The entire play can be found at the following nodes:

I am reformatting it for E2 from http://tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/Tragedy/macbeth/macbeth.html

Macbeth Dramatis Personae.

Act one

• Macbeth I.i
• Macbeth I.ii
• Macbeth I.iii
• Macbeth I.iv
• Macbeth I.v
• Macbeth I.vi
• Macbeth I.vii

Act two

• Macbeth II.i
• Macbeth II.ii
• Macbeth II.iii
• Macbeth II.iv

Act three

• Macbeth III.i
• Macbeth III.ii
• Macbeth III.iii
• Macbeth III.iv
• Macbeth III.v
• Macbeth III.vi

Act four

• Macbeth IV.i
• Macbeth IV.ii
• Macbeth IV.iii

Act five

• Macbeth V.i
• Macbeth V.ii
• Macbeth V.iii
• Macbeth V.iv
• Macbeth V.v
• Macbeth V.vi
• Macbeth V.vii
• Macbeth V.viii

I was in The Scottish Play at my school about a year or so ago. Our director believed unflinchingly in the curse. He'd tell us stories of horrible things that had happened to people who uttered the Scottish King's name aloud inside the theater. We were reprimanded if we scoffed at the 'superstition'. I have heard stories of broken bones, car accidents, illnesses, terrible and bizarre bad luck befalling those who'd spoken the M. word aloud. All attributed to the utterance of that name.

You are allowed to speak the play's title during rehearsal, only if it's in one of your lines. Other than that, you must never do it. If you do, you jeopardize not only yourself, but your castmates as well.

There is a way to avert the curse if you mistakenly speak the king's name out loud. If you, like a nitwit, say the Scottish King's name, you have to immediately go outside, spin around three times, spit, swear loudly, and hope for the best.

This is what I've been taught. It's been driven into me so that now when I hear the Scottish King's name I actually flinch. Amongst the cast that I was a part of, there were some people who didn't believe in the curse. Some people were careless with words. Some people laughed aloud at the gullibility of those who believed. They spoke the M. word freely, dismissing those who insisted that they go spin, spit and swear afterward to prevent catastrophe. We were warned and warned not to say his name but some people just would not heed.

A week before the play went up, there was an electrical fire in the theater. Thankfully, nobody was inside at the time. No one was hurt, but our lights were destroyed. If I remember correctly, the fire department was never able to identify the cause of the fire. The wires were not old or faulty. It seemed that they had just spontaneously combusted for no reason at all. It ended up costing a huge amount of money to repair all the damage. The theater was unusable for the play and we had to cancel some shows. A replacement set was hastily built for us to perform with at the amphitheater across campus.

I am by no means superstitious. I don't really believe in the curse. I think it's silly superstition and nothing more. Really, I do! But through bizarre bad luck stories and my own experience, I've somehow been conditioned not to take any chances; I can never bring myself to say the play's name out loud.

Here's another thing that happened during that play. I've just remembered it and feel like sharing. I think this was on the night of our first performance. The entire amphitheater is outdoors with no roof. As the play started, a raven came and perched nearby. Beautiful bird it was. It made no noise at all, only watched all the players. During one of Lady M.'s monologues, "The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements. Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here..." the raven alit and began circling over the set. It went back and perched itself on a tree after a bit, but later, I looked up and it was flying in circles near a patch of trees to the west of us as the Scottish King was speaking the line, "the crow / Makes wing to the rooky wood"
Weird, eh?
It flew away during the last scene. Unlike the fire, the bird's visit felt a bit like a blessing.

One day, slightly before Halloween, I came home and found my little sister (age nine), with strange red marks on her hands.

"What happened to your hands?" I asked.

"Dad hit me," she said plaintively. "Just kidding. It's fake blood. I was playing Lady Macbeth. Isn't that funny?"

Of course, she had had her Halloween party the day before, which I had conveniently missed, afraid as I am of hordes of screaming nine-year-olds. "Bah, what do you know about Lady Macbeth?" I asked her.

"Lady Macbeth was the wife of Macbeth in the play Macbeth. She convinced her husband to kill the king and his servants. And then she had a dream where she had blood all over her hands, which she couldn't wash off. And it's ironic, because now I have all this fake blood on my hands that I can't wash off."

Now this kid is NINE FREAKING YEARS OLD, and can make a complex literary allusion as well as accurate applied criticism. I think that means she's going to grow up more like me than like our other sister.

Macbeth, like many of Shakespeare's plays, is based on true events. There really was a King Macbeth of Scotland, he reigned between 1040 and 1057 AD. Although he wasn't ever thane of either Glamis or Cawdor, he really was a great warrior who had to avenge his father's murder. The details are very different, but the seed of the story was there.

