BY
William Shakespeare
ACT I Scene 2
• King Duncan of Scotland
asks Ross about the battle
with the Irish invaders?
– Led by rebel Macdonald
of Cawdor.
• Malcolm (Duncan’s son)
escape capture by the Irish.
• Generals Macbeth and
Banquo fought with great
courage and violence.
– Macbeth killed
Macdonald.
– Hero of the victorious
army
– Given Cawdor’s title.
• Ross leaves to deliver the
news to Macbeth.
ACT I Scene 3
• In disbelief, Macbeth and Banquo
discuss the strange encounter.
• Ross tells Macbeth that the king
has made him thane of Cawdor.
• Macbeth, amazed that the
witches’ prophecy has come
TRUE!
• Banquo replies that “devils often
tell half-truths in order to ‘win us
to our harm” (1.3.LN.121).
• Macbeth ignores his companions
and speaks to himself
– Reflects upon the possibility
he might be king.
– Will the reign simply fall to
him?
– Will he have to perform a
dark deed in order to gain the
crown.
ACT I Scene 4
• Duncan hears reports of
Cawdor’s execution from
Malcolm (Son).
• Duncan thanks the Macbeth and
Banquo for their heroism
• Duncan announces Malcolm the
heir to his throne.
• Macbeth declares his joy!
– Notes to himself that
Malcolm now stands
between him and the crown.
• Macbeth goes on ahead of the
royal party to inform his wife of
the king’s impending arrival.
ACT I Scene 6
• Duncan, the Scottish lords, and
their attendants arrive at
Macbeth’s castle (Glamis)
– Duncan praises the castle
– Thanks Lady Macbeth for
her hospitality.
• She replies
– It is her duty to be
hospitable since she and her
husband owe so much to
their king.
• Duncan asks to be taken to
Macbeth
– He professes to love dearly.
ACT II Scene 1
• Banquo and his son Fleance
are walking in a hall of
Macbeth’s castle.
– Banquo is tired, because
his sleep has lately inspired
“cursed thoughts” (II.i.8).
• Macbeth enters
• Banquo is surprised to see him
still up.
– Mentions that he had a
dream about the “three
weird sisters.”
• Macbeth claims that
– He has not thought of them
at all since their encounter
in the woods (II.i.19–20).
ACT II Scene 1: Macbeth Soliloquy
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 best-oppressed
brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall'st me the way that I was
going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the
other senses,
Or else worth all the rest: I see thee
still;
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of
blood,
Which was not so before.
Is this a dagger I see in front of me,
with its handle pointing toward my
hand? (to the dagger) Come, let me
hold you. (he grabs at the air in
front of him without touching
anything) I don't have you but I can
still see you. Fateful apparition, isn't
it possible to touch you as well as
see you? Or are you nothing more
than a dagger created by the mind, a
hallucination from my fevered
brain?
I can still see you, and you look as real
as this other dagger that I'm pulling
out now. (he draws a dagger)
You're leading me toward the place
I was going already, and I was
planning to use a weapon just like
you. My eyesight must either be the
one sense that's not working, or else
it's the only one that's working
right. I can still see you, and I see
blood splotches on your blade and
handle that weren't there before.
ACT II Scene 1: Macbeth Soliloquy
There's no such thing:
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one halfworld
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whoes howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy
pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his
design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set
earth.
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for
fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat he
lives:
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath
gives.
(to himself) There's no dagger here. It's
the murder I'm about to do that's
making me think I see one. Now
half the world is asleep and being
deceived by evil nightmares.
Witches are offering sacrifices to
their goddess Hecate. Old man
murder, having been roused by the
howls of his wolf, walks silently to
his destination, moving like Tarquin
, as quiet as a ghost.
(speaking to the ground) Hard ground,
don't listen to the direction of my
steps. I don't want you to echo back
where I am and break the terrible
stillness of this moment, a silence
that is so appropriate for what I'm
about to do. While I stay here
talking, Duncan lives. The more I
talk, the more my courage cools.
ACT II Scene 1: Macbeth Soliloquy
A bell rings
I go, and it is done. The bell
invites me. Hear it not,
Duncan, for it is a
knell That summons thee
to heaven or to hell.
A bell rings.
I'm going now. The murder is
as good as done. The bell
is telling me to do it. Don't
listen to the bell, Duncan,
because it summons you
either to heaven or to hell.
Macbeth Exits
•
•
•
•
•
ACT
II
Scene
4
Ross walks outside with an old
man.
Discuss the strange and ominous
happenings:
– It is daytime, but dark outside
– Last Tuesday, an owl killed a
falcon
– Duncan’s horses behaved
wildly and ate one another.
Macbeth has been made king
Macduff adds that the
chamberlains seem the most likely
murderers
– Paid off by someone to kill
Duncan.
Suspicion has now fallen on the
two princes
– Malcolm and Donalbain
– B/c they fled the scene.
ACT III Scene 1
•
•
•
•
•
•
Banquo thinks about the prophecies of
the weird sisters. If the first prophecy
came true (a stirring of ambition) why
not the second?
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth ask Banquo
to attend a feast they are hosting.
Banquo says that he plans to go for a ride
on his horse for the afternoon.
Macbeth begins a soliloquy.
– He muses on the subject of Banquo,
only man in Scotland he fears.
– Murder of Duncan, weighs heavily
on his conscience
2 murderers Macbeth has hired enter
– Asks if they are angry/manly enough
to take revenge on Banquo.
