Summary In the palace court room, King Duncan receives the news of the execution of Cawdor and delivers formal thanks to Macbeth and Banquo for their part in the battle. Then, to the private astonishment of Macbeth, Duncan announces that his successor as king, whenever that may be, will be […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 4Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 3
Summary With a clap of thunder, the Witches reappear. Having demonstrated their power by casting a terrible curse upon a sailor whose wife offended one of them, they encounter Macbeth and Banquo as the two soldiers ride from the battlefield. The sisters make three prophecies, the first two regarding Macbeth […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 3Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 2
Summary Scotland is at war. King Duncan faces not only his own rebellious kinsmen but also an invasion by King Sweno of the Norwegians. In this scene, Duncan receives three significant reports: the death of the rebel Macdonald at the hands of “brave Macbeth”; Macbeth’s action against the Norwegians; and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 2Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 1
Summary In a desolate place blasted by thunderstorms, Three Witches meet to predict the future. Analysis Macbeth begins in “an open place” — a place without any landmarks or buildings — with the appearance of the three “weird sisters,” as they later call themselves. The Old English word “wyrd,” or […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Act I: Scene 1Character List
Macbeth A captain in Duncan’s army, later the Thane (Lord) of Glamis and Cawdor. When Three Witches predict that he will one day be king of Scotland, he takes his fate into his own hands, allowing his ambition and that of his wife to overcome his better judgement. His bloody […]
Read more Character ListAbout Macbeth
Background Shakespeare’s Macbeth remains one of his most popular plays, both for classroom study and performance, and with good reason. Here we have the playwright’s shortest play, but arguably his most intense, in terms both of its action and its portrayal of human relationships. The “butcher and his fiend-like queen” […]
Read more About MacbethPlay Summary
Set in medieval Scotland and partly based on a true historical account, Macbeth charts the bloody rise to power and tragic downfall of the warrior Macbeth. Already a successful soldier in the army of King Duncan, Macbeth is informed by Three Witches that he is to become king. As part […]
Read more Play SummaryMacbeth at a Glance
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare’s tragedy about power, ambition, deceit, and murder, the Three Witches foretell Macbeth’s rise to King of Scotland but also prophesy that future kings will descend from Banquo, a fellow army captain. Prodded by his ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders King Duncan, becomes king, and sends […]
Read more Macbeth at a Glance