On the subject of "the curse" of Macbeth, the play's name is said to have been cursed by 17th Century Witches, who resented real spells appearing in the play's text. For example, in act 4, scene 1

"Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisn'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venum sleeping got.
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot"

Since its opening night in 1604, Macbeth has been notorious for both backstage and onstage accidents and deaths. One such event occurred in 1672, when Macbeth switched the fake dagger with a very real and pointy one, and subsequently killed Duncan on-stage.

This whole "curse" business just goes to show that in the theatre, as in the rest of life, bad things happen around superstitious people. You could say that I am very superstitious about superstitious people, as the catalogues of disaster they seem to command are quite extraordinary. If you meet one, I can recommend performing the cleansing ritual of spinning widdershins thrice, then applying your fist firmly to the offender's nose. Otherwise you might end up as just another statistic. On the other hand, I understand that encountering two such individuals is a good omen.

As to the play itself, I will only add that Akira Kurosawa directed a masterful Japanese adaptation, which goes by the name Throne of Blood in English.

Macbeth, "the Scottish play," was written about an historical figure, and for King James I of England (King James VI of Scotland). Shakespeare had been the court playwright of Queen Elizabeth, and wanted to retain such a position when James took the throne. You see, Banquo was King James' great-great-great-blah-blah-blah-grand-daddy. There is a pivotal scene, act 4, scene 1, which predicts not only the remaining events in the play, but also eight generations of history leading to King James ascending to the throne of England.

In this scene, Macbeth seeks out the weird sisters, and seeks further advice from them. They show him three apparitions that relate to the future events of the play, leading to Macbeth's downfall. There is a fourth apparition, however, the sisters and Hecate call up after Macbeth demands to know what will come of Banquo's children. Out comes a line of eight kings and Banquo's ghost, as described with Macbeth's narration:

Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo: down!
Thy crown does hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
What, will the crack of doom?
Another yet! A seventh! I'll see no more:
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible sight! Now, I see, 'tis true;
For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.

Each of the eight kings in this line, are kin of Banquo, the leading king, James' father, being the youngest, most recent (to James) king. When he holds up the looking glass, James, being in the seat of honor at the premier (obviously - he's the king!), would see himself at the head of this line of kings that Macbeth himself was so impressed with (and afraid of). Macbeth says the glass shows him "many more," while James would've been the only king reflected in the glass; this line hints to James' lineage retaining the throne in the generations to come, a sentiment he was sure to have appreciated.

It is told that Shakespeare did receive the patronage of King James, and I have heard evidence (via the Holy Tabernacle Church), that Shakespeare was even one of the many interpreters of the King James Version of the Bible. I'll dig that evidence up, and submit it when it's found.

Maslow in Macbeth

Maslow's hierarchy of motives is shown in Macbeth as he progresses through the esteem needs of ambition and prestige, becoming closer to self-actualization.

Since Macbeth has already fulfilled his physiological, survival, and belonging needs, he now starts to satisfy his esteem needs, beginning with ambition and prestige. This is first shown in Act I when Macbeth realizes that all he has to make him murder Duncan is "vaulting ambition." Throughout the play, Macbeth is continually pushed by his ambition as he tries to attain more prestige. This is what starts the chain of murders; Macbeth kills Duncan to get prestige and kills everyone else to keep his position of prestige.

As Macbeth progresses through the esteem needs, he is constantly becoming closer to self-actualization, which is at the top of Maslow's pyramid of motives. Self-actualization is realizing the truth about oneself, and Macbeth reveals more of himself as he orders the bloody killings, showing him the cold and murderous side of himself. Also, the witches' prophesies in Act IV show him that his children will not become kings, which tells Macbeth that he will be defeated. As the guilt and worries about being found out start to weigh more heavily on him, Macbeth gets more desperate and reveals his true character as cold-hearted and doing anything to remain powerful, yet still loving, as is shown in his attempts to cure Lady Macbeth. These personality processes are responsible for Macbeth's behavior and help him reach his highest potential of self-actualization, but his weak, power-hungry self is not entirely what he expected.

Maslow's theories are apparent throughout the development of Macbeth's character in this play and help in the understanding of the psychology in Macbeth.

According to George Meredith, "the true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter." In other words, the best examples of comedy lead to laughter but also contribute to the meaning of the work and contain some degree of subtle commentary. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the porter scene following Duncan's heinous slaying evokes this brand of "thoughful laughter." Although the grotesque gatekeeper character immediately prompts comedy, it also hints at a deeper significance. This "thoughtful laughter" primarily provides comic relief, but it also contributes to the meaning of the work by serving as a metaphor for the gates of hell and as a transition from the murders to the continuation of the drama in a less supernatural setting.

