good pal Banquo run into three bearded witches (the "weird
sisters"), who rhymingly prophesy that Macbeth will be named Thane of
Cawdor and King of Scotland. Just as Banquo is pouting about being left out,
the witches tell him that he'll be father to a long line of future kings of
Scotland.
3. The next thing we know, a guy named Ross shows up to say that, since the old
Thane of Cawdor turned out to be a traitor and is about to have his head
lopped off and displayed on a pike, Macbeth gets to take his place as Thane
of Cawdor. Sweet! That takes care of the first prophecy.
While Macbeth is waiting around for "chance" to come along and make him
king, he starts getting restless. His ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, prods him
into acting like a "man" and killing King Duncan when the poor guy comes to
Macbeth's castle for a friendly visit.
4. When Macduff
finds the king's dead body, Macbeth kills the guards and conveniently
accuses them of murdering the king. King Duncan's kids, Donalbain and
Malcolm, find out what's happened, they high tail it out of Scotland so they
can't be murdered too.
Macbeth is named king and things are gravy. Prophecies fulfilled! Except,
wait. Macbeth starts to worry about the witch's prophecy that Banquo's heirs
will be kings. Macbeth's not about to let someone bump him off the throne
so, he hires some hit-men to take care of Banquo and his son, the
unfortunately named Fleance. Banquo is murdered, but Fleance escapes.
5. Things go downhill for Macbeth, who's haunted and seeing ghosts. He pops in
on the Weird Sisters for another prophesy, which comes in three parts: (1)
watch out for Macduff; (2) No man born of woman is going to hurt him; and
(3) Don't worry until Birnam Wood (a forest) moves to Dunsinane.
Macbeth breathes a sigh of relief with #2 and #3, since those are obviously
impossible situations and mean that he's effectively safe. The one about Macduff
has him a little worried, though, so he kills off Macduff's family. Naturally.
6. By now, people are starting to get a little suspicious.
Macduff and Malcolm pay a visit to the awesome
English king, Edward the Confessor, and start plotting
with the English soldiers how to save Scotland from
Macbeth's tyranny. Oh, and Lady Macbeth? She's not
doing so hot. In fact, she basically dies of guilt.
But Macbeth is safe, right? Not so fast. Macduff and
Malcolm show up with their army and order troops to
cut the branches from the trees in Birnam Wood for
camouflage.
Remember what the weird sisters said about Birnam
Wood moving to Dunsinane? Then you know where this is headed. Macduff
corners Macbeth; calls him a "hell-hound"; tells him that he, Macduff, was
"untimely ripped" from his mother's womb, i.e. delivered via C-section rather
than being "born; and then cuts off his head. So much for the phony king of
Scotland.
Act 1, Scene 1
Original Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Translated
Text
Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches.
FIRST WITCH
Three witches (a.k.a.
the "weird sisters")
meet on a foggy heath
When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH
When the hurly-burly’s done,
(an open plain) in
Scotland, amidst
thunder and
lightening. It's all very
dramatic and
When the battle’s lost and won.
mysterious. They
THIRD WITCH
discuss when they'll
That will be ere the set of sun. 5
meet again, and
decide to hook up
when the fighting
that's going on has
ended, which
apparently will be
today, before sunset.
FIRST WITCH
Where the place?
Where? On the heath,
of course, where
they'll meet Macbeth.
SECOND WITCH Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH
There to meet with Macbeth.
FIRST WITCH I come, Graymalkin.
SECOND WITCH Paddock calls. 10
The witches then call
out to Graymalkin and
Paddock, their
THIRD WITCH Anon.
ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
They exit.
"familiars," or spirits
(usually animals like
cats that serve the
witches). Before they
go, they hit on one of
the play's major
themes: nothing is as
it seems. Then they
exit.
Act 1, Scene 3
Original Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Translated
Text
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
FIRST WITCH Where hast thou been, sister?
The three witches
meet again on the
heath and check in
SECOND WITCH Killing swine.
THIRD WITCH Sister, where thou?
FIRST WITCH
A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap
about what
everyone's been up
to. Oh, the usual
witchy stuff: one
was killing swine;
And munched and munched and munched. “Give 5
another has been
me,” quoth I.
making some poor
“Aroint thee, witch,” the rump-fed runnion cries.
Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’ th’ Tiger;
But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail, 10
I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.
sailor's life
miserable.
SECOND WITCH
I’ll give thee a wind.
Her sisters are going
to help her by
depriving him of
FIRST WITCH
Th’ art kind.
