Macbeth Summary and Quotes for Act 1, Scenes 1-7
1.1 Summary: Three witches plan to meet Macbeth on the heath
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air”
(Three Witches: 12-13)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1.2 Summary: King Duncan hears of Macbeth’s bravery in defeating the invading Norwegians, and of
the treachery of the Thane of Cawdor. The King sends a messenger to tell Macbeth he has been given
Cawdor’s title
“For brave Macbeth . . .
* *
*
. . . carved out his passage
* *
*
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops”
(Captain: 18-24)
“No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest. Go, pronounce his present
Death,
And with his former title greet Macbeth”
(King Duncan: 73-76)
1.3.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Summary: The three witches tell Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, that he is also Thane of
Cawdor and will be “king hereafter,” by which Macbeth is startled and perhaps frightened.
Banquo is told he will not be king but will father future kings. Ross tells Macbeth he has been
given the title Thane of Cawdor, after which Macbeth thinks about the murder of the king.
“Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?”
(Banquo, to Macbeth, after the witches
make their predictions, 54-55)
“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.”
(Macbeth, to himself, 152-155)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------1.4
Summary: King Duncan welcomes Macbeth and Banquo and then (perhaps shaken by the
discovery of the traitorous Thane of Cawdor) announces his eldest son, Malcolm, is heir to
Duncan’s throne (if anything were to happen to the king). Macbeth notes that he must step over
Malcolm (now the Prince of Cumberland) in order to become king. Finally, Duncan announces
that they all will go to Macbeth’s castle (an honor for the Macbeths).
“. . . There’s no art
To find the mind’s construction in the face.
He was a gentleman [the traitorous Thane of Cawdor] on whom I built an absolute trust.”
(King Duncan, 13-16)
“The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down or else o’erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.”
(Macbeth, 55-58)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -1.5 Summary: Lady Macbeth learns of the predictions by the Three Witches. She is concerned about
Macbeth’s ability to kill the king, so she calls on the dark powers of the world to imbue her with
ruthlessness and to rid her of guilt or remorse.
“. . . . Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way.”
(Lady Macbeth, 16-18)
“. . . . 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.”
(Lady Macbeth, 47-50)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1.6 Summary: The King is greeted by Lady Macbeth at the Macbeths’ castle. He observes the natural
setting and the castle are very pleasant and impressive.
“This castle hath a pleasant seat. The air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.”
(King Duncan, 1-3)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1.7 Summary: Macbeth weighs the pros and cons of killing King Duncan. After Macbeth decides not to go
ahead with the murder, Lady Macbeth calls him an unmanly coward. Macbeth finally relents when Lady
Macbeth forms the plan: drug the guards, murder Duncan in his chamber, place the guilt upon the guards,
and pretend to be distraught upon the discovery of the murder.
“
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love.”
(Lady Macbeth, 39-43)
“But screw your courage to the sticking place
And we’ll not fail. . . .
*
*
*
. . . . When in swinish sleep
Their (the King’s guards) drenched natures lies as in a death,
What cannot you and I perform upon
Th’ unguarded Duncan? What not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt . . .”
(Lady Macbeth, 70-81)
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2.1 Summary: Macbeth imagines a dagger before his eyes, which leads him to “take a step” closer to
killing the king.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”
(Macbeth, 44-51)
2.2 Summary: Macbeth returns to Lady Macbeth covered with blood. (Yes, that’s right, in the text of the
play, we don’t see the murder.) They hear noises that disturb them throughout the scene. They go back to
their bedroom chamber to change clothes and appear to have been sleeping. As they do, knocks come from
the gate of the castle.
“Methought I heard a voice cry `Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep’—the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”
(Macbeth, 47-52)
SUMMARY AND QUOTES FOR ACT 2, SCENES 3 AND 4
ACT 3, SCENES 1-6
ACT 4, SCENE 1
-and-and-
2.3 Summary: King Duncan’s body is discovered by Macduff. Macbeth admits to killing the two
chamberlains/guards, claiming he did it out of love for the king. (See speech #3) Fearing whoever killed
their father might be after them, Malcolm and Donalbain agree to flee to England and Ireland respectively.
2.4 Summary: An old man and Ross, a nobleman who had served King Duncan, discuss strange, unnatural
events regarding falcons and horses. Malcolm and Donalbain are now accused of having bribed the
servants to kill King Duncan. Macbeth has been chosen as the next king. Macduff decides to return to his
castle in Fife rather than attend the crowning of Macbeth in Scone. He seems suspicious.
