Macbeth

william shakespeare macbeth

fair is foul and foul is fair, chant the three witches at the beginning of macbeth.

it's a warning aimed primarily at the audience.

it tells us to beware that in this play what is good might seem bad and what is bad might seem good.

there'll be plenty of reversals, betrayals and deceitful acts to come.

in this chapter to shakespeare's macbeth, you'll hear a dramatised account of the play, living, or reliving, its major scenes and characters.

you'll observe macbeth go from honourable war hero to bloody tyrant.

you'll meet the other scottish nobles, notably the virtuous macduff and malcolm, and accompany them as they team up to defeat macbeth.

and last but certainly not least, you'll hear from the infamous lady macbeth, whose hateful utterances will run chills down your spine.

let's begin.

act 1 thunder booms and lightning crackles as three bearded women enter the stage.

they're witches, and they must decide when next to meet.

perhaps when the nearby battle is finished.

yes, that'll do.

at sunset they'll meet upon the heath and speak to macbeth.

fair is foul and foul is fair, they chant as they exit.

elsewhere, king duncan of scotland receives a battlefield report.

his generals, banquo and macbeth, have defeated the opposing norwegians, led by the traitorous general macdonald.

due to his betrayal, king duncan strips macdonald of his title, thane of cawdor, and awards it to macbeth.

in the next scene, thunder strikes again, ushering in the three witches.

they hear a drumbeat.

here comes macbeth.

macbeth, accompanied by banquo, approaches, each witch hails macbeth differently, as the thane of glamis, the thane of cawdor, and finally as king.

as for banquo, they hail him as lesser than macbeth and greater, and say that his children shall be kings.

macbeth is thane of glamis, this he already knows, but thane of cawdor?

and king?

why would the witches address him as such?

before any of his questions can be answered, the witches vanish.

while macbeth and banquo stand, puzzled, two other scottish nobles enter.

they tell macbeth that duncan has just pronounced him thane of cawdor.

macbeth is shocked.

one of the witches' pronouncements has already come true.

can he truly be destined to be king, too?

afterward, macbeth and banquo greet king duncan.

duncan names his son malcolm his heir, then declares that he'll soon visit macbeth at his castle, dunsinane.

hearing duncan's declaration regarding malcolm, macbeth is incensed.

malcolm clearly stands in the way of the kingship.

immediately, he feels himself struck by black and deep desires, and asks the stars to hide their fires so his wishes remain invisible.

he's beginning to imagine the terrible deeds he might soon need to commit to obtain kingship.

next, in advance of his own and duncan's arrival at inverness, macbeth writes a letter to his wife, lady macbeth, informing her of his new title and the witches' predictions.

immediately, lady macbeth begins to have megalomaniacal visions.

they must plan for macbeth to murder duncan so macbeth can take the kingship.

but is macbeth enough of a man to do the deed?

she worries about his nature.

it's too full of the milk of human kindness.

she'll have to influence him with some of her own, much more ruthless, nature.

a messenger enters to announce macbeth and the king's imminent arrival, and lady macbeth resumes her machinations.

she calls for spirits to unsex her and fill her from head to toe with diarist cruelty.

she wishes to feel no remorse for her womanly nature to disappear so as not to interfere with her bloody mission.

after the chilling speech, macbeth enters and lady macbeth tells her husband what she wants him to do.

macbeth stops short of agreeing but says they'll speak again.

in the final scene of act 1, macbeth wishes for the assassination to be over as quickly as possible.

he admits feeling guilty about the plot.

macbeth is the host after all and should be protecting the king from prospective murderers, not planning to do the deed himself.

plus the king's virtues are obvious.

won't the heavens object to him being so cruelly killed?

here lady macbeth enters.

macbeth tells her that he no longer wants to go through with the murder, but lady macbeth won't hear it.

she questions his manhood and tries to rile him up.

she tells him that she, who has felt a mother's tender love, would murder her own baby and brutally at that if she'd previously committed to doing so.

she tells macbeth to screw his courage to the sticking place and get it over with.

she and his two chamberlains will get duncan drunk and then macbeth will murder him.

at last he agrees.

act ii it's past midnight as act ii begins.

banquo and his son fleance walk the corridors by torchlight.

despite the hour, banquo can't sleep and his mind is filled with cursed thoughts.

macbeth enters, quietly, and banquo questions why he's still awake.

banquo then tells macbeth of a dream he had last night, of the weird sisters.

macbeth lies and says he hasn't been thinking about them.

banquo and fleance exit, leaving macbeth alone.

suddenly macbeth is met with a strange sight, that of a dagger floating before his eyes pointing toward duncan's chamber.

he wonders if he's going insane.

as he continues to gaze upon it, the dagger grows more detailed.

gouts of blood seem to materialize on it.

eventually the bell rings.

macbeth's signal to head to duncan's chamber and murder him.

after the deed is done, macbeth and lady macbeth rejoin.

lady macbeth reports that she heard the owl scream and the crickets cry, portents of evil.

macbeth is shaken as he recounts how the murder happened.