THIRD WITCH
And I another.
sleep and by
"drain[ing] him dry
as hay," which
means the sailor's
going to have some
FIRST WITCH
serious gastro-
I myself have all the other, 15
intestinal problems
And the very ports they blow;
All the quarters that they know
I’ th’ shipman’s card.
I’ll drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day 20
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary sev’nnights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost, 25
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Look what I have.
and/or that he's
going to be unable
to father children.
SECOND WITCH Show me, show me.
FIRST WITCH
Witch #1 also came
back with a pilot's
thumb, a convenient
Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
rhyme for "Macbeth
Wracked as homeward he did come. Drum within.
doth come,"
30
heralded by "a
THIRD WITCH
drum." Hearing
Macbeth's approach,
A drum, a drum!
the witches dance
Macbeth doth come.
around in a circle to
ALL, dancing in a circle
"wind up" a "charm."
The Weïrd Sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about, 35
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace, the charm’s wound up.
Enter Macbeth and Banquo.
MACBETH
Macbeth and
Banquo show up,
and Macbeth
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
mentions how this
day has been both
fair and foul. Hmm.
Where have we
heard that line
before?
BANQUO
How far is ’t called to Forres?—What are these, 40
Banquo notices the
witches (they're kind
of hard to miss) and
So withered, and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ Earth
And yet are on ’t?—Live you? Or are you aught
speaks to them,
using some variety
of "You're not from
here, are you?" The
That man may question? You seem to understand
witches put their
me 45
fingers to their lips,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
but that does not
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,
deter the perceptive
Banquo from
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
noticing their
That you are so.
beards. (Yes.
Beards. Remember,
in Shakespeare's
day, men played all
the roles, so they
wouldn't even have
needed any stage
make-up to pull this
off.)
MACBETH Speak if you can. What are you? 50
FIRST WITCH
Macbeth tells them
to speak, and they
hail Macbeth first as
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Thane of Glamis,
then Thane of
Cawdor, and finally
as future King.
THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?—I’ th’ name of truth,
55
Are you fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly you show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not. 60
If you can look into the seeds of time
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favors nor your hate.
FIRST WITCH Hail! 65
SECOND WITCH Hail!
The witches hail
Banquo and give him
three tidbits of
THIRD WITCH Hail!
FIRST WITCH
Lesser than Macbeth and greater.
SECOND WITCH
information: he'll be
both lesser and
greater than
Macbeth; he won't
be too happy, but
Not so happy, yet much happier.
he'll be happier than
THIRD WITCH
Macbeth; and he'll
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. 70
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
be a father to kings,
though he will not be
a king himself.
FIRST WITCH
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more.
Macbeth finally finds
his voice. He says
he's already the
By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis.
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives 75
A prosperous gentleman, and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
Thane of Glamis but
it's hard to imagine
becoming Thane of
Cawdor, especially
because the current
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
Thane of Cawdor is
You owe this strange intelligence or why
alive. He demands to
know where the
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way 80
With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you.
witches got their
information, but,
being witches, they
Witches vanish.
don't respond. They
just vanish into the
foggy, filthy air.
BANQUO
The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
Needless to say,
Banquo and
Macbeth are a little
And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?
MACBETH
Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted,
As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed! 85
BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?
weirded out by the
weird sisters sudden
disappearance.
Banquo suggests
that maybe they're
hallucinating.
MACBETH
Your children shall be kings.
Conversation quickly
moves on to the big
news about their
BANQUO You shall be king. 90
MACBETH
And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so?
BANQUO
To th’ selfsame tune and words.—Who’s here?
own fates, as
promised by the
witches.
Enter Ross and Angus.
ROSS
Ross and Angus, two
noblemen sent by
Duncan (the King),
The King hath happily received, Macbeth,
break up the party.
The news of thy success, and, when he reads
Ross passes on that
Thy personal venture in the rebels’ fight, 95
the King is pleased
His wonders and his praises do contend
with Macbeth's
battle successes of
Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,
the day, and
In viewing o’er the rest o’ th’ selfsame day
announces that the
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
King would like to
see him, and also
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 100
that Macbeth is the
Strange images of death. As thick as tale
new Thane of
Came post with post, and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defense,
And poured them down before him.
ANGUS We are sent 105
To give thee from our royal master thanks,
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
ROSS
And for an earnest of a greater honor,
Cawdor.
He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor,
110
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,
For it is thine.
BANQUO What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH
Wait—what? It's
true, Angus says.
Yes, the Thane is
The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes? 115
ANGUS Who was the Thane lives yet,
But under heavy judgment bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was
combined
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel 120
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
He labored in his country’s wrack, I know not;
But treasons capital, confessed and proved,
Have overthrown him.
still alive, but he's
being convicted of
treason, so his title
is up for grabs. And
it's Macbeth's.
