Macbeth

Plot Overview

The play begins with the brief appearance of a trio of witches and then moves to
a military camp, where the Scottish King Duncan hears the news that his
generals, Macbeth and Banquo, have defeated two separate invading armies
one from Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald, and one from Norway. Following
their pitched battle with these enemy forces, Macbeth and Banquo encounter the
witches as they cross a moor. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will be made
thane (a rank of Scottish nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland.
They also prophesy that Macbeths companion, Banquo, will beget a line of
Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. The witches vanish,
and Macbeth and Banquo treat their prophecies skeptically until some of King
Duncans men come to thank the two generals for their victories in battle and to
tell Macbeth that he has indeed been named thane of Cawdor. The previous
thane betrayed Scotland by fighting for the Norwegians and Duncan has
condemned him to death. Macbeth is intrigued by the possibility that the
remainder of the witches prophecythat he will be crowned kingmight be
true, but he is uncertain what to expect. He visits with King Duncan, and they
plan to dine together at Inverness, Macbeths castle, that night. Macbeth writes
ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her all that has happened.
Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husbands uncertainty. She desires the
kingship for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. When
Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husbands objections and
persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get
Duncans two chamberlains drunk so they will black out; the next morning they
will blame the murder on the chamberlains, who will be defenseless, as they will
remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his
doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody
dagger. When Duncans death is discovered the next morning, Macbeth kills the
chamberlainsostensibly out of rage at their crimeand easily assumes the
kingship. Duncans sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to England and Ireland,
respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well.
Fearful of the witches prophecy that Banquos heirs will seize the throne,
Macbeth hires a group of murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. They
ambush Banquo on his way to a royal feast, but they fail to kill Fleance, who
escapes into the night. Macbeth becomes furious: as long as Fleance is alive, he
fears that his power remains insecure. At the feast that night, Banquos ghost
visits Macbeth. When he sees the ghost, Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his
guests, who include most of the great Scottish nobility. Lady Macbeth tries to
neutralize the damage, but Macbeths kingship incites increasing resistance from
his nobles and subjects. Frightened, Macbeth goes to visit the witches in their
cavern. There, they show him a sequence of demons and spirits who present him
with further prophecies: he must beware of Macduff, a Scottish nobleman who
opposed Macbeths accession to the throne; he is incapable of being harmed by
any man born of woman; and he will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to
Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure, because he knows that all
men are born of women and that forests cannot move. When he learns that
Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm, Macbeth orders that Macduffs
castle be seized and, most cruelly, that Lady Macduff and her children be
murdered.
When news of his familys execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken
with grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncans son, has succeeded in
raising an army in England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to
challenge Macbeths forces. The invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles,
who are appalled and frightened by Macbeths tyrannical and murderous
behavior. Lady Macbeth, meanwhile, becomes plagued with fits of sleepwalking
in which she bemoans what she believes to be bloodstains on her hands. Before
Macbeths opponents arrive, Macbeth receives news that she has killed herself,
causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair. Nevertheless, he awaits
the English and fortifies Dunsinane, to which he seems to have withdrawn in
order to defend himself, certain that the witches prophecies guarantee his
invincibility. He is struck numb with fear, however, when he learns that the
English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam
Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half of the witches
prophecy.
In the battle, Macbeth hews violently, but the English forces gradually
overwhelm his army and castle. On the battlefield, Macbeth encounters the
vengeful Macduff, who declares that he was not of woman born but was instead
untimely ripped from his mothers womb (what we now call birth by cesarean
section). Though he realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth continues to fight until
Macduff kills and beheads him. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his
benevolent intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at
Scone.

