Macbeth

:Macbeth is also an opera.

Synopsis

The play opens with three bearded witches discussing when they will meet again. They say: "Where the place? / upon the heath./ There to meet with Macbeth" They decide to meet Macbeth and this meeting is what sends him down a path of destruction.

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Macbeth, Thane of Glamis and a general of the army of Duncan, King of Scotland, has gained great renown after defeating an invasion by the forces of Norway and Ireland, led by the rebel Macdonwald. Duncan grants Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor and the honor of an official visit to Macbeth's home at Inverness.

Related Topics:
Thane - Glamis - Duncan - Scotland - Norway - Ireland - Cawdor - Inverness

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At this time, Macbeth and his friend Banquo are wandering along a heath, where they meet three Witches. The first witch greets Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis," the second as "Thane of Cawdor," and the third tells him that he shall "be King hereafter." The Witches also inform Banquo: "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none." Macbeth is confused at being called "Thane of Cawdor," until the messenger arrives and tells Macbeth of his new title. Immediately, Macbeth wonders whether the Witches were also correct in predicting that he would become king.

Related Topics:
Witches - Thane - Glamis - Cawdor

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Macbeth writes about the witches' prophecies in a letter to his wife (referred to only as "Lady Macbeth"). She immediately resolves that her husband will be king, and, moreover, will do it by killing Duncan. As luck would have it, Duncan is coming to stay in the Macbeths' castle that very night.

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In the dead of night, Macbeth and his Lady kill Duncan and arrange the bloody daggers to make it look like two servants committed the murder. After the murder, Macbeth hears a voice inside his head, proclaiming "Sleep no more... Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor / Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more."

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Duncan's body is discovered by Macduff, the loyal Thane of Fife, who is immediately suspicious of Macbeth. However, Macbeth kills the two servants who ostensibly committed the crime (so they won't talk). Without giving a reason the rightful heir, Malcolm flees to England, and his brother, Donalbain, flees to Ireland for fear that they would be the next victims—after all they're the king's sons. Since one of them would rightfully become king with his father dead, and since they flew, they are suspected of having commited the regicide. The Thanes choose Macbeth as the new king of Scotland.

Related Topics:
Macduff - Malcolm - Donalbain - Regicide

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Macbeth is still uneasy, though. He is apparently childless (although Lady Macbeth claims to have nursed a baby: "I have given suck") and worries about the Witches' prophecy that Banquo would be the father of kings. Macbeth's friend Banquo, who, the witches have predicted, will "get kings, though be none," (that is, be progenitor of the kings of Scotland, thereby jeopardizing Macbeth's rule) begins to suspect Macbeth. Macbeth, becoming more paranoid, evil, and suffering from insomnia, orders Banquo's murder in order to prevent the prediction from coming true. The murder is carried out, and later that night, at the royal banquet, Banquo's ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth is the only person who can see the ghost, and frightens his guests with his display of terror and guilt.

Related Topics:
Banquo - Insomnia

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Macbeth goes to the Witches again and receives three more prophecies. Urged on by Macbeth, the witches conjure spirits which tell him that he will not "vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him" and that "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth," but also to "fear Macduff". Since Macduff is in exile, Macbeth orders the murder of his wife and children. The stabbing of Macduff's childish son by the nameless "first murderer" is graphically depicted onstage.

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In England, Malcolm and Macduff lament Macbeth's seizing of power, and lay plans for an invasion of Scotland.

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Lady Macbeth eventually goes mad with guilt for the crimes she has committed. In a famous scene, she sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary bloodstains off her hands. She eventually dies, which causes Macbeth to ruminate on the futility of life.

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Macduff, spurred into seeking revenge, cries "Bring thou this fiend of Scotland and myself / Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape / Heaven forgive him..." and leads a camouflaged army with Malcolm and Englishman Siward (the Elder), the Earl of Northumbria, against Dunsinane castle. Macbeth delivers a nihilistic soliloquy upon learning of Lady Macbeth's death (the text does not explain how she died) but is interrupted by a messenger declaring that he "look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought / The wood began to move....Within this three mile may you see it coming;/ I say, a moving grove." A furious Macbeth responds in typical form: "At least we'll die with harness on our back." Meanwhile, the army is advancing on the castle appearing, as the messenger said, to be a moving wood. This is because Malcolm had given the order "Let every soldier hew him down a bow / And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow / The numbers of our host and make disovery / Err in report of us." Malcolm appoints Siward and Macduff to lead the assault.

Related Topics:
Camouflage - Siward - Northumbria - Nihilistic - Soliloquy

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A battle ensues, culminating in Macduff's confrontation of Macbeth. Macbeth boasts that he has no reason to fear Macduff, as he cannot be killed by any man born of woman. Macduff declares that he "was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd"—that is, born by Caesarean section or its medieval equivalent —and was therefore not "of woman born." The two fight, ending with Macduff beheading Macbeth offstage, thereby fulfilling the last of the witches' prophecies.

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In the final scene of the play, Malcolm promises to be crowned as rightful king of Scotland, and peace is restored to the kingdom.

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