The quote below, in describing the killing of a falcon by an owl, beautifully symbolizes the
“unnatural” killing of the king. The old man’s description ties the unnatural occurrences in nature to the
unnatural killing of a king. (New Note: The Great Chain of Being, the hierarchical structure understood in
Shakespeare’s and Macbeth’s day to describe the strict hierarchy of the entire universe, has been upended
by the murder of a king. Shakespeare reflects that unnatural killing of the king in the unnatural behavior in
the natural world of the birds—falcons are not normally killed by an owl; rather owls normally kill mice.)
“. . .
‘Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that’s done. On Tuesday last
A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.”
(Old Man, 13-16)
3.1 Summary: Banquo suspects Macbeth killed Duncan. Macbeth, fearing that Banquo’s children will be
future kings of Scotland, hires two murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, Banquo’s son. (See speech #4
by Macbeth in which he describes his fear of Banquo.) It is noteworthy that Macbeth, to convince the
Murderers to kill Banquo, uses the same strategies as Lady Macbeth had used to convince Macbeth to kill
the King—questioning their manhood and their love of the king.
“Thou hast it now—King, Cawdor, Glamis, all
As the Weird Women promised, and I fear
Thou played’st most foully for ‘t.”
(Banquo, 1-3)
3.2 Summary: Lady Macbeth’s mind seems unsettled, and she is concerned about Macbeth, who she says
has been moody and solitary (alone). She tries to calm his mind. But Macbeth reconciles himself to doing
whatever is necessary to gain his peace of mind. Then, in response to Lady Macbeth’s question as to what
is to be done (regarding Banquo), he says she shouldn’t worry until she “applaud the deed”—a reversal of
roles from the early scene in which Lady Macbeth says she will take care of the killing of Duncan.
“How now, my lord, why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companions making,
Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Things without all remedy
Should be without regard. What’s done is done.”
(Lady Macbeth, 10-14)
“We have scorched the snake, not killed it.
She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly.”
(Macbeth, 15-22)
-OVER-
3.3 Summary: The two murderers, and a third, kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes.
“O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!
Thou mayst revenge—O slave! [he dies]”
(Banquo, 25-26)
3.4 Summary: During the evening’s banquet, a Murderer reports to Macbeth of the killing of Banquo and
the escape of Fleance, the latter of which upsets Macbeth—he feels as if the world is closing in on him.
Returning to the banquet, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost twice, and Lady Macbeth must ask everyone to
leave. Macbeth’s mind has further deteriorated, and he seems in a downward spiral from which he cannot
free himself. Finally, Macbeth notes concern about Macduff’s absence from the feast. (Macduff also did
not attend the crowning of Macbeth.) The scene ends with Macbeth’s intent to see the witches again. Why
go there now?
“Murderer: Most royal sir, Fleance is ‘scaped.”
“Macbeth [aside]: Then comes my fit again. I had else been perfect,
Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,
As broad and general as the casing air.
But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears.”
(Lines 22-27)
“It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.”
(Macbeth, 151)
“. . . . I am in blood
Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o’er.”
(Macbeth 168-170)
3.5. Skipped.
3.6. The Lords discuss the recent killings, revealing through their sarcasm their suspicion of Macbeth. We
learn that Malcolm has gone to ask the aid of England in overthrowing Macbeth, and that Macduff,
after rejecting a message from Macbeth to come to court, has gone to England to raise an army.
Macbeth too prepares for war.
4.1 Summary: One of the strangest scenes in all of literature. The witches brew a drink flavored with the
oddest ingredients—toe of frog, tongue of dog, owlet’s wing—all cooled with “baboon’s blood.” Then
Macbeth—after drinking the potion—is told three prophecies by the apparitions (or ghosts):
1) “Beware Macduff ,” a Scottish noble
2) “None of woman born [born from a woman] shall harm Macbeth”
3) “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to High Dunsinane Hill shall come upon
him.” (Macbeth will never be defeated until the Forest comes to Macbeth’s castle on Dunsinane Hill.)
Macbeth, though somewhat assured by the predictions, decides to kill Macduff’s family-- his wife,
his children--and anyone else associated with Macduff. Macbeth expresses his desire to act on his thoughts
and feelings immediately, which might suggest his deteriorating ability to think things through: He asserts:
“The very firstlings of my heart shall be / The firstlings of my hand” and he intends to “crown [his]
thoughts with acts” (Lines 167-169).