The Tragedy of Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
written around 1606
Act 1
• Shakespeare's dark, grim
tragedy begins with three
witches deciding to meet
again after the battle
between Scotland and
Norway is fought.
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”
• Theme of deception
– what seems to be good
can actually be evil.
– Difficult to distinguish
between good and evil.
Setting
• War
• Thunder, storms
• Desolate heath
– paint a gloomy picture, setting the tone of this play
– Creates an atmosphere of unnatural beings and
events
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen..” Macbeth
comments on his success in battle yet the condition of
Scotland is grim after just surviving a war with
Norway.
Character of Macbeth
• Macbeth is the brave soldier
– led King Duncan's forces to victory against the
traitorous Thane of Cawdor who conspired with the
King of Norway.
– Macbeth’s leadership and bravery won the war for
Scotland.
“For brave Macbeth -- well he deserves that name”
“O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman”
• King Duncan, overjoyed, decides to make
Macbeth his new Thane of Cawdor.
• The previous Thane of Cawdor will be executed.
Conflict Develops
• The witches meet Macbeth and Banquo as
planned
– They greet Macbeth with his present title: "Thane of
Glamis!", then they greet him as "Thane of Cawdor!"
and finally as “King hereafter".
• While Macbeth and Banquo joke about the
witches prophecy. Banquo warns him not to trust
the witches:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths.
… to betray us/In deepest consequence.
Macbeth’s Developing character
•
Macbeth initially agrees with Banquo but when Ross and Angus tell him he
has been made the new Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth thinks to himself
"Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: / The greatest is behind."
“Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme…”
•
Evidence that Macbeth is influenced by the witches’ prophecies
•
Macbeth has thoughts of murdering King Duncan
“…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?”
Macbeth’s character
• Macbeth thinks about killing King Duncan to
make the prophecy come true, but he later
hopes fate alone will spare him the need to kill.
• Macbeth tells himself to leave his becoming king
to chance:
“If chance will have me king, why chance may crown
me without my stir”
Macbeth – appears loyal and good
• Macbeth and Banquo are summoned to King
Duncan’s castle where Macbeth thanks Duncan
for his new title.
• King Duncan remarks how he completely trusted
the previous Thane of Cawdor.
“There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the
face.”
Macbeth’s character
a good man develops Evil thoughts
• King Duncan announces that his son, Malcolm
will be the new Prince of Cumberland.
• Macbeth sees Malcolm as a threat to what he
now takes seriously as his destiny to be king
– a major turning point in Macbeth's changing morality.
• Macbeth makes this clear when he says to
himself:
“Stars hide your fires / Let not light see my black and
deep desires”
• Macbeth wishes for darkness to hide his
intention to kill King Duncan.
LaDy Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth learns by letter from Macbeth of the
Witches' prophecies for her husband.
• She eagerly embraces the prophecies as fact.
• Fearing Macbeth is too compassionate and kind to kill
King Duncan,
“Yet, I do fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness /
To catch the nearest way”
• She calls upon evil spirits to remove from her all signs of
compassion and femininity and to make her cold,
remorseless and ruthless.
“Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…”
Lady Macbeth – Influences Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth learns from a messenger that King
Duncan will stay at their castle
• Lady Macbeth enthusiastically greets this news which
suggests that she already has plans to kill King Duncan:
“He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.
• She regards Duncan’s arrival as a battle:
• “under my battlements”
Theme of Deception
• Macbeth arrives and his wife convinces him to murder
Duncan but pretend to be the welcoming host:
“…look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't.”
• Then King Duncan arrives and while outside his castle
gates, he says that Macbeth’s castle is a nice place to
live:
“This castle hath a pleasant seat…”
• Meanwhile, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are inside the
castle plotting to kill him.
• Lady Macbeth plays the perfect of hostess and
welcomes Duncan
Macbeth’s character -- his inner conflict
•
Everyone is celebrating the victory over Norway
•
A guilt-ridden Macbeth wrestles with his conscience, certain that he should
not kill King Duncan
•
He reminds himself of all the reasons why it would be wrong.
–
–
–
–
Duncan is his cousin
Duncan is a good king
He is Duncan’s host and should protect him
His own “vaulting ambition”
•
Macbeth decides against murdering his King
•
But Lady Macbeth belittles him for not being able to murder
•
Macbeth admires his wife’s determination and is back in the plan
•
Lady Macbeth plans to drug the guards, use their daggers to kill Duncan in
his sleep, and smear the guards with Duncan’s blood
Theme of deception
• As Macbeth returns to the
celebration, he tells Lady
Macbeth that he will
appear to be the loyal
host:
“False face must hide what
the false heart doth know.”