MACBETH, aside Glamis and Thane of Cawdor! 125
The greatest is behind. To Ross and Angus. Thanks
Macbeth does some
private ruminating.
On the one hand, the
for your pains.
Aside to Banquo. Do you not hope your children
shall be kings,
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me
130
sisters' first
prophecy that
Macbeth will be
named Thane of
Cawdor can't be evil,
since it's true. On
Promised no less to them?
the other hand, the
BANQUO That, trusted home,
witch's prophecy
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
could be evil,
especially since it's
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But ’tis strange.
got Macbeth
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 135
thinking about
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
something evil. This
is where we get the
Win us with honest trifles, to betray ’s
first inkling that
In deepest consequence.—
Macbeth might be
Cousins, a word, I pray you. They step aside.
down for a little
regicide (fancy word
MACBETH, aside Two truths are told 140
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.
for killing a king). He
says he's just had a
really awful and
disgusting thought
Aside. This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
about "murder"
Why hath it given me earnest of success 145
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs
Against the use of nature? Present fears 150
Are less than horrible imaginings.
My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in surmise,
And nothing is but what is not. 155
that's made him feel
a little panicky.
BANQUO Look how our partner’s rapt.
While Macbeth is
deep in thought,
Banquo comments
to Ross and Angus
that Macbeth seems
"rapt," in a trancelike
state.
MACBETH, aside
If chance will have me king, why, chance may
Macbeth concludes
his dramatic
musings and says
crown me
that he's just going
Without my stir.
to leave things to
BANQUO New honors come upon him, 160
"chance." If "chance"
wants him to be
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mold
But with the aid of use.
MACBETH, aside Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
king, then he will be.
BANQUO
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. 165
Banquo gently
nudges Macbeth
with an, "Ahem,
MACBETH
Give me your favor. My dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are registered where every day I turn
we're waiting for
you, buddy."
Macbeth apologizes
for being so
distracted and says
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.
he's ready to go
Aside to Banquo. Think upon what hath chanced,
now. In an aside to
170
Banquo, he suggests
and at more time,
they talk about what
just went down later,
The interim having weighed it, let us speak
in private. Banquo
Our free hearts each to other.
agrees, and they all
BANQUO Very gladly.
head toward
Duncan's castle.
MACBETH Till then, enough.—Come, friends. 175
They exit.
Act 1, Scene 7
Original Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Translated
Text
Hautboys. Torches. Enter a Sewer and divers
Somewhere in the
Servants
castle Macbeth sits
with dishes and service over the stage. Then
enter
alone, contemplating
the murder of King
Duncan. And it gets a
Macbeth.
MACBETH
If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
little complicated. See,
if it were simply a
matter of killing the
king and then moving
It were done quickly. If th’ assassination
on without
Could trammel up the consequence and catch
consequences, it
With his surcease success, that but this blow
wouldn't be a big issue.
Might be the be-all and the end-all here, 5
The problem is what
happens afterward—
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
the whole, being
We’d jump the life to come. But in these cases
damned to hell thing.
We still have judgment here, that we but teach
It's even worse,
because murdering
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
Duncan in Macbeth's
To plague th’ inventor. This even-handed justice
own home would be a
10
serious violation of
Commends th’ ingredience of our poisoned
chalice
hospitality. He's
supposed to protect
the king, not murder
To our own lips. He’s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
him. Plus, Duncan is a
pretty good king (if not
a bit "meek") and
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
15
heaven is bound to
frown upon murdering
such a decent fellow.
In then end, Macbeth
Not bear the knife myself. Besides, this Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
decides that it's
probably not a good
idea to commit murder.
He has no justifiable
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
cause to kill the king
The deep damnation of his taking-off; 20
and he admits that he's
And pity, like a naked newborn babe
merely ambitious.
Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye,
That tears shall drown the wind. I have no spur 25
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself
And falls on th’ other—
Enter Lady Macbeth.
How now, what news?
LADY MACBETH
He has almost supped. Why have you left the 30
Lady Macbeth comes
in to find out why
Macbeth isn't
chamber?
MACBETH
Hath he asked for me?
LADY MACBETH Know you not he has?
downstairs making nice
with the King, and
Macbeth puts his foot
down. He tells her he's
made up his mind.
MACBETH
There will be no more
We will proceed no further in this business.
murdery talk about
He hath honored me of late, and I have bought 35
Duncan. The King has
just honored Macbeth,
Golden opinions from all sorts of people,
Macbeth is clearly a
Which would be worn now in their newest gloss,
rising star, and it would
Not cast aside so soon.
be silly to risk
everything with this
crazy plan.