Macbeth's porter scene functions above all as slapstick comic relief following the slaughter of King Duncan. The grotesque, troll-like gatekeeper dissipates the tension with his drunken banter, presenting a raucous parody of Macbeth's internal torment. For example, he paints a darkly comic caricature of the suspense that now pervades the Macbeth household by making light of the sudden knocking at the gates that so startled Lady Macbeth. Yet this also serves as a paradox - the parody also furthers the tension by prolonging the time between Duncan's murder and the continuation of the plot. This scene immediately prompts laughter with both the porter's light soliloquy and the heightening of the suspense.

However, the character's drunken stupor also gives rise to one of the second act's central metaphors - the house of Macbeth as the gates of hell. His speech refers to satanic images, and he views himself as Beelzebub's gatekeeper. In this act, Shakespeare sees Castle Macbeth as the central dominion of death and corruption, evidenced by the sadistic machinations of its Lady and the bloodthirsty acts of its Master. The porter scene emphasizes the fact that all who enter the castle and stand in the way of Macbeth's ambition might as well have entered Hell, as they will certainly find a fiery demise within. While this scene elicits laughter, it also contributes to Shakespeare's condemnation of Macbeth's escapades.

Macbeth's porter scene also furthers the drama's structure. The previous deeds in Act II have all transpired in a fantasy netherworld - these shocking murders could not have occurred with Shakespeare's normal tone. The porter scene, by evoking laughter, serves as a transition from the supernatural world of murder to the more mundane realm of political plotting. The Bard accomplishes this suddenly - the trollish porter's maniacal hilarity contrasts sharply with the portentous tone of the previous scene, thereby snapping the audience back into the real world. Thus, the scene provides a dramatic transition into normality.

Shakespeare's porter scene causes "thoughtful laughter" in Macbeth because of its immediate comic tone, yet it also illuminates one of the play's central metaphors and transforms the macabre aura into a more earthly one. This scene passes George Meredith's "true test of comedy" with its blend of slapstick and meaning. Macbeth receives both a break in the incessant suspense and an expansion of Shakespeare's dramatic modus operandi. Thus, the "thoughtful laughter" prompts both exaggerated comedy and a deeper understanding of the play's symbolism.

William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'

CLASSIFICATION:

Macbeth is a Shakespearean tragedy - a noble hero who is twisted by a fatal flaw (in this case, unchecked ambition) and ends up bringing about his own destruction.

BACKGROUND:

Macbeth is based (very loosely) upon history, and Shakespeare discovered the story in Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1577) by Raphael Holinshed. The life of Macbeth, the man, was first documented in the fourteenth century by John of Fordun, then again in the sixteenth century by Hector Boece (or Boyce), George Buchanan and John Leslie.

In truth, Macbeth was a good king, and ruled Scotland for 17 years, following on from the weak King Duncan. In this play, however, Macbeth is a tyrant who rules for a matter of months, and King Duncan, who was disposed, was an enormously respected ruler. Some other changes made by William Shakespeare include: dramatising Lady Macbeth; Macbeth killing Duncan himself (instead of assassins); Banquo is ignorant of the planned treason; Banquo is murdered before the banquet (instead of after) and Macbeth being killed by Macduff (instead of fleeing). The apparitions, ghost and `show of kings' are also not featured in the original story.

Shakespeare's company of actors were under the patronage of James I (and were known as the King's Men), and it is likely that Macbeth was first performed in 1606 to mark the visit of King Christian of Denmark to the English court. As he was writing for James I, Shakespeare altered the traditional story in order to please his patron (aside from the changes listed above): Mary Queen of Scots is not shown in the `show of kings'; the Danes who reinforced Sweno's army are not mentioned; the qualities of good kingship feature often, along with the supernatural (James I had written a treatise on the art of government and also a book named Demonology (1597) following his `attempted murder' by witchcraft); the divine nature and healing power of kings is another theme; James' family tree is the underlying background to the story and references to the Gunpowder Plot are included.

CHARACTERS:

(in no particular order)

• Macbeth - the Thane of Glamis, cousin to the King of Scotland and a victorious/honourable general
• Lady Macbeth - the wife of Macbeth
• Macduff - the Thane of Fife
• Lady Macduff - the wife of Macduff
• Lady Macduff's Son - (self-explanatory)
• Duncan - the benevolent King of Scotland
• Donalbain - the youngest son of the King
• Malcom - the eldest son of the King
• Lennox - a Thane
• Ross - a Thane
• Banquo - friend of Macbeth and general
• Fleance - son of Banquo
• Captain - wounded man who tells the King of Macbeth's triumphs in battle
• Seyton - Macbeth's armour bearer
• Porter - drunken warden of Macbeth's castle's door
• Scottish Doctor - doctor who attends Lady Macbeth
• Gentlewoman - attends Lady Macbeth
• Three Murderers
• Old Man - man in Macbeth's castle who talks with Lennox
• Menteith - a Thane
• Angus - a Thane
• Caithness - a Thane
• Hecate - goddess of witchcraft who helps the Weird Sisters
• Siward - Earl of Northumberland
• Young Siward - Siward's son
• English Doctor - at King Edward's court
• Weird Sisters - three witches who plot against Macbeth, causing havoc
• and various Lords, Soldiers, Servants/Attendants and Messengers.