Context

y Shakespeare reflected his play in the world he knew




Character Analysis

Macbeth
First hear of Macbeth in the wounded captains account of his battlefield valor,
our initial impression is of a brave and capable warrior.
This perspective is complicated, however, once we see Macbeth interact with the
three witches. We realize that his physical courage is joined by a consuming
ambition and a tendency to self-doubtthe prediction that he will be king brings
him joy, but it also creates inner turmoil. These three attributesbravery,
ambition, and self-doubtstruggle for mastery of Macbeth throughout the play.
Shakespeare uses Macbeth to show the terrible effects that ambition and guilt
can have on a man who lacks strength of character. Before he kills Duncan,
Macbeth is plagued by worry and almost aborts the crime. It takes Lady
Macbeths steely sense of purpose to push him into the deed. After the murder,
however, her powerful personality begins to disintegrate, leaving Macbeth
increasingly alone.
He fluctuates between fits of fevered action, in which he plots a series of murders
to secure his throne, and moments of terrible guilt (as when Banquos ghost
appears) and absolute pessimism (after his wifes death, when he seems to
succumb to despair). These fluctuations reflect the tragic tension within
Macbeth: he is at once too ambitious to allow his conscience to stop him from
murdering his way to the top and too conscientious to be happy with himself as a
murderer. As things fall apart for him at the end of the play, he seems almost
relievedwith the English army at his gates, he can finally return to life as a
warrior, and he displays a kind of reckless bravado as his enemies surround him
and drag him down. In part, this stems from his fatal confidence in the witches
prophecies, but it also seems to derive from the fact that he has returned to the
arena where he has been most successful and where his internal turmoil need
not affect himnamely, the battlefield. Unlike many of Shakespeares other
tragic heroes, Macbeth never seems to contemplate suicide: Why should I play
the Roman fool, he asks, and die / On mine own sword? (5.10.12). Instead, he
goes down fighting, bringing the play full circle: it begins with Macbeth winning
on the battlefield and ends with him dying in combat.
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeares most famous and frightening female
characters. When we first see her, she is already plotting Duncans murder, and
she is stronger, more ruthless, and more ambitious than her husband. She seems
fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing
murder. At one point, she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do
it herself. This theme of the relationship between gender and power is key to
Lady Macbeths character: her husband implies that she is a masculine soul
inhabiting a female body, which seems to link masculinity to ambition and
violence. Shakespeare, however, seems to use her, and the witches, to undercut
Macbeths idea that undaunted mettle should compose / Nothing but males
(1.7.7374). These crafty women use female methods of achieving powerthat
is, manipulationto further their supposedly male ambitions. Women, the play
implies, can be as ambitious and cruel as men, yet social constraints deny them
the means to pursue these ambitions on their own.
Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness,
overriding all his objections; when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly
questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove
himself. Lady Macbeths remarkable strength of will persists through the murder
of the kingit is she who steadies her husbands nerves immediately after the
crime has been perpetrated. Afterward, however, she begins a slow slide into
madnessjust as ambition affects her more strongly than Macbeth before the
crime, so does guilt plague her more strongly afterward. By the close of the play,
she has been reduced to sleepwalking through the castle, desperately trying to
wash away an invisible bloodstain. Once the sense of guilt comes home to roost,
Lady Macbeths sensitivity becomes a weakness, and she is unable to cope.
Significantly, she (apparently) kills herself, signaling her total inability to deal
with the legacy of their crimes.

The Three Witches
Throughout the play, the witchesreferred to as the weird sisters by many of
the characterslurk like dark thoughts and unconscious temptations to evil. In
part, the mischief they cause stems from their supernatural powers, but mainly it
is the result of their understanding of the weaknesses of their specific
interlocutorsthey play upon Macbeths ambition like puppeteers.
The witches beards, bizarre potions, and rhymed speech make them seem
slightly ridiculous, like caricatures of the supernatural. Shakespeare has them
speak in rhyming couplets throughout (their most famous line is probably
Double, double, toil and trouble, / Fire burn and cauldron bubble in 4.1.1011),
which separates them from the other characters, who mostly speak in blank
verse. The witches words seem almost comical, like malevolent nursery rhymes.
Despite the absurdity of their eye of newt and toe of frog recipes, however,
they are clearly the most dangerous characters in the play, being both
tremendously powerful and utterly wicked (4.1.14).
The audience is left to ask whether the witches are independent agents toying
with human lives, or agents of fate, whose prophecies are only reports of the
inevitable. The witches bear a striking and obviously intentional resemblance to
the Fates, female characters in both Norse and Greek mythology who weave the
fabric of human lives and then cut the threads to end them. Some of their
prophecies seem self-fulfilling. For example, it is doubtful that Macbeth would
have murdered his king without the push given by the witches predictions. In
other cases, though, their prophecies are just remarkably accurate readings of
the futureit is hard to see Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane as being self-
fulfilling in any way. The play offers no easy answers. Instead, Shakespeare keeps
the witches well outside the limits of human comprehension. They embody an
unreasoning, instinctive evil.

Banquo

Banquo's role in the original source for Macbeth was as Macbeth's co-
conspirator. In Shakespeare's play, he is depicted instead as Macbeth's rival; the
role of fellow plotter passed to Lady Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo is open to
human yearnings and desires: He is, for example, just as keen to hear what the
Witches have in store for him in Act I, Scene 3. He is kept from sleep by his
dreams of the Witches (Act II, Scene 1). And in his soliloquy at the start of Act III,
Scene 1 "Thou hast it now . . . " there is more than a hint of resentment and,
possibly, of the same naked ambition that leads Macbeth astray. Nevertheless,
Banquo is a sympathetic figure for several reasons. First, he is ignorant of what
the audience knows concerning the murder of the king and of his own impending
doom. Second, he is a father whose relationship with his son is clearly an
affectionate one.