LADY MACBETH Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept
since? 40
Lady Macbeth is livid.
Was he drunk when he
promised to follow
through with this plan
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
before? What's made
him so cowardly? She
gives him a good
tongue-lashing,
To be the same in thine own act and valor
questions his
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that 45
manhood, and says
Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life
that unlike him, she
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
knows how to keep her
word. If she had
Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,”
promised to kill her
Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?
own child, she'd do it
MACBETH Prithee, peace. 50
without a second
thought, even if she
I dare do all that may become a man.
was right in the middle
Who dares do more is none.
of breast-feeding.
LADY MACBETH What beast was ’t,
then,
That made you break this enterprise to me? 55
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both.
They have made themselves, and that their
fitness 60
now
Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know
How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
65
And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.
MACBETH If we should fail—
LADY MACBETH We fail?
Macbeth is worried
about what will happen
if they get caught, but
But screw your courage to the sticking place 70
And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep
(Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey
Soundly invite him), his two chamberlains
Lady Macbeth scoffs at
the idea. Them? Get
caught? Ha! She lays
out the plan to get
Duncan's guards drunk
Will I with wine and wassail so convince
and frame them for the
That memory, the warder of the brain, 75
murder. Easy-peasy.
Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason
A limbeck only. When in swinish sleep
Their drenchèd natures lies as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
Th’ unguarded Duncan? What not put upon 80
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell?
The first murderer
Act 3, Scene 4
MURDERER
Most royal sir, Fleance is ’scaped.
enters as everyone is
being seated. Macbeth
darts off to see the
first murderer, who
informs him that
they've slit Banquo's
throat, but that Fleance
has escaped.
MACBETH, aside
Then comes my fit again. I had else been perfect,
Ooh. Not good.
Macbeth is pretty sure
that this is really going
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air. 25
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
to tick Fleance off. He
sends the murderer
away, saying they'll
check in again
To saucy doubts and fears.—But Banquo’s safe?
MURDERER
Ay, my good lord. Safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenchèd gashes on his head,
The least a death to nature. 30
MACBETH Thanks for that.
There the grown serpent lies. The worm that’s
fled
Hath nature that in time will venom breed,
tomorrow.
No teeth for th’ present. Get thee gone.
Tomorrow
We’ll hear ourselves again. Murderer exits. 35
Enter the Ghost of Banquo, and sits in Macbeth’s
And now the fun
place.
begins: Banquo's ghost
MACBETH, to Lady Macbeth Sweet
remembrancer!—
shows up. Because the
ghost is silent, he gets
to creep around quite a
Now, good digestion wait on appetite
bit before anyone
And health on both!
notices. Eventually, he
LENNOX May ’t please your Highness sit. 45
sits down. In Macbeth's
chair! While everyone
MACBETH
is busy not noticing,
Here had we now our country’s honor roofed,
Macbeth raises a toast
Were the graced person of our Banquo present,
and calls special
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance.
attention to Banquo's
absence. He hopes
Banquo is just running
late or being rude and
that nothing horrible
has happened to him.
(What a thoughtful
guy.)
ROSS His absence, sir, 50
Lays blame upon his promise. Please ’t your
Multiple lords invite
Macbeth to take his
seat, but to Macbeth—
Highness
To grace us with your royal company?
MACBETH
The table’s full.
who is the only one
who can see the
ghost—the table
appears full. When he
realizes who's in his
LENNOX Here is a place reserved, sir. 55
chair, Macbeth freaks
MACBETH Where?
out. Naturally, all the
LENNOX
Here, my good lord. What is ’t that moves your
Highness?
MACBETH
Which of you have done this?
LORDS What, my good lord? 60
MACBETH, to the Ghost
Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake
Thy gory locks at me.
ROSS
Gentlemen, rise. His Highness is not well.
lords all take notice
and begin to worry that
Macbeth isn't well.
LADY MACBETH
Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus
Lady Macbeth, always
a quick thinker,
excuses her husband
And hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep
seat. 65
The fit is momentary; upon a thought
He will again be well. If much you note him
for these "momentary"
fits he has had since
childhood. She urges
them to keep eating,
and then corners
You shall offend him and extend his passion.
Macbeth, who is still
Feed and regard him not. Drawing Macbeth aside.
hysterical. She asks
Are you a man? 70
him if he's a man,
MACBETH
because he's acting
like a sissy. She tells
Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
him to get it together—
Which might appall the devil.
there's nothing but a
LADY MACBETH O, proper stuff!