Plot and Important Quotes from the Play:

NOTES ON SET OUT:

ACT NUMBER:

Act summary

• SCENE NUMBER:
  Action
  • "Quote" Act/Scene/Lines Quoted
    (Analysis/explanation of quote where needed)

MACBETH by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:

ACT ONE:

In which we meet the characters, and Macbeth/Lady Macbeth plot treason.

• SCENE ONE:
  Three witches discuss when they will meet Macbeth, and set play's values.
  • "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" 1/1/11
    (Values in play will be reversed - things that look good will be bad and vice versa)
• SCENE TWO:
  The King, Duncan, and some of the nobles meet to hear the news of a battle against Norwegians and traitors from a wounded Captain, who praises Macbeth, and says that the traitor Thane of Cawdor has been executed.
  • "Go pronounce his present/death,/And with his former title greet Macbeth." 1/2/64-65
  • "What he ((traitor Thane of Cawdor)) hath lost noble Macbeth hath won." 1/2/68
    (Macbeth will be made Thane of Cawdor (but will also inherit being a traitor))
• SCENE THREE:
  Macbeth meets the witches with Banquo, riding back after the battle.
  • "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!"
    "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!"
    "All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!" 1/3/48-50
    (Witches prophesise Macbeth's titles)
  
  Banquo receives a prophesy that his children will be on the throne. Macbeth and Banquo are joined by Angus and Ross, who give him a title (he now has two of the titles prophesised by the Weird Sisters).
  • "If good, why do I yield to that suggestion,/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair?" 1/3/34-5
    (Macbeth immediately thinks of further gain - ie third title of King)
• SCENE FOUR:
  Duncan thanks Macbeth for commanding the armies, and speaks of the traitor Thane.
  • "There's no art/To find the mind;s construction in the face./He was a gentleman on whom I built/An absolute trust." 1/4/12-15
    (Duncan is easily fooled - also, reverse of values in sight)
  
  Duncan then pronounces Malcom to be his hier, and Macbeth thinks killing Malcom.
  • "The Prince of Cumberland - that is a step,/On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,/For in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires,/Let not light see my black and deep desires./The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be,/Which the eye fears when it it done to see." 1/4/48-53
• SCENE FIVE:
  Lady Macbeth hears the news in a letter from Macbeth, and considers how willing her husband would be to act.
  • "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What thou art promised; yet I do fear thy nature,/It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness/To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/Art not without ambition, but without/The illness should attend it." 1/4/15-20
    (Macbeth has ambition, but would not kill the King)
  
  Lady Macbeth resolves to act.
  • "Come you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty" 1/5/40-43
    (Lady Macbeth wishes for masculinity and hardness to that she can act)
  • "Come thick/night,/And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,/That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,/Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,/To cry `Hold, hold!'" 1/5/49-53
    (And that heaven is blinded against her evil thoughts)
  
  Macbeth arrives at the castle, and Lady Macbeth plants suggestions of murder, having just received the news that Duncan will be staying the night.
  
  • "To beguile the time,/Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,/Your hand, your tongue; look like th' innocent/flower,/But be the serpent under't. He that's coming must be provided for" 1/5/63-68
    (Macbeth should trick Duncan, then murder him)
• SCENE SIX:
  Duncan and nobles arrive at Macbeth's castle, and comment on what a nice place it is.
• SCENE SEVEN:
  Macbeth mulls over the decision to murder Duncan, and decides against action. Lady Macbeth arrives, and scorns her husband into action.
  • "I am settled" 1/7/79
  • "Away, and mock the time with fairest show:/False face must hide what the false heart doth know." 1/7/81-82
    (Macbeth is decided, and now must present a friendly face at the night's banquet)

ACT TWO:

In which the murder of the King is carried out.