Themes in Macbeth

Fair and Foul

One of the most important themes in Macbeth involves the witches' statement in
Act 1, Scene1 that "fair is foul and foul is fair." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 10) This
phrase aptly describes the macabre status quo within the character Macbeth and
without. When Macbeth and Banquo first see the weird sisters, Banquo is
horrified by their hideous appearances. Conversely, Macbeth immediately began
to converse with these universally known evil creatures. After hearing their
prophecies, one can say that Macbeth considered the witches to be "fair" when in
reality their intentions were quite "foul." Macbeth's possession of the titles of
Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland came by foul
means. Macbeth became the Thane of Glamis by his father Sinel's death; he
became Thane of Cawdor when the former namesake was executed for treason;
and he was ordained King of Scotland after murdering the venerable
Duncan. Thus, Macbeth has a rather ghastly way of advancing in life.
This theme is further verified by King Duncan's statement "There's no art/ To
find the mind's construction in the face." (Act 1, Scene 4, Lines 11-12) Although
Macbeth has the semblance of the amicable and dutiful host, ("fair") he is
secretly plotting Duncan's death ("foul").

Furthermore, Lady Macbeth's orchestration of the murder exemplifies the
twisted atmosphere in Inverness. Both a woman and a host, she should be the
model of grace and femininity. She is described, however, as a "fiendlike queen"
(Act 5, Scene 6, Line 69) and exhibits a cold, calculating mentality. In addition,
the very porter of Inverness likens the place to the dwelling of the devil
Beelzebub. This implies that despite its "pleasant seat," (Act 1, Scene 6, Line 1)
Inverness is a sinister and evil place. It is also interesting to note that Macbeth is
unable to say a prayer to bless himself after murdering Duncan. It is strange and
"foul" that he should think of religion after committing such an unholy act. The
very sanction of sleep and repose is also attacked in Macbeth. What is normally
considered a refreshing and necessary human activity is "murdered" by Macbeth
after he commits his heinous crime. Neither Macbeth nor his wife is able to sleep
after killing Duncan. Macbeth's lack of sleep makes him a brutal killer; Lady
Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and inadvertently reveals the source of her distress
through her nightly babble. In addition, Macbeth gains an almost inhuman
strength and courage after his first crime. He is more courageous in crime than
he has ever been in virtuous deed, which is indeed bizarre.

Tragic Hero

A tragic hero is a character that the audience sympathizes with despite his/her
actions that would indicate the contrary. Macbeth, in spite of his horrible
murders, is a pitiable man. His saving grace is that he did not initially want to kill
Duncan but later changed his mind after listening to his wife. In addition,
Macbeth internally suffered because he could not enjoy his royal status. Fear,
paranoia, exhaustion and sleeplessness plagued him despite his
sovereignty. Lady Macbeth is also a tragic hero. Her initial courage and daring
did not last long, and she quickly deteriorated into a delusional, hapless
somnambulist. She broke down mentally and physically because of the strain of
the crime. Macbeth and his wife are pitiable characters because the reader is
able to follow their every thought and action. Thus, the reader sees not only
their gruesome effects on the Scottish people but also on themselves.

Internal Conflict

Macbeth was indecisive up until the very night of the murder about whether or
not he should kill Duncan. Afterwards, he was unsure of a course of action. He
rashly decided to kill Banquo, visit the witches and remain confident even when
his castle was besieged. Lady Macbeth's initial lack of indecision is what brought
about the pair's downfall. Later, however, she becomes tentative about the
potential benefits of Banquo's murder. By the end of the play, she has become a
delusional recluse that is almost entirely ignored by her husband.

Ambition

The theme of ambition is apparent in three major characters: Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth and Banquo. Macbeth strives for dominance, Lady Macbeth hopes for
Macbeth's control and Banquo searches for his inner determination
Ambition is a necessary quality in a leader which is demonstrated in the
character Macbeth. After Macbeth is victorious in the battle, his ambitious
actions help to obtain power and advancement within the community. After
being named Thane of Cawdor, following the three witches' prophecies, Macbeth
is prompted to acquire the throne of Scotland. Lady Macbeth, convinces him to
kill Duncan which helps him to achieve the throne and causes great destruction
within society. Macbeth expresses his ambition by stating, "I have no spur /To
prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition which o'erlaps itself /And
falls on th'other" (Act 1, scene 7, l. 25-28). Toward the climax of the play,
Macbeth resorts to a frantic madness which causes him to recognize his past
negative actions that are driven by aspiration. As Macbeth's ambition begins to
strengthen, he inherits immoral and unjust characteristics which lead to his
downfall in the conclusion.