This is the very painting of your fear.
This is the air-drawn dagger which you said 75
Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,
Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman’s story at a winter’s fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!
Why do you make such faces? When all’s done,
80
stool in front of him.
This "ghost" business
is all in his head.
You look but on a stool.
MACBETH
Prithee, see there. Behold, look! To the Ghost. Lo,
Meanwhile, Macbeth is
discoursing with the
ghost that only he
how say you?
sees, and then it
Why, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too.—
disappears. He swears
If charnel houses and our graves must send 85
to Lady Macbeth that
Those that we bury back, our monuments
the ghost was there,
and then laments that
Shall be the maws of kites. Ghost exits.
it used to be that when
LADY MACBETH What, quite unmanned in folly?
you dashed a man's
MACBETH
brains out he would
die. Now, apparently,
If I stand here, I saw him.
instead of dying people
LADY MACBETH Fie, for shame! 90
come back and steal
your seat at the table.
LADY MACBETH My worthy lord, 100
Your noble friends do lack you.
Everything is just
getting back to normal
when the ghost
MACBETH I do forget.—
Do not muse at me, my most worthy friends.
I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing
To those that know me. Come, love and health to
105
reappears. Again
Macbeth calls out a
toast to the missing
Banquo (he's just
asking for it now).
When he sees that the
all.
ghost has returned,
Then I’ll sit down.—Give me some wine. Fill full.
Macbeth screams at
Enter Ghost.
him for being so
spooky. He says if
I drink to th’ general joy o’ th’ whole table
Banquo were to appear
And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss.
in any physical form—
Would he were here! To all, and him we thirst, 110
even a Russian bear—
Macbeth would take
And all to all.
him on, no problem.
LORDS Our duties, and the pledge.
The ghost leaves again
They raise their drinking cups.
and Macbeth tells
everyone to stay put.
MACBETH, to the Ghost
Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee.
Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 115
Which thou dost glare with.
LADY MACBETH Think of this, good
peers,
But as a thing of custom. ’Tis no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time. 120
MACBETH, to the Ghost What man dare, I dare.
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again 125
And dare me to the desert with thy sword.
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow!
Unreal mock’ry, hence! Ghost exits.
Why so, being gone, 130
I am a man again.—Pray you sit still.
LADY MACBETH
You have displaced the mirth, broke the good
Lady Macbeth lets her
husband know that
he's killed the mood.
meeting
It's pretty clear the
With most admired disorder.
party's over. Macbeth
MACBETH Can such things be 135
tries to recover, and he
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
even questions
everyone else, asking
Without our special wonder? You make me
how they can be so
strange
calm in the face of
Even to the disposition that I owe
such horrible sights.
When now I think you can behold such sights
Um...what sights? they
want to know. Lady
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks 140
Macbeth tells the
When mine is blanched with fear.
concerned lords to
ROSS What sights, my
lord?
LADY MACBETH
I pray you, speak not. He grows worse and worse.
Question enrages him. At once, good night. 145
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.
LENNOX Good night, and better health
Attend his Majesty.
leave immediately.
Pronto. NOW.
LADY MACBETH A kind good night to all. 150
Lords and all but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth exit.
Act 4, Scene 1
Original Text
Translated
Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Thunder. Enter the three Witches.
FIRST WITCH
On a dark and stormy
night, the three
witches are hanging
Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
SECOND WITCH
Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.
THIRD WITCH
Harpier cries “’Tis time, ’tis time!”
FIRST WITCH
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw. 5
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ th’ charmèd pot.
The Witches circle the cauldron.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble; 10
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
out in a cave roasting
marshmallows and
chanting spells around
a boiling cauldron.
SECOND WITCH
Fillet of a fenny snake
The witches cast all
sorts nasty bits into the
cauldron, from lizard's
In the cauldron boil and bake.
leg to the finger of
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
stillborn baby. And of
Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 15
course they keep
Adder’s fork and blindworm’s sting,
coming back to the
snappy refrain,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
"Double, double toil
For a charm of powerful trouble,
and trouble," which
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
really makes it feel like
Halloween. Or a Mary-
ALL
Kate and Ashley Olsen
Double, double toil and trouble; 20
film.
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
THIRD WITCH
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged i’ th’ dark, 25
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat and slips of yew
Slivered in the moon’s eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe 30
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron
For th’ ingredience of our cauldron.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble; 35
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
SECOND WITCH
Cool it with a baboon’s blood.
Then the charm is firm and good.
Enter Hecate to the other three Witches.
