Plot jumble
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Rearrange the following plot pieces from Macbeth into the correct order.
Worried about his future, Macbeth goes back to the witches to find out what his fate
will be. They tell him that Macduff is a threat to him but also that no man born of a
woman can harm him and that he will ‘never vanquish’d be until Great Birnam
Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him’.
Excited about the prediction, Macbeth tells his wife. They both know Duncan is already king but
Lady Macbeth reckons Macbeth should kill Duncan so he can be king. She tells him to kill
Duncan when he is asleep: ‘Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it’.
Macbeth holds a banquet now that he is a powerful king with no enemies. At the banquet he
sees Banquo’s ghost. He orders the ghost to leave, ‘Avant and quit my sight’.
Macbeth is now king but is feeling very guilty. Macbeth decides the way to alleviate his guilt is
to get rid of anyone who might be a threat to him. That person is Banquo. Macbeth instructs
three murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Banquo cries, ‘O treachery!’ Fleance
manages to escape.
Macduff challenges Macbeth to a sword fight. Macbeth, still a great
soldier and fearing no man, accepts the challenge, ‘Lay on Macduff!’
Macduff wins. Macbeth is killed. Order is restored to Scotland.
Duncan’s son, Malcolm, is crowned king, ‘Hail, King of Scotland!’
Macbeth, a soldier, is returning from war with his friend Banquo when they are greeted by three
witches. The witches predict an excellent future for Macbeth, saying ‘All hail Macbeth, that shalt
be king hereafter’.
As the witches predicted, Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. Malcolm has ordered his soldiers
to disguise themselves with branches, making it look like Birnam Wood is moving closer to
Macbeth’s castle in Dunsinane.
Lady Macbeth is now feeling pretty guilty too. She has started to sleepwalk in the castle and
she rubs her hands together constantly as though she is washing them. She keeps saying,
‘Out, out damned spot’.
Macbeth orders the murder of Macduff’s family. In England, Macduff joins forces with Duncan’s
son Malcolm to fight Macbeth.
Macbeth decides to take his wife’s advice and has hallucinations
about the murder weapon: ‘Is this a dagger I see before me?’
Macbeth kills the sleeping Duncan. When it is known that Duncan is
dead, people around the castle cry, ‘Horror, horror, horror’.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
‘Something wicked this way comes’ by Monica Hilse, Tennant Creek High School, NT