• By the end of this Act we
see that Macbeth is easily
influenced
– the witches’ prophecies
– by Lady Macbeth
– His own “vaulting ambition”
Act 2
• Duncan is gone to bed and Banquo and his son Fleance are on their
way to bed as well.
• They comment that the night sky is without stars thus creating a
darker atmosphere.
• Banquo is troubled by the witches' prophecy and tells Macbeth.
• Macbeth pretends not to take the witches seriously.
• But he agrees to speak more about them later.
Macbeth struggles with his
decision to kill duncan
• Macbeth, alone, follows an imaginary
dagger to King Duncan's bedchamber
where he will kill him in his sleep
“There's no such thing: / It is the bloody
business which informs Thus to mine eyes.
• Macbeth believes his uneasiness over
killing Duncan has created the imaginary
dagger
• He summons the courage to do his bloody
work.
• When he hears Lady Macbeth’s signal – a
bell – he knows the guards are drugged,
allowing him to kill King Duncan
unchallenged.
Atmosphere of Evil
• Lady Macbeth is tense and
nervous as she waits for
Macbeth.
• We learn that she was to have
killed the King but his
resemblance to her late father
means Macbeth does the deed
instead.
• Macbeth returns
– with bloody hands
– in a nervous state
– and announces that he did kill
King Duncan.
Macbeth’s character
• Macbeth’s guilt is evident after he kills Duncan
– he recounts how the two guards cry out "'Murder!'" and later "God bless
us!” but he could not say “Amen” – it stuck in his throat
– He has the bloody daggers with him but will not go back to Duncan’s
chamber
“I'll go no more: / I am afraid to think what I have done”
– He thinks he heard a voice say “Sleep no more / Macbeth does murder
sleep,“
– He is horrified by the blood on his hands
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?
laDy Macbeth’s character
• She appears bold but yet shows her vulnerability
– She couldn’t kill Duncan but she goes back to plant the bloody
daggers on the guards to make them appear guilty
– When she returns with bloody hands, she says to Macbeth:
“My hands are of your colour; but I shame / To wear a heart so
white.”
– She tells her husband a little water will wash away their guilt and
the two retire to their bedroom when knocking at the castle door
is heard
“A little water clears us of this deed”
Macbeth shows his control
• Macduff and Lennox, the source of the knocking in the
last scene, arrive at Macbeth's castle
• News of King Duncan's death reaches all at Macbeth's
castle
• Lady Macbeth faints
• Macbeth in a rage kills the two drunken guards after
claiming that they obviously killed their King
• These actions largely free Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
from suspicion
Duncan’s sons Flee scotlanD
• King Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain are
introduced
• Both men wisely decide to flee Macbeth's castle as a
precaution against their own murder
• Malcolm will head for England, Donalbain for Ireland
• Theme of Deception:
– they don’t know who to trust yet they make themselves look
suspicious because they leave
“There's daggers in men's smiles: the near in blood,”
Theme of Evil and Unnatural order
• Ross speaks with an Old Man.
• They discuss unnatural acts that have occurred since the night of
Duncan’s murder:
– It was stormy the night of Duncan’s murder
– Days are dark like the night
– Duncan’s horses have gone mad and eaten each other
• Unnatural events relate to the idea that Scotland is disturbed and
out of order with the killing of their king
• Macduff enters and they discuss the murder:
– The guards have been declared guilty
– But suspicion is cast on the Malcolm and Donaldbain, the King’s
sons
– Macbeth is named king and has gone to Scone to be crowned.
– Ross leaves for Scone to see the coronation while Macduff
heads home to Fife.
MacDuff – the antagonist
• Later, Macduff becomes instrumental in Macbeth's
downfall
• He significantly snubs Macbeth's coronation at Scone to
go to his castle in Fife instead.