The trait of ambition is recognized in Lady Macbeth due to her recognizable
dominance over Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is distinguished as the antagonist of the
play because she easily manipulates Macbeth to kill Duncan and Macduff's
family. Therefore, no one else takes control of the throne. Lady Macbeth
underlines the need for strength by clarifying, "Thou wouldst be great, /Art not
without ambition, but without /The illness should attend it" (Act 1, scene 5, l.17-
19). Once Lady Macbeth recognizes the prophecies, she is successful in altering
Macbeth's goals which help to uphold the throne. However in the falling action,
Lady Macbeth becomes insane and ends her life. She has commanded Macbeth to
murder people and realizes how others view her as evil.

Banquo, the commander of the Scottish army, is a honest and harmless
character in the play. Banquo, a loyal friend to Macbeth, gains curiosity when he
learns of the witches prophecies. Reluctant to believe them, he addresses
Macbeth, "my noble partner/ You greet with present grace and great prediction
/Of noble having and of royal hope/ That he seems rapt withal" (Act 1, scene 3,
l.52-55). Banquo challenges himself by showing skepticism that interrupts his
motivation towards the witches, money and his fate. The witches pronounce that
Banquo's sons will be future kings. This causes Macbeth to question Banquo's
loyality to him and Scotland. Banquo's pure ambition leads to his murder by
Macbeth. This is due to the lack of trust throughout the rising action of the
play.The theme of ambition is clearly recognized as one of the main factors that
shapes the plot of this Shakespearean play. Shakespeare has easily distinguished
between the various levels of ambition presented within the three major
characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo. In conclusion, ambition is
presented throughout the production which helps to shape the readers
perception of specific characters.

Good vs. Evil

The conflict between good and evil is not only confined to Macbeth. We find it in
all of Shakespeares plays. Throughout all of his plays Shakespeare uses
characters and events to show us what is good and evil. Some of the values he
considers good are, for example, loyalty, generosity, honesty and courage. Evil is
represented by, among others, treachery, dishonesty, cowardice and a lack of
moral discipline. You will notice as you read Macbeth and get to know the text
well that it is sometimes difficult to say whether characters are good or evil. At
times it seems obvious that Macbeth and his wife are evil. However, if there were
nothing good about them we would find nothing to admire in them and would
therefore not be moved by their downfall. Macduff too, appears to be a wholly
admirable and good man; but can we really approve of the way he abandons his
family and leaves them defenceless when he flees to England? Make a list of
Macbeth and Lady Macbeths good qualities and see how these people are
corrupted by the evil in them. Perhaps it is because of their admirable qualities
that their corruption moves us to pity their tragedy.





Quotes
The ruven hlmself ls hourse
Thut crouks the futul entrunce of Duncun Under my buttlements. Come, you
splrlts
Thut tend on mortul thoughts, unsex me here,
And flll me from the crown to the toe top-full Of dlrest cruelty.
Muke thlck my blood, Stop up thuccess und pussuge to remorse, Thut no
compunctlous vlsltlngs of nuture
Shuke my fell purpose, nor keep peuce between Th effect und lt. Come to
my womuns breusts, And tuke my mllk for gull, you murdrlng mlnlsters,
Wherever ln your slghtless substunces
You wult on nutures mlschlef.
Come, thlck nlght, And pull thee ln the dunnest smoke of hell, Thut my keen
knlfe see not the wound lt mukes,
Nor heuven peep through the blunket of the durk, To cry Hold, hold!
She uwults the urrlvul of Klng Duncun ut her custle. We huve prevlously seen
Mucbeths uncertulnty ubout whether he should tuke the crown by kllllng Duncun.
In thls speech, there ls no such confuslon, us Ludy Mucbeth ls cleurly wllllng to
do whutever ls necessury to selze the throne. Her strength of purpose ls
contrusted wlth her husbunds tendency to wuver. Thls speech shows the
uudlence thut Ludy Mucbeth ls the reul steel behlnd Mucbeth und thut her
umbltlon wlll be strong enough to drlve her husbund forwurd. At the sume tlme,
the lunguuge of thls speech touches on the theme of muscullnlty unsex me
here / . . . / . . . Come to my womuns breusts, / And tuke my mllk for gull, Ludy
Mucbeth suys us she prepures herself to commlt murder. The lunguuge suggests
thut her womunhood, represented by breusts und mllk, usuully symbols of nurture,
lmpedes her from performlng ucts of vlolence und cruelty, whlch she ussoclutes
wlth munllness. Luter, thls sense of the relutlonshlp between muscullnlty und
vlolence wlll be deepened when Mucbeth ls unwllllng to go through wlth the
murders und hls wlfe tells hlm, ln effect, thut he needs to be u mun und get on
wlth lt. nature of evil in many different ways. Consider how evil is shown in t