• SCENE ONE:
  Banquo and Fleance are going to bed - Macbeth enquires as to where Banquo's loyalties lie, and it is clear that Banquo will be honourable. When Macbeth is alone, he sees a dagger pointing towards Duncan's room.
  • "Is this a dagger which I see before me,/The handle towards my hand?/ Come let me clutch/thee./I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." 2/1/33-35
  
  Macbeth hears his cue to murder, a bell.
  • "I go, and it is done. The bell invites me./Hear it not Duncan. for it is a knell/That summons thee to heaven or to hell." 2/1/62-64
• SCENE TWO:
  A drunk Lady Macbeth waits for her husband to return, going over the plan.
  • "That which hath made them drunk hath made/me bold" 2/2/1
  
  Macbeth arrives with the murder weapons still in his hand, obsessed with the thought that he is now dammed.
  • "But wherefore could I not pronounce `Amen'?/I had most need of blessing, and `Amen'/Stuck in my throat." 2/2/28-30
    (The innability to pray was considered to be a sign of damnation)
  
  Lady Macbeth tells him to pull himself together, and to plant the daggars.
  • "Go get some water,/And wash this filthy witness from your hand./Why did you bring these daggars from the place?/They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear/The sleepy grooms with blood." 2/2/43-47
    (The grooms outside Duncan's door are to be blamed for the murder, as Lady Macbeth has drugged their drinks)
  
  Lady Macbeth takes the daggers from Macbeth, and plants them herself. Macbeth considers the blood on his hands.
  • "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/The multitudinous seas incarnadine,/Making the green one red." 2/2/57-60
    (Blood is now symbolic of guilt, and Macbeth knows he will always be guilty)
  
  Lady Macbeth returns with bloody hands, and a knock is heard at the door.
  • "I hear a/knocking/At the south entry. Retire we to our chamber./A little water clears us of this deed. How easy it is then!" 2/2/62-65
    (Lady Macbeth keeps her head, washing her hands and leaving the area)
  
  Macbeth shows his regret before leaving.
  • "Wake Duncan with thy knocking. I would thou/couldst." 2/2/71
• SCENE THREE:
  The porter lets in the knockers, pretending he is the porter of the gate of hell. It is Macduff and Lennox. Macduff goes to wake the King. Lennox and the just-'woken' Macbeth talk. Macduff arrives with the news that the King is murdered. Lady Macbeth Banquo, Donalbain and Malcom all arrive. Macbeth has just run up to Duncan's bedchamber and killed the two guards.
  • "O yet I do repent me of my fury,/That I did kill them." (Macbeth)
    "Wherefore did you so?" (Suspicious Macduff)
    "Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious,/Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man./The expedition of my violent love/Outran the pauser, reason." (Macbeth) 2/3/104-109
  
  Lady Macbeth faints to take the pressure off Macbeth. It is assumed that the guards killed the King. Donalbain and Malcom leave for Ireland and England, fearing for their lives.
• SCENE FOUR:
  Ross and an Old Man gossip about last night's events. Macduff arrives, and says that it appears that the King's sons hired the murderers. Ross is disgusted.
  • "Thriftless ambition, that will ravin up/Thine own life's means! Then `tis most like/ The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth." (Ross)
    "He is already named, and gone to Scone/To be invested." (Macduff) 2/4/28-32

ACT THREE:

In which Macbeth's stolen power and ambition twist him.

• SCENE ONE:
  Macbeth is now King, but Banquo suspects him.
  • "Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,/As the weird women promised, and I fear/Thou play'dst most foully for't" 3/1/1-3
  
  Macbeth and his lady make a fuss of inviting Banquo to a banquet. Banquo tells Macbeth that he is riding with his son that afternoon. Macbeth, alone, is bitter that as his prophesies came true, Banquo's children will be on the throne. He speaks with some murderers, who are convinced to murder Banquo.
  • "If is concluded. Banquo, thy soul's flight,/If it find heaven, must find it out tonight." 3/1/141-142
• SCENE TWO:
  Macbeth and Lady Macbeth talk about Banquo, and Macbeth hints that he has a plan.
  • "O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife./Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives." 3/2/36-37
  • "What's to be done?" (Lady Macbeth)
    "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,/Till thou applaud the deed. Come seeling night,/Scarf up thy tender eye of pitiful day,/And with thy bloody and invisible hand/Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond/Which keeps me pale." (Macbeth) 3/2/44-49
    (What Lady Macbeth doesn't know can't hurt her, but she will approve of the plan. Macbeth is confident.)
• SCENE THREE:
  The three murderers wait for Banquo and Fleance to return to the palace in a park, where they surprise them. Banquo is murdered, Fleance escapes.
• SCENE FOUR:
  Macbeth holds a banquet. The murderers report to him. Macbeth enters the banquet, ad toasts health. Macbeth is about to sit, when he sees the ghost of Banquo in his chair and babbles.
  • "Which of you have done this?" (Macbeth)
    "What, my good lord?" (Lords)
    "Thou canst not say I did it; never shake/Thy gory locks at me." (Macbeth) 3/4/49-51
  