HECATE
Hecate enters, pleased
with the witches' more
serious approach this
O, well done! I commend your pains,
And everyone shall share i’ th’ gains. 40
And now about the cauldron sing
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.
time around. After
Hecate exits, the
Second With
announces "something
wicked this way
comes."
Music and a song: “Black Spirits,” etc. Hecate
exits.
SECOND WITCH
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes. 45
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
Enter Macbeth.
MACBETH
Not surprisingly,
Macbeth promptly
follows. (So does a Ray
How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags?
Bradbury novel and
What is ’t you do?
cinematic adaptation,
ALL A deed without a name. 50
but not for another few
centuries.)
MACBETH
I conjure you by that which you profess
Macbeth gives the
witches some props for
being able to control
(Howe’er you come to know it), answer me.
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches, though the yeasty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up, 55
the weather and
conjure crazy winds
that batter churches,
cause huge ocean
waves to "swallow"
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown
ships, destroy crops,
down,
topple castles, and so
Though castles topple on their warders’ heads,
on. Then he says he
has some more
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
questions about his
Their heads to their foundations, though the 60
future for them and he
treasure
Of nature’s germens tumble all together
Even till destruction sicken, answer me
To what I ask you.
wants answers, pronto.
FIRST WITCH Speak. 65
SECOND WITCH Demand.
The witches are happy
to help. They throw
some more tasty
THIRD WITCH We’ll answer.
FIRST WITCH
Say if th’ hadst rather hear it from our mouths
Or from our masters’.
ingredients to the
cauldron—pig's blood,
the sweat of
murderers—and call on
spirits to come forward
MACBETH Call ’em. Let me see ’em. 70
and answer Macbeth's
FIRST WITCH
questions.
Pour in sow’s blood that hath eaten
Her nine farrow; grease that’s sweaten
From the murderers’ gibbet throw
Into the flame.
ALL Come high or low; 75
Thyself and office deftly show.
Thunder. First Apparition, an Armed Head.
MACBETH
When the witches have
finished their brew,
apparitions begin to
Tell me, thou unknown power—
FIRST WITCH He knows thy
thought.
Hear his speech but say thou naught. 80
FIRST APPARITION
Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff!
Beware the Thane of Fife! Dismiss me. Enough.
He descends.
MACBETH
Whate’er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks.
Thou hast harped my fear aright. But one word
more— 85
FIRST WITCH
He will not be commanded. Here’s another
More potent than the first.
appear and talk to
Macbeth. First, an
armed head warns him
to beware of Macduff.
Thunder. Second Apparition, a Bloody Child.
SECOND APPARITION Macbeth! Macbeth!
Macbeth!—
The second apparition
is a bloody child who
says that Macbeth
won't be harmed by
MACBETH Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.
anyone who was "of
SECOND APPARITION
woman born." Um,
Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn 90
well...that's pretty
much everyone, right?
The power of man, for none of woman born
Including Macduff. So
Shall harm Macbeth. He descends.
really Macbeth figures
MACBETH
he has nothing to fear.
Then live, Macduff; what need I fear of thee?
He welcomes this good
but figures he might as
But yet I’ll make assurance double sure
well have Macduff
And take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live, 95
killed anyway—you
That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies,
And sleep in spite of thunder.
Thunder. Third Apparition, a Child Crowned, with
a tree
in his hand.
What is this
That rises like the issue of a king
And wears upon his baby brow the round 100
And top of sovereignty?
know, just to be sure.
ALL Listen but speak not to ’t.
THIRD APPARITION
Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care
The third apparition is
a child wearing a
crown and holding a
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are.
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until 105
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.
tree in his hand. The
child promises that
Macbeth won't be
conquered until Birnam
He descends.
Wood marches to
Dunsinane.
MACBETH That will never be.
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Macbeth's feeling
pretty good about his
situation. Sounds like
Unfix his earthbound root? Sweet bodements,
good! 110
Rebellious dead, rise never till the Wood
Of Birnam rise, and our high-placed Macbeth
Shall live the lease of nature, pay his breath
he's safe unless
someone who wasn't
born from a woman
can get to him at some
point after the trees of
the woods up and
To time and mortal custom. Yet my heart
march to his castle.
Throbs to know one thing. Tell me, if your art 115
Not likely. And yet, he's
Can tell so much: shall Banquo’s issue ever
still not satisfied. To be
absolutely sure, he
Reign in this kingdom?
asks if Banquo's
ALL Seek to know no more.
children will ever rule
MACBETH
the kingdom. The
witches warn him not
I will be satisfied. Deny me this,
to ask more questions,
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know!
but he demands to be
120
answered anyway.