he claims he heard a voice cry, sleep no more, macbeth doth murder sleep, macbeth shall sleep no more.

lady macbeth attempts to reassure macbeth and tells him to plant the bloody daggers on duncan's servants, as was their plan.

macbeth, wrapped by guilt and fear, can't return.

lady macbeth, angry, goes to do it herself.

when she returns, they hear a knocking at the door.

two men arrive, lennox, a scottish noble who fought with duncan in the battle against macdonald, and macduff, the thane of fife, also loyal to duncan.

they ask macbeth if the king is yet awake.

macbeth says no, but that he'll bring lennox and macduff to him.

macduff goes to check on duncan and finds his corpse.

he returns agonized and soon everyone is informed of the bloody deed.

macbeth kills duncan's servants, pretending to do so out of impassioned rage.

in reality, he's trying to prevent them from revealing the truth.

still in shock and fearing for their safety, malcolm and donalbain, duncan's two sons, flee to england and ireland respectively.

finally, macduff joins ross and proclaims his suspicions about malcolm and donalbain.

the speed at which they fled suggests they played a part in the murder.

as a result, the sovereignty will now be given to macbeth.

act 3 despite his skill in concealing his role in duncan's murder, not everyone is completely fooled.

as act 3 begins, banquo, alone, ruminates.

macbeth is now king, cawdor, and glanys, and banquo fears he played most foully for it.

macbeth, now dressed in regal garb, lady macbeth, and other lords and attendants enter.

macbeth questions banquo about his plans to leave in the afternoon.

these inquiries are far from innocent.

macbeth fears that banquo can still sabotage his kingship, and he sends several servants to murder him.

but when they attempt to do so, they're only half successful.

banquo is slain, but amidst the struggle, fleance escapes.

back in inverness, a banquet is prepared and macbeth welcomes his guests.

when the murderers return, they inform macbeth of the half-unfortunate news.

the relieved banquo is dead, he's utterly furious to learn of fleance's escape.

macbeth returns to the banquet hall, but before he can be seated, he sees a terrible sight – the ghost of banquo sitting in his place.

the fain of ross invites macbeth to sit, but macbeth answers that the table is already full.

he doesn't realize that only he can see the ghost and shouts at it.

the guests begin to fear that macbeth isn't well, but lady macbeth brushes off their concerns.

lady macbeth privately attempts to knock sense into macbeth, and the ghost briefly disappears.

macbeth reassures his guests that, indeed, lady macbeth is correct.

he's often unwell with a strange infirmity, and anyone who knows him wouldn't be concerned.

he calls for a drink to our dear friend banquo, whom we miss.

at this, the ghost reappears, and macbeth once again becomes agitated.

he commands the ghost to quit his sight and rails against him until the ghost disappears again.

this time, lady macbeth asks the guests to leave, and they do.

macbeth and the lady are left alone in the hall.

macbeth utters that blood will have blood, and that he has strange things in head that will to hand.

he fears that there are more deaths soon to come, and that he can't but act on his terrible thoughts.

in the final scene of the act, lennox and another lord discuss the strange happenings – how monstrous it was for malcolm and donalblain to kill their own father, and how noble it was for macbeth to kill the two delinquents, duncan's servants.

as for macduff, he has to reveal himself a traitor, having fled to england to join malcolm and donalblain in preparing for war.

act iv just as in act i, act iv begins with thunderclaps.

it's the three witches again.

together they dance around a cauldron, tossing into it animal entrails, toad's venom, eye of newt, and other vile ingredients.

double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble, they cry.

after the witches dance and sing a song, one of them senses that something wicked this way comes.

macbeth promptly enters and says that he's conjured them to answer his questions.

the witches cast a spell, and three apparitions come to deliver more prophecies.

the first apparition is the head of a suit of armor.

it cries macbeth's name and then tells him to beware macduff, the thane of fife.

the second apparition appears after it, a child covered in blood.

this apparition tells macbeth to be bloody, bold, and resolute, and to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born will harm him.

after hearing this, macbeth exclaims that he no longer fears macduff, but that he'll have him killed anyway just to make sure.

there's a clap of thunder, and the third and final apparition appears.

it's a child wearing a king's crown and holding a tree in his hand.

he tells macbeth to be lion-metalled, proud, and take no care of his opponents.

macbeth will never be vanquished until great burnham wood to high dunsinane hill shall come against him.

macbeth is again emboldened.

it's impossible for anyone to uproot a forest and bid it to move.

yet he's not fully confident.

he begs to have one last question answered.

will banquo's children ever reign in this kingdom?

the witches warn him to seek to know no more, yet macbeth insists.

the cauldron sinks into the earth, and a procession of eight kings appear, the last one holding a mirror, bringing up the rear, is banquo.

macbeth is shaken when he realizes that all eight of the kings resemble banquo.

and the horror doesn't cease, because within the mirror held by the eighth king, macbeth sees the reflections of many more kings.

the witches dance again and then vanish.

lennox enters and informs macbeth that macduff has fled to england.