  Lady Macbeth tells the men to eat, and that Macbeth is simply not feeling well. She takes Macbeth aside, and scorns him. The ghost disappears, and Macbeth talks of murder with his lady.
  • "The time has been,/That when the brains were out, the man would die,/And there an end. But now they rise again./With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,/And push us from our stools." 3/4/78-82
  
  Macbeth returns to the table, and toasts joy, and his `missing' friend Banquo. The ghost reappears. Macbeth starts babbling, and Ross asks questions.
  • "What sights, my lord?" (Ross)
    "I pray you speak not; he grows worse and worse./Question enrages him. At once, good night./Stand not upon the order of your going./But go at once." (Lady Macbeth) 3/4/16-120
    (Lady Macbeth makes excuses, scared that Macbeth will reveal all.)
  
  Everybody leaves. Macbeth is scared, his lady is quiet.
  • "It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood./Stones have been known to move, and trees/to speak." 3/4/122-123
    (There is disorder in the land, which will only stop when the rightful king rules)
  
  Macbeth decides to learn of his future from the Weird Sisters, and to continue his bloody course.
  • "I am in blood/Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more,/Returning were as tedious as to go o'er." 3/4/136-138
• SCENE FIVE: (NB: It is commonly held that this scene was not written by Shakespeare!)
  
  Hecate meets with the witches, and is angry at them for dealing with Macbeth without her permission. She tells them that they, with her help, will make an illusion-inducing potion which they will show to Macbeth, making him over-confident.
• SCENE SIX:
  Lennox and another Lord speak about what's happened so far (a really good plot summary), both obviously hating Macbeth. It becomes known that Malcom is in England, and has sent for the honourable Macduff.

ACT FOUR:

In which Macbeth is a monster.

• SCENE ONE:
  The witches are preparing the potion, and waiting for Macbeth.
  • "Double, double toil and trouble;/Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." 4/1/10-11
    (The harder that Macbeth tries to work out of trouble, the more it will increase)
  NB: The next part where Hecate and three other witches arrive is also commonly held to have not been written by Shakspeare.
  The witches feel a great evil approaching.
  • "By the pricking of my thumbs,/Something wicked this way comes" 4/1/44-45
    (For the witches to feel a great evil, Macbeth must be truly evil)
  
  Macbeth enters and, via a long spiel, demands that the witches answer his questions, his desperation for knowledge shown by him being prepared to sacrifice the good of the entire world for his answers. The witches perform magic, and an apparition appears.
  • "Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth, beware Macduff;/Beware the Thane of Fife." 4/1/71-72
    (Apparition is an armed head, ie head in helmet)
  
  Disappears. A second apparition appears.
  • "Be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn/The power of man, for none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth." 4/1/79-81
    (Apparition is a bloody child)
  
  Disappears. A third apparition appears.
  • "Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until/Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill/Shall come against him." 4/1/92-94
    (Apparition is a child crowned holding a tree)
  
  Disappears. Although, throughout the spell, the witches have warned Macbeth not to speak to the magic, he asks whether Banquo's children will reign. Macbeth is shown a show of eight kings, the last of whom holds a glass in his hand in which Macbeth can see yet more kings. Then Banquo briefly appears, smiles, and points at the kings. Macbeth then calls in Lennox, who was outside the cavern and who tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth decides to act.
  • "From this moment/The very firstlings of my heart shall be/The firstlings of my hand. And even now,/To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and/done./ The castle of Macduff I will surprise,/Seize upon Fife, give to the edge o' th' sword/ His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls/That trace him in his line." 4/1/146-153
• SCENE TWO:
  At Fife, where Lady Macduff and Ross are talking. Ross tells Lady Macduff that Macduff has gone to England.
  • "His flight was madness. When our actions do not,/Our fears do make us traitors." 4/2/3-4
    (Lady Macduff condemns her husband's `selfishness' in a dangerous time)
  
  Ross tells Lady Macduff that her husband is honourable, then leaves. Lady Macduff and her son have a conversation about how Macduff was a traitor (Shakespeare used this so the audience would have sympathy for the next part, and so Macbeth would seem more of a monster). A messenger enters, and tells Lady Macduff to run.
  • "Whither should I fly?/I have done no harm." 4/2/71-72
  
  Murderers enter, and ask where Macduff is. The son is rude, and gets stabbed. He tells his mother to run, and she does (this only delays her death by moments).
• SCENE THREE:
  Macduff is at the English court, appealing to Malcom, who is suspicious. Macduff wants to overthrow Macbeth and put Malcom on the throne. Malcom tells Macduff that the country is better with the tyrant Macbeth, as Malcom is a greedy philanderer. Macduff is in despair - and Malcom now trusts him. Malcom admits that he lied about himself to test Macduff. A doctor enters, and Malcom explains to Macduff that the English king has powers of healing (ie Scotland), and that an army has already been raised. Ross now enters, and says that Scotland is suffering. Macduff enquires as to the wellbeing of his family - Ross is evasive, but eventually tells. Malcom urges Macduff to angrily choose to take revenge.
  • "Be comforted./Let's make us medicines of our great revenge,/To cure this deadly grief." 4/3/214-215

ACT FIVE:

In which Macbeth faces an army, and order is returned to Scotland.