Macbeth accepts their promise that they
will murder his friend.
– Fleance must be killed along with his
father.
ACT III Scene 1: Macbeth Soliloquy
To be thus is nothing, But to be safely
thus. Our fears in Banquo Stick
deep, and in his royalty of
nature Reigns that which would be
feared. 'Tis much he dares, And to
that dauntless temper of his mind
He hath a wisdom that doth guide
his valor To act in safety. There is
none but he Whose being I do fear,
and under him My genius is
rebuked, as it is said Mark
Antony's was by Caesar. He chid
the sisters When first they put the
name of king upon me And bade
them speak to him. Then, prophet
like, They hailed him father to a
line of kings.
To be the king is nothing if I'm not
safe as the king. I'm very afraid
of Banquo. There's something
noble about him that makes me
fear him. He's willing to take
risks, and his mind never stops
working. He has the wisdom to
act bravely but also safely. I'm
not afraid of anyone but him.
Around him, my guardian angel
is frightened, just as Mark
Antony's angel supposedly
feared Octavius Caesar. Banquo
chided the witches when they
first called me king, asking them
to tell him his own future. Then,
like prophets, they named him
the father to a line of kings.
ACT III Scene 1: Macbeth Soliloquy
Upon my head they placed a fruitless
crown And put a barren scepter in
my grip, Thence to be wrenched
with an unlineal hand, No son of
mine succeeding. If 't be so, For
Banquo's issue have I filed my
mind; For them the gracious
Duncan have I murdered; Put
rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal
jewel Given to the common enemy
of man, To make them kings, the
seed of Banquo kings! Rather than
so, come fate into the list, And
champion me to th' utterance.
Who's there?
They gave me a crown and a
scepter that I can't pass on.
Someone outside my family
will take these things away
from me, since no son of mine
will take my place as king. If
this is true, then I've tortured
my conscience and murdered
the gracious Duncan for
Banquo's sons. I've ruined my
own peace for their benefit.
I've handed over my
everlasting soul to the devil
so that they could be kings.
Banquo's sons, kings! Instead
of watching that happen, I
will challenge fate to battle
and fight to the death. Who's
there!
ACT III Scene 3
• 2 murderers, joined by a
3rd, linger in a wooded
park outside the palace.
• Banquo and Fleance
approach on their horses
and dismount.
• The murderers kill Banquo
– Dies; urges his son to
flee and avenge his
death.
– Fleance escapes.
• Murderers leave with
Banquo’s body to find
Macbeth and tell him what
has happened.
ACT III Scene 5
• The witches meet with the
goddess of witchcraft (Hecate).
– Scolds them for meddling in
the business of Macbeth
without consulting her.
– Tells them when Macbeth
comes the next day, they
must summon visions and
spirits whose messages will
fill him with a false sense
of security and “draw him
on to his confusion”
(III.v.29).
• Hecate vanishes, and the
witches go prepare their charms.
• Lennox walks with another
lord, discussing the kingdom.
– Banquo’s murder has been
officially blamed on
Fleance
– B/c he has fled
• Both men suspect Macbeth, a
“tyrant,” in the murders of
Duncan and Banquo.
• Macduff has gone to England
– Joins Malcolm in pleading
with England’s King
Edward for aid.
– News prompts Macbeth to
prepare for war!
• Lennox and the lord hope
– Malcolm and Macduff
will save Scotland from
Macbeth.
ACT III Scene 6
ACT IV Scene 2
• Ross goes to visit Lady
Macduff
• Lady Macduff accosts Ross
– Demanding to know why
her husband has fled.
– Ross insists that she trust
her husband
• Lady Macduff tells her son that
his father is dead.
• A messenger hurries in,
warning Lady Macduff that
she is in danger.
– Lady Macduff protests
– Murderers enter.
– The murderer stabs boy.
• Lady Macduff turns and runs
– The pack of killers chases
after her…
ACT IV Scene 3
• Malcolm speaks with Macduff,
– He does not trust him
– May be secretly working for
Macbeth.
• Malcolm rambles on about his
own vices.
– Claims to be lustful, greedy,
and violent.
• Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland
Leads him to agree
– Malcolm is not fit to govern
– Perhaps not even to live.
• Macduff has passed Malcolm’s
test of loyalty.
– Malcolm then retracts the
lies and embraces Macduff
as an ally.
ACT V Scene 2
• Scottish lords discuss the
military situation:
– The English army
approaches
• Led by Malcolm
– The Scottish army will
meet them near Birnam
Wood
• To join forces.
• Macbeth the “Tyrant,”
– Fortified Dunsinane Castle
– Is making military
preparations in a mad rage.
ACT V Scene 3
• Macbeth boasting proudly
that he has nothing to fear
from the English army or
Malcolm
– “None of woman born” can
harm him (IV.i.96)
– Will rule securely “[t]ill
Birnam Wood remove to
Dunsinane” (V.iii.2).
• An army of ten thousand
Englishmen approach the
castle.
• The doctor tells the king that
Lady Macbeth is kept from
rest by “thick-coming fancies”
– Macbeth orders him to cure
her of her delusions
(V.iii.40).
ACT V Scene 4
• Malcolm talks with the
English lord Siward and
officers
– Macbeth’s plan to defend
the fortified castle.
• Solution:
– Each soldier should cut
down a branch of the
forest and carry it in
front of him as they
march to the castle,
disguising their
numbers.
THE END