Cauldron sinks. Hautboys.
Why sinks that cauldron? And what noise is this?
FIRST WITCH Show.
SECOND WITCH Show.
All right, say the
witches, but you're not
going to like what you
THIRD WITCH Show.
see. And Macbeth
ALL
doesn't. He is not
Show his eyes and grieve his heart. 125
pleased when he's
Come like shadows; so depart.
shown a line of eight
kings, the last of which
A show of eight kings, the eighth king with a glass
holds a mirror that
in
reflects on many more
his hand, and Banquo last.
such kings. One of the
MACBETH
kings in the mirror
happens to be holding
Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo. Down!
two orbs.
Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs. And thy hair,
Brain Snack: King
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
James I of England
A third is like the former.—Filthy hags, 130
(a.k.a., King James VI
of Scotland) traced his
Why do you show me this?—A fourth? Start, eyes!
lineage back to Banquo
What, will the line stretch out to th’ crack of
and, at his coronation
doom?
ceremony in England
Another yet? A seventh? I’ll see no more.
(1603) James held two
orbs (one representing
And yet the eighth appears who bears a glass
Which shows me many more, and some I see 135
That twofold balls and treble scepters carry.
England and one
representing Scotland).
Furthermore, the play
Macbeth was
Horrible sight! Now I see ’tis true,
For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me
performed for James,
so this bit was kind of a
tribute to him.
And points at them for his.
The Apparitions disappear.
What, is this so? 140
FIRST WITCH
Ay, sir, all this is so. But why
The witches tease
Macbeth for looking so
dumbstruck. He asked
Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites
And show the best of our delights.
I’ll charm the air to give a sound 145
While you perform your antic round,
That this great king may kindly say
Our duties did his welcome pay.
Music. The Witches dance and vanish.
for it. They do another
song and dance so
they can't be accused
of not entertaining him
appropriately, and then
they vanish.
MACBETH
Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour
Enter Lennox to find a
perplexed Macbeth.
Lennox tells Macbeth
Stand aye accursèd in the calendar!— 150
the news that Macduff
Come in, without there.
has definitely run away
Enter Lennox.
to England, presumably
LENNOX What’s your Grace’s will?
MACBETH
Saw you the Weïrd Sisters?
LENNOX No, my lord.
MACBETH
Came they not by you? 155
LENNOX No, indeed, my lord.
MACBETH
Infected be the air whereon they ride,
And damned all those that trust them! I did hear
The galloping of horse. Who was ’t came by?
LENNOX
’Tis two or three, my lord, that bring you word 160
Macduff is fled to England.
MACBETH Fled to England?
to get some help for a
rebellion.
LENNOX Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH, aside
Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits.
Get your highlighter
out because this next
bit is important:
The flighty purpose never is o’ertook 165
Unless the deed go with it. From this moment
The very firstlings of my heart shall be
The firstlings of my hand. And even now,
Macbeth says that
from now on, he's
going to act
immediately on
whatever thought
To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought
enters his mind—no
and
more thinking and
done: 170
contemplating about
The castle of Macduff I will surprise,
the pros and cons of
being bad. He's just
Seize upon Fife, give to th’ edge o’ th’ sword
going to do whatever
His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls
the heck he feels like
That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool;
doing. Starting
with...wiping out
This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool. 175
Macduff's entire family,
But no more sights!—Where are these gentlemen?
especially his kids,
Come bring me where they are.
since Macbeth doesn't
ever want to see any
They exit.
little Macduffs running
around.
Reflection Questions
Questions About Fate and Free Will
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is Macbeth's initial response to the weird sisters' prophesy? Does his attitude
change at some point? If so, when does the change occur?
Macbeth is repeatedly described as giving the witches his "rapt" attention. Why is
that? What does this suggest about Macbeth's choices?
Do all of the witches' prophesies come true?
What role does Lady Macbeth play in her husband's actions? Is she always involved
in Macbeth's decision making?
Questions About Ambition
1.
2.
3.
4.
What compels Macbeth to murder Duncan? What drives him to continue committing
heinous acts after the initial murder?
What does Lady Macbeth say about her husband's ambition? What does this reveal
about her desires?
If Macbeth believed he was fated to have the crown, can he be credited (or blamed)
with ambition in trying to gain it?
What fuels Malcolm's interest in defending Scotland? Do his actions up to the final
battle indicate that he's prepared to be King? Is he ambitious? What is the difference
between him and Macbeth, if they’re after the same throne?
Questions About Gender
1.
2.
3.
4.
How does Lady Macbeth convince her husband to kill Duncan? Could (according to
the logic of this play) a man have used a similar strategy on a woman, or a man on a
man? Or does this kind of convincing only work one way?