• SCENE ONE:
  The Macbeths have been unable to sleep properly since Duncan's murder, and it is taking its toll. Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking (holding a taper), and her lady-in-waiting has called a doctor. Lady Macbeth starts `washing' her hands.
  • "Out damned spot, out I say! One, two; why then/`tis time to do't. Hell is murky. Fie my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows/it, when none can call out power to account? Yet/who would have thought the old man to have had/ so much blood in him?" (Lady Macbeth) 5/1/35-40
  • "The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now?/What, will these hands ne'er be clean? No more o' that my lord" 5/1/41-43
  • "She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of/that." (Gentlewoman) 5/1/48
  • "Here's the smell of blood still" (Lady Macbeth) 5/1/50
  • "Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look not/so pale. I tell you again Banquo's buried; he/cannot come out on's grave." (Lady Macbeth) 5/1/61-63
  • "...what's done, cannot be undone." (Lady Macbeth) 5/1/57
    (Earlier, she told Macbeth `what's done, is done' (3/2/11) implying that they would soon forget the murder. Now she knows they can't escape their crimes.)
  
  The doctor and gentlewoman are shocked.
  • "Foul whisperings are abroad. Unnatural deeds/Do breed unnatural troubles; infected minds/To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets. More needs she the divine than the physician./God, God forgive us all. Look after her,/Remove from her the means of all annoyance" (Doctor) 5/1/71-76
    (Her mind is corrupted, and tries to shed the pressure during sleep via revelations. She needs help with her soul rather than medicine. The means to kill herself must be removed. Also, during that period, sleepwalkers were considered to be possessed.)
• SCENE TWO:
  Scottish forces, led by Menteith, Caithness, Angus and Lennox are massing near Dunsinane, and are marching towards Birnam. It is revealed that Macbeth is almost without support - he only has mercenaries - and that he is creating a stronghold at Dunsinane.
• SCENE THREE:
  Macbeth's castle. Macbeth is confident, but agitated. He calls for his armour, then hears the Doctor's report on Lady Macbeth, then asks for a cure for Scotland.
• SCENE FOUR:
  Malcom, Siward, Young Siward, Macduff and the British soldiers have joined forces with the Scottish forces. Malcom is optimistic of victory over Macbeth.
  • "Let every soldier hew him down a bough,/And bear't before him, thereby shall we shadow/The numbers of our host, and make discovery/Err in report of us." 5/4/4-7
    (Each soldier shall carry a branch of Birnam wood - refer to Apparition 3)
• SCENE FIVE:
  Dunsinane castle. Macbeth believes he can withstand a seige. A cry is heard - Lady Macbeth has committed suicide. Macbeth does not have time to mourn... or is he truly a monster? He reflects on the insignificance of life.
  • "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,/Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,/ To the last syllable of recorded time;/And all our yesterdays have lighted fools/The way to dusty death." 5/5/19-23
  
  A messenger arrives with strange news.
  • "As I did stand my watch upon the hill,/I looked toward Birnam, and anon methought/ The wood began to move." 5/5/33-35
    (Apparition 3)
  
  Macbeth has always been a brave man. Understanding the significance of this, he still decides to meet the enemy.
• SCENE SIX:
  Outside the castle, Malcom orders his men to throw down the branches and prepare for battle.
  • "Make all our trumpets speak, give them all breath,/Those clamorous harbringers of blood and death." 5/6/9-10
• SCENE SEVEN:
  Macbeth and his men are now outside the castle. He knows he is trapped.
  • "They have me tied to a stake; I cannot fly,/But bear-like I must fight the course." 5/6/1-2
    (He is now like a beast, less than a man)
  
  Macbeth meets and kills Young Siward, but Macduff is catching up...
  Siward informs Malcom that the castle has been taken.
• SCENE EIGHT:
  Macduff and Macbeth meet. Macbeth says that he can be killed by no man born of a woman. Macduff reveals an interesting fact.
  • "Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb/Untimely ripped." 5/8/14-15
    (Macduff was born by caesarean section - refer Apparitions 1 and 2)
  
  Macbeth loses hope, and refuses to fight. Macduff says that if Macbeth does not fight, he will be taken around the countryside as a freak. Macbeth fights, and dies.
• SCENE NINE:
  Malcom and his loyal Thanes are in the castle's courtyard. Siward learns of his son's death, but does not mourn, as Young Siward did his duty and is in God's care. Macduff enters with Macbeth's head on a stake - all hail the new King of Scotland. Malcom promises to hunt down the allies of Macbeth, and reward the rebels. He says that Lady Macbeth is thought to have killed herself. Finally, everyone is invited to Scone to see him crowned.
  The end.