• A tone of increasing despair for Scotland begins in this
scene
• We learn that Ross, Lennox and MacDuff are not entirely
supportive of Macbeth but they guard their thoughts
Act 3
• Banquo is fearful that the Witches' prophecies are
coming true
• He asks himself if Macbeth played “most foully for it” so
that the killing of Duncan would make prophecy, fact
• Banquo and Macbeth meet and Macbeth inquires about
Banquo’s ( and his son’s ) riding plans for the afternoon
• Macbeth tells Banquo he’ll see him at the banquet later
that night
Changes occur between
Macbeth anD his “partner oF greatness”
• Lady Macbeth reveals:
•
– She and Macbeth are not content
– Macbeth keeps alone and does not sleep
– He said this the night he killed Duncan
“Sleep no more / Macbeth does murder sleep,“
She tries to convince Macbeth that’s “what's done is done”.
• Macbeth reveals his paranoia about Banquo and Fleance
“O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!”
• He doesn’t tell her about his plan to have Banquo murdered
“Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, / Till thou applaud the
deed”.
– Shows Macbeth taking control without his wife’s influence
– He is capable of killing his best friend to protect himself
Macbeth’s Developing character – he
becomes Paranoid
• Macbeth feels insecure:
– Banquo knows about the witches’ prophecies
– He didn’t kill Duncan just so Banquo's sons will be kings
– “To be thus is nothing; / But to be safely thus
• Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo
– He convinces the murderers that Banquo is an enemy who is
responsible for their sorry lot in life
banquo’s ghost
• The murderers kill Banquo but Fleance escapes
• When they tell Macbeth, he is outraged.
• At the banquet, Macbeth is shocked by the appearance
of Banquo’s bloody ghost
– “Never shake / Thy gory locks at me”
• Lady Macbeth claims her husband is ill and asks the
guests to leave.
• Alone with Lady Macbeth, Macbeth expresses his deep
anxieties and vows to return to the Witches.
– He tells her that “blood will have blood” meaning one murder
covers another
• The Witches' prophecy of Banquo's sons becoming
kings has not been thwarted by Macbeth
The Witches Prepare for Macbeth
• Hecate, Queen of the Witches
– clearly in a position of command over the Witches
– scolds her subordinates for helping an unappreciative Macbeth.
• Hecate instructs the Witches to make preparations for
her plan to use illusion against Macbeth.
• The Witches, eager to please their master, eagerly make
preparations, doing as they are told
Scotland is suffering
• Lennox and a Lord discuss affairs in their kingdom
– an army is being formed in England to fight Macbeth
– Lennox comments sarcastically on the recent deaths of Duncan and
Banquo
– He suggests that it seems unlikely for Malcolm and Donalbain to kill
their father
– Macbeth's slaying of the bodyguards seemed very convenient, since
they probably would have denied killing Duncan
– since Macduff did not attend Macbeth's feast, he has been denounced
– The lord tells Lennox that Macduff has joined Malcolm at the English
court
– Macduff and Malcolm have asked Siward to lead his English army
against Macbeth
– Lennox and the lord send their prayers to Macduff and Malcolm.
Act 4
• A major turning point in the play.
• Just as the Witches prophesied Macbeth's ascendancy
to become King in Act I, Scene III, here they prophesize
his downfall with Three Apparitions (visions / ghosts).
– The first Apparition tells an eager Macbeth that he should fear
Macduff, saying “Beware Macduff; / Beware the Thane of Fife.“
– The Second Apparition reassures Macbeth that "none of women
born / Shall harm Macbeth"
– The Third Apparition tells Macbeth he has nothing to fear until
"Great Birnam wood" moves to "high Dunsinane hill" near his
castle.
Macbeth – A good Man Gone Wrong
• Macbeth decides to kill Macduff to protect himself from
him
• He takes the Apparition's words to mean
– he is safe from all men since they are all born naturally
“Then live, Macduff: what need I fear of thee?”
– that only the moving of a nearby forest to his castle, an unlikely
event will spell his doom
“That will never be / Who can ... bid the tree / Unfix his earth-bound
root?
Macbeth asks about banquo
• Next Macbeth demands to know about Banquo's
descendants
• He learns that they will still rule Scotland rather than
Macbeth's descendants
• Macbeth decides to kill MacDuff’s entire family when he
learns that Macduff has gone to England
Lady MacDuff
• Ross goes to Macduff’s castle
• Lady Macduff expressing her anger at being abandoned
by Macduff
• In her eyes, Macduff has done nothing requiring him to
flee
• Ross leaves and Lady Macduff tells her son that his
father is dead and was a traitor
• a Messenger warns Lady Macduff to flee but Macbeth's
murderers succeed in killing Lady Macduff's son
• The scene ends with Lady Macduff fleeing for her life
Macduff goes to England
• Macduff tells Malcolm about Scotland’s horrible condition under
Macbeth's rule
• Macduff pleads with Malcolm to save Scotland
“Bleed, bleed, poor country!”