What is meant when Lady Macbeth says Macbeth is too "full o'th'milk of human
kindness"? Why "milk"? Is this description gendered?
How does the play define "manhood"? What is it that makes one a "man" in Macbeth?
How are women characters portrayed in Macbeth? What kinds of roles do they play?
Is "womanhood" or "femininity" defined in the way that masculinity is?
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is a teensy bit worried that her man isn't quite man enough to do what it takes
to be king; he's "too full o' the milk of human kindness" (1.5.15). If her husband's going to be
the powerful figure she wants him to be, Lady Macbeth's got to take things into her own
hands. Check out this famous speech where she psyches herself up for murder (but make
sure the lights are on first):
The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!' (1.5.45-61)
Are you thoroughly creeped out? If not, read it again—and really dwell on the part where she
asks the spirits to "fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty" [1.5.49-50].
And note that Shakespeare's leading ladies don't usually go around saying stuff like this.
Remind us who the witch(es) are, again?
Woman Up
In fact, Lady Macbeth's whole "unsex me" speech aligns her with witchcraft and the
supernatural (calling on spirits and talking about "smoke of hell" and "murdering ministers"
[1.5.58;55] sure sounds witchy to us). She also intends to "pour [her own] spirits in
[Macbeth's] ear" when he returns home from battle (1.5.29). Literally, she means she's going
to fill her husband's "ear" with harsh words that will help convince him to take action against
Duncan, but there's also a sense that Lady Macbeth will "fill" her husband's body in the same
way that women's bodies are "filled" or, impregnated by men.
All of this is to say that Lady Macbeth is portrayed as masculine and unnatural. It's pretty
explicit: she asks the spirits to "unsex" her (1.5.48), stripping her of everything that makes
her a reproductive woman. She wants her "passage to remorse" to be stopped up—i.e., her
vagina. (What? Well, being a woman and a mother makes her compassionate, so she wants
the "passage" [1.5.51] of childbirth to be blocked.) She wants her blood to be make thick,
meaning both the blood in her veins but also her menstrual blood, the "visitings of nature"
(1.5.52). Finally? She asks that her breast milk be exchanged for "gall," or poison.
In Lady Macbeth's mind, being a woman —especially a woman with the capacity to give birth
and nurture children —interferes with her evil plans. Femininity means compassion and
kindness, while masculinity is synonymous with "direst cruelty" (1.5.50). When Lady Macbeth
says that her husband is "too full o' the milk of human kindness," she's implying that
Macbeth is too much like a woman in order to wield a monarch's power (1.5.17). And she
uses this notion of Macbeth's "kindness" against her waffling husband when she pushes him
to murder the king: "When you durst do it, then you were a man" (1.7.56).
It sounds to us like Lady Macbeth is man enough for both of them.
Lady Who?
Okay, sounds like Lady Macbeth is a powerful figure and may evoke some fears about
dominant women. You know, just maybe. But what happens to her?
Soon after Macbeth proves his "manhood" by killing Duncan and becoming king, Lady
Macbeth disappears into the margins of the story and becomes the kind of weak, enfeebled
figure she herself would probably despise.
When she learns that the king's dead body has been discovered, she grows faint and must
be carried from the room. (Hmm. It's almost as though Lady Macbeth has literally been
drained of that "spirit" she said she was going to pour into her husband's "ear.")
Later, when Macbeth decides to murder Banquo in order to secure his position of power, he
excludes his wife from the decision making altogether (3.2).
And by Act V, Lady Macbeth has been reduced to a figure who sleepwalks, continuously tries
to wash the imaginary blood from her hands, and talks in her sleep of murder (5.1). She's
grown so ill that the doctor says there's nothing he can do to help her. "The disease," he
says, "is beyond" his "practice," and what Lady Macbeth needs is "the divine" (a priest or,
God), not a "physician" (5.1.62,78).
One could easily read this as a kind of psychological breakdown. Lady Macbeth is so
consumed by guilt for her evil acts that she eventually loses her mind. But we could also say
that her transformation from a powerful and "unnaturally" masculine figure into an enfeebled
woman reestablishes a sense of "natural" gender order in the play. In other words, Lady
Macbeth is put in her place, sleepwalking through the palace while her man makes all the
decisions.
Do you agree with this reading of Act 5, Scene 1?
However we read Lady Macbeth's transformation, one thing's certain. In the end, Lady
Macbeth is all but forgotten. When Macbeth learns of her death, he says he has no "time" to
think about her —"She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a
word" (5.5.20-21).