Book - Macbeth by Shakespeare

Table of Contents

References
Summary
Characters

References

Summary

Macbeth, a Scottish noble, is urged by his wife to kill King Duncan to take the throne for himself. He covers the king’s guards in blood to frame them for the deed, and is appointed King of Scotland. However, people suspect his sudden power, and he finds it necessary to commit more and more murders to maintain power, believing himself invincible so long as he is bloody. Finally, the old king’s son Malcolm besieges Macbeth’s castle, and Macduff slays Macbeth in armed combat.

On their way home from quelling a rebellion, King Duncan’s generals, Macbeth and Banquo, encounter three strange women on a bleak Scottish moorland. The women prophesy that Macbeth will be given the title of Thane of Cawdor and then become King of Scotland, while Banquo’s heirs shall be kings. The generals want to hear more but the weird sisters disappear.

Both men nervously laugh off the prophecies until Duncan informs Macbeth that he is to assume the traitor Cawdor’s title as a reward for his service to the king. And then, King Duncan proposes that he will make a brief visit to Macbeth’s castle.

Lady Macbeth receives news from her husband of the prophecy and his new title. She vows to help him become king by any means she can.She determines to push her husband’s resolve in the matter - she wants him to take his fate into his own hands and make himself king.

Macbeth’s return is followed almost at once by Duncan’s arrival.

Macbeth at first is reluctant to do harm to Duncan. However, when Duncan makes arrangements to visit the castle, the opportunity presents itself too boldly to ignore. Pressed on by his wife, they plot Duncan’s death. Lady Macbeth gets Duncan’s attendants drunk; Macbeth will slip in with his dagger, kill the king, and plant the dagger on the drunken guards. Macbeth, in a quiet moment alone, imagines he sees a bloody dagger appear in the air; upon hearing the tolling bells, he sets to work. Immediately Macbeth feels the guilt and shame of his act, as does Lady Macbeth, who nonetheless finds the inner strength to return to Duncan’s chamber to plant the dagger on the attendants when Macbeth refuses to go back in there. When the body is discovered, Macbeth immediately slays the attendants—he says out of rage and grief—in order to silence them. Both Malcolm and Donalbain, King Duncan’s sons, flee Scotland (fearful for their own lives). To everyone else, it appears that the sons have been the chief conspirators, and Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland, thus fulfilling the witches’ prophecy. Banquo, however, has suspicions of his own based on their encounter with the witches.

Macbeth is elected King of Scotland but is plagued by feelings of guilt and insecurity.

Macbeth knows of Banquo’s suspicions and the reasons for them; he is also wary of the second prophecy concerning Banquo’s offspring. As he prepares for a celebratory banquet on his coronation as King, Macbeth hires assassins to get rid of Banquo and Fleance, his son. Banquo is murdered that night, but Fleance escapes into the darkness.

At the celebratory banquet, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo and disconcerts the courtiers with his strange manner. As Macbeth sits down to the feast, the bloody ghost of Banquo silently torments him, which causes him great despair. Lady Macbeth tries to calm him but is rejected.

Macbeth embarks on a reign of terror.

Macduff suspects Macbeth of foul play. Macduff flees to England to join Malcom at the court of the English king, Edward. Macbeth, once a man of greatness, transforms into a man whose conscience has fled him. Upon learning of Macduff’s flight, Macbeth exacts revenge by having Macduff’s entire household butchered. Macduff grieves, but joins up with Malcolm in England to raise an army against Macbeth. Malcolm and Macduff decide to lead an army against Macbeth.

Macbeth seeks out the witches. Macbeth is given another prophecy by the witches as he prepares for Malcolm’s assault. His throne is safe until Birnam Wood comes to his castle, Dunsinane. And they tell him that he will not die by the hand of any man born of a woman. Macbeth feels confident in his chances for victory at this pronouncement.

As the English armies approach, Macbeth learns that many of his lords are deserting him, and that Lady Macbeth has died.

On top of this, a messenger brings news that Malcolm’s army is approaching under the cover of boughs, which they have cut from the trees of Birnam Wood.

Macbeth feels safe in his remote castle at Dunsinane until he is told that Birnam Wood is moving towards him. The situation is that Malcolm’s army is carrying branches from the forest as camouflage for their assault on the castle.

Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth, paralysed with guilt, walks in her sleep and gives away her secrets to a listening doctor. She kills herself as the final battle commences. She is slowly driven mad by her dreams in the wake of killing Duncan. She sleepwalks, wringing her hands together, and inadvertently reveals her part in the murder.

Macduff and Macbeth meet on the batttefield. Macbeth laughs hollowly, telling him of the witches’ prophecy: no man born of a woman may slay him. As Macduff retorts, he was “from my mother’s womb untimely ripp’d,” meaning he was delivered by a Caesarian section (and hence, not technically born of a woman). Grimly, Macbeth presses on.

In the battle, Macduff triumphs and Macbeth dies. Macduff brings the head of the traitor to Malcolm. Malcolm is crowned King of Scotland, restoring his father’s bloodline to the throne.

Characters

Duncan, King of Scotland
Macbeth, a general to King Duncan
Banquo, a general to King Duncan
Malcom, Duncan’s son
Macduff, a noble
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macduff

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