• Malcolm tests Macduff's integrity by describing himself as unfit to
rule. He is unsure whether or not he can trust Macduff.
“black Macbeth / Will seem as pure as snow”
• Malcolm eventually says that he was lying to test Macduff’s loyalty.
• Ross arrives and tells Macduff that Macbeth had his family killed.
• Malcolm urges Macduff to turn his sorrow into rage to destroy
Macbeth.
• We learn that a large army is gathering to defeat Macbeth.
Act 5
• Macbeth is preoccupied with
his own survival, Lady
Macbeth's insanity becomes
clear
• Her Doctor and a
Gentlewoman observe and
discuss her sleepwalking and
talking to herself
Macbeth’s character – over-confident as
he prepares for battle
• Macbeth's enemies gather near his castle at Dunsinane
as Macbeth strongly fortifies his castle
• Macbeth's hold on Scotland is less than absolute...his
subjects are deserting him
Caithness ( a Scottish noble ) says:
“Some say he's mad; others that lesser hate him”
• Macbeth prepares to fight his enemies still believing that
he will only be defeated when the nearby Birnam Wood
moves on his castle
• Macbeth learns of the ten thousand strong army against
him
• Macbeth prepares to fight still feeling secure and
counting on the Birnam Wood prophecy
Malcolm and the English Forces
•
With his troops loyally around him, Malcolm orders each man to cut down a
branch from the nearby Birnam Wood
– His army uses the branches as camouflage as they head towards Macbeth's
castle at Dunsinane
•
Macbeth laughs off his enemies' numbers
– certain of the Birnam Wood prophecy and equally certain that his fortifications
should laugh off any attack
•
A woman’s cry is heard
– we learn that Lady Macbeth is dead.
•
Macbeth coldly shrugs off the news that his once "dearest chuck," is dead
with complete apathy.
– He claims she should have died at another time when he’d have time to grieve.
•
Macbeth learns that Birnam Wood or rather Malcolm's forces are moving on
his castle
– Realizing what this means, Macbeth nonetheless defiantly sets off to meet his
destiny
laDy Macbeth’s guilt
• Her guilt is evident:
– she says things she shouldn’t
– seems to be reliving the events of the night of Duncan’s murder
– she speaks about other crimes such as the murder Banquo and Lady
Macduff
– she can’t wipe away the blood she imagines on her hands
“Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.”
“The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?”
"What, will these hands ne'er be clean. . . All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand"
•
She imagines she hears knocking at the gate and returns to her chamber
•
The doctor concludes that Lady Mcbeth needs a priest and not a physician
•
He leaves and advises the gentlewoman not to reveal what they have seen
or heard
Macbeth decline begins
• Malcolm and his forces arrive at Macbeth’s
castle
– tells his soldiers to throw down the branches they
carry.
– he announces that Siward and Young Siward will lead
the first battle.
– he and Macduff will follow behind.
• Macbeth feels like a bear that has been tied to a
stake for dogs to attack
– Young Siward and Macbeth fight
– Macbeth kills him and comments that he must have
been “born of woman"
Macbeth is determined to fight
• Macbeth is now confronted by Macduff
• Macbeth boasts that he
– “bears a charmed life” and is unable to be killed by a man,
naturally born
• Macduff tells him that he was
– “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb meaning he was born
by caesarian section
• Macbeth realizes he has been tricked by the witches:
– “And be these juggling fiends no more believed”
• Macduff commands Macbeth to yield and become the
laughing stock of Scotland under Malcolm's rule.
• This enrages Macbeth, who swears he
– “will not yield, / To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet”
• They fight on and exit
The End
• Malcolm, Siward, and the other thanes enter
• Malcolm notes that Macduff and Young Siward are
missing
• Ross reports that Young Siward is dead
• Macduff enters, carrying Macbeth's severed head and
shouting "Hail, King of Scotland!"
• The men echo this shout and the trumpets flourish as
Malcolm accepts the kingship
• Malcolm announces that he will attempt to heal Scotland
• He will call back all the men whom Macbeth has exiled
• All exit towards Scone, where Malcolm will be crowned
as King of Scotland
Macduff Kills Macbeth