he resolves immediately to seize macduff's castle in fife and murder him, his wife, and children.

in england, malcolm and macduff mourn for their country.

they both now believe that macbeth is a traitor and a tyrant.

they also discuss sin, and malcolm confesses that if he were to take the throne, he'd be an even worse tyrant than macbeth.

he's full of vices, especially lust and avarice, and he possesses no kingly virtues.

after these confessions, macduff lets out an outpouring of frustration.

not only is malcolm unfit to govern, he's even unfit to live.

who is worthy of ruling this miserable, weeping scotland?

malcolm then admits that he was lying.

in fact, he's never lain with a woman and hardly ever coveted his own possessions.

he was merely trying to obtain a true sense of macduff's character, to see if he'd lie to gain malcolm's favor or reveal his true feelings.

macduff passed the test.

ross then enters and informs macduff of the terrible news.

his castle has been attacked, and his wife, children, and servants savagely slaughtered.

malcolm tells macduff to, "...dispute it like a man." macduff answers that he will, but that he must also feel it as a man.

these people were everything that was most precious to him.

how could heaven see this and allow it to happen?

at the end of the act, macduff vows to kill macbeth.

act 5 a doctor and a gentlewoman stand in the chamber, discussing the recent malady of lady macbeth, sleepwalking.

she's been repeatedly rising from her bed at night, throwing off her nightgown and writing secret letters.

hold, that's lady macbeth now.

her eyes are wide open and she's holding a tapered candle.

she appears to be rubbing her hands in a strange fashion, almost as if to wash them.

out, damned spot, out i say, cries lady macbeth.

she appears to believe her hands are stained with blood and wonders whether they'll ever be clean.

still muttering to herself, lady macbeth returns to bed, the doctor and the gentlewoman observe, astonished.

the doctor says that this is beyond his practice.

she needs divine intervention, not medical help.

elsewhere, the lords of scotland are preparing for battle against macbeth, led by macduff, malcolm and malcolm's uncle, siward.

they're gathered near burnham wood, the self-snamed forest from the weird sister's prophecy.

meanwhile, macbeth fortifies dunsinane.

back at burnham wood, malcolm gives his command.

every soldier should take a bough from the tree and hold it before him.

this, he figures, will disguise them and make it difficult for macbeth's forces to estimate their numbers.

the scene again shifts to macbeth.

while boasting of his castle's strength, he hears some women cry.

a servant enters and delivers dreadful news.

lady macbeth is dead.

shocked, macbeth delivers a short but poignant soliloquy.

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, he cries, mourning the unceasing meaninglessness of life.

matters only get worse from here for macbeth.

another servant enters and tells him he's seen a strange sight.

as he was standing watch, he looked toward burnham wood and could have sworn he saw it move.

macbeth now has cause to fear.

this could represent the fulfilment of one of the prophecies.

malcolm's company beats its drums and the battle commences.

during it, macbeth kills young siward, son of siward.

after the slaying of young siward, macduff enters, searching for macbeth.

he vows that his revenge shall be exacted.

when he finds macbeth, they duel.

in the midst of it, macbeth warns him that his life can't be taken by one of woman-born.

macbeth reveals that he was, from his mother's womb, untimely ripped.

he wasn't exactly of woman-born.

he was birthed by caesarean section.

in response to this news, macbeth says he'll no longer fight macduff, but neither will he yield.

macbeth feels that his time is nearly up, the prophecies all seeming to have come true, but he continues fighting.

finally, macduff strikes a fatal blow.

the tyrant macbeth is slain.

quickly, malcolm's forces completely overtake the castle.

while they honour young siward's bravery in battle and honourable death, macduff enters, holding the severed head of macbeth.

he hails malcolm, the new king of scotland.

in the very last few lines of the play, the audience learns that lady macbeth's death wasn't a natural one, but suicide.

soon all of their exiled friends will be welcomed back to scotland to see malcolm crowned.

with that, there's a flourish and all exit.

the tragedy of macbeth has come to an end.

in the theatre world, it's alleged that macbeth is a cursed play.

for this reason, it's taboo to refer to it by its real name.

instead, people call it the scottish play.

though it's unlikely that the play is actually cursed, it's easy to see why an air of eerie mistake surrounds the drama of the scottish general.

full of prophecies, witchcraft, murders, madness and dark desires realised, it gives voice to some of humanity's greatest fears.

do we control our fate?

what happens when ambitions go too far?

does the more just side always emerge the victor?

these questions and many more are left open-ended by macbeth.

one we can answer, though, is what about the prophecy that banquo's sons would be kings?

at the end of the play, it's malcolm who is crowned, not fleance.

in shakespeare's time, the audience would have understood that this was a reference to the current king of england, james i, who was said to be a descendant of banquo.

so, even though we don't see this happen in the play itself, we can assume that banquo's descendants do become kings.

eventually.

thanks so much for listening to the very first play as chapter.

please leave us a rating or a comment, we always appreciate your feedback.

hope to see you in the next chapter.