If lt were done when tls done, then twere well It were done qulckly.
If thussusslnutlon Could trummel up the consequence,
und cutch Wlth hls surceuse success: thut but thls blow
Mlght be the be-ull und the end-ull, here,
But here upon thls bunk und shoul of tlme,
Wed |ump the llfe to come.
But ln these cuses
We stlll huve |udgement here, thut we but teuch Bloody lnstructlons whlch,
belng tuught, return
To plugue thlnventor.
Thls even-hunded |ustlce Commends thlngredlence of our polsoned chullce
To our own llps.
Hes here ln double trust: Flrst, us I um hls klnsmun und hls sub|ect, Strong
both ugulnst the deed; then, us hls host,
Who should ugulnst hls
murderer shut the door,
Not beur the knlfe myself. Besldes, thls Duncun Huth borne hls fucultles so
meek, huth been So cleur ln hls greut offlce,
thut hls vlrtues Wlll pleud llke ungels,
trumpet-tongued ugulnst T
he deep dumnutlon of hls tuklng-off, And plty, llke u nuked new-born bube, S
trldlng the blust, or heuvens cherubln,
horsed Upon the slghtless courlers of the ulr, Shull blow the horrld deed ln
every eye
Thut teurs shull drown the wlnd. I huve no spur To prlck the sldes of my lntent,
but only Vuultlng umbltlon whlch oerleups ltself And fulls on thother.

In thls sollloquy, whlch ls found ln Act 1, scene 7, llnes 128, Mucbeth debutes
whether he should klll Duncun. When he llsts Duncuns noble quulltles (he [h]uth
borne hls fucultles so meek) und the loyulty thut he feels towurd hls klng (I um
hls klnsmun und hls sub|ect), we ure remlnded of |ust how gruve un outruge lt ls
for the couple to sluughter thelr ruler whlle he ls u guest ln thelr house. At the
sume tlme, Mucbeths feur thut [w]e stlll huve |udgement here, thut we but teuch
/ Bloody lnstructlons whlch, belng tuught, return / To plugue thlnventor,
foreshudows the wuy thut hls deeds wlll eventuully come buck to huunt hlm. The
lmugery ln thls speech ls durkwe heur of bloody lnstructlons, deep
dumnutlon, und u polsoned chullceund suggests thut Mucbeth ls uwure of
how the murder would open the door to u durk und slnful world. At the sume tlme,
he udmlts thut hls only reuson for commlttlng murder, umbltlon, suddenly seems
un lnsufflclent |ustlflcutlon for the uct. The destructlon thut comes from unchecked
umbltlon wlll contlnue to be explored us one of the pluys themes. As the
sollloquy ends, Mucbeth seems to resolve not to klll Duncun, but thls resolve wlll
only lust untll hls wlfe returns und once uguln convlnces hlm, by the strength of
her wlll, to go uheud wlth thelr plot.


Whence ls thut knocklng? How lst wlth me, when every nolse uppuls me?
Whut hunds ure here!
Hu, they pluck out mlne eyes.
Wlll ull greut Neptunes oceun wush thls blood Cleun from my hund? No, thls
my hund wlll ruther
The multltudlnous seus lncurnudlne, Muklng the green one red.

Mucbeth suys thls ln Act 2, scene 2, llnes 5561. He hus |ust murdered Duncun,
und the crlme wus uccompunled by supernuturul portents. Now he heurs u
mysterlous knocklng on hls gute, whlch seems to promlse doom. (In fuct, the
person knocklng ls Mucduff, who wlll lndeed eventuully destroy Mucbeth.) The
enormlty of Mucbeths crlme hus uwukened ln hlm u powerful sense of gullt thut
wlll hound hlm throughout the pluy. Blood, speclflcully Duncuns blood, serves us
the symbol of thut gullt, und Mucbeths sense thut ull greut Neptunes oceun
cunnot cleunse hlmthut there ls enough blood on hls hunds to turn the entlre
seu redwlll stuy wlth hlm untll hls deuth. Ludy Mucbeths response to thls
speech wlll be her prosulc remurk, A llttle wuter cleurs us of thls deed (2.2.65).
By the end of the pluy, however, she wlll shure Mucbeths sense thut Duncuns
murder hus lrrepurubly stulned them wlth blood.












Quotes Contlnued

Ambltlon