This is entirely my own work. If I have made a mistake in line references, please let me know!
The quotes are taken from: 'Macbeth' by the Heinemann Shakespeare Plays series, 1994

Distortion, disruption, and reversal in Macbeth

In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, ill omens make their eerie presence known. At each step of Macbeth's rise to power, reality is twisted, disrupted, and reversed all about him. Natural process is disrupted by his ambition. He hardly notices. As the other characters watch their world crumble around them, he is oblivious. It is the immorality of Macbeth's actions, and his lack of goodness that changes his surroundings. His fractured vision compounds the errors and disturbs the natural order. To emphasize Macbeth's error in going against natural process, Shakespeare uses distortions, disruptions, and reversals of natural events.

A significant reversal of natural events accompanying Macbeth's actions is the transformation of day into night. When Macbeth first plans to murder the rightful king Duncan, he wishes for the world to go dark. "The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires," (I, 1, 48-51). With no light, none will be able to witness his despicable deed. Such a total darkness that he wishes for is unnatural. It is a reversal from the brightness of the day that marks the beginning of Macbeth's fall from the place of a hero to the place of a villain.

Macbeth's internal realm, twisted and battered with strife, reflects the disorder of nature in accordance with his wish for darkness to conceal his deeds. As he is preparing to murder Duncan, strange visions occupy his thoughts. Reflectively, the world is darkened and plagued by the unnatural. Macbeth observes, "It is the bloody business which informs thus to mine eyes. Now o'er the one half-world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep; witchcraft celebrates Pale Hectate's offerings," (II, 1, 48-52). The darkness that covers half the world is a different sort from that of normal night. It is a fiendish darkness, devoid of goodness or peace. Such a setting perfectly correlates with the travesty Macbeth is about to enact.

When Macbeth commits his act of regicide, Lady Macbeth also observes a disruption in nature. While she is waiting pensively in the main hall, she worries about the success of her husband. At the moment that Macbeth murders Duncan, nature cries out through the birds. "Hark! Peace! It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman, which gives the stern'st good-night. He is about it," (II, 2, 2-4). When Macbeth finally returns, he inquires about a noise. Though he is referring to the words of the guards in their sleep, Lady Macbeth is still worried about the ill omens she previously heard. "I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry," (II, 2, 14-15). As Lady Macbeth says herself, the owl disrupts the night with his harsh cry that bears ill fortune as Duncan is murdered.

The weather deeply reflects Macbeth's incredible transgression. When the lords come to see the king in the morning, they relate to Macbeth the strange occurrences of the night before:

The night has been unruly.  Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down, and, as they say,
Lamentings heard I' th' air, strange screams of
death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatched to th' woeful time: the obscure bird
Clamored the livelong night.  Some say, the earth
Was feverous and did shake. (II, 3, 56-63)

The combination of storming weather and ghostly cries further emphasize the true chaos Macbeth is causing when he murders the King Duncan.

Weather also emphasizes the other-worldliness of the weïrd sisters. Their prophecy of kingship drives Macbeth to attempt a seizure of the throne. They also goad him on when he is beginning to lose confidence in his position. Whenever these sisters make their appearance, the play makes a specific note that they should be accompanied by "thunder and lightning," (I, 1, 1). The weather effects of thunder and lightening symbolize their great power. The disturbance of calm also emphasizes the weïrd sisters' unnatural presence. The sisters provide a fitting summary of the events that accompany Macbeth's ascension to and eventual fall from the throne. Their words evoke the inner distortion and corruption of Macbeth which leads to the outer reversal of natural events, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," (1, I, 10).

Normal human activities are twisted and disrupted by Macbeth's rise to power. The feast, which in normal circumstances is a time of celebration, reverses itself into a time of mourning. As Macbeth begins a feast with his lords, he comments on the congeniality of the situation: "Both sides are even: here I'll sit I' th' midst: Be large in mirth; anon we'll drink a measure the table round," (III, 4, 11-12). The pleasant atmosphere soon dissipates, however, when Macbeth reacts to the site of Banquo's ghost. His repeated outbursts are enough to bring the feast to a screeching halt, reversing the celebration into something undesirable. Terrified by Macbeth's raving, Lady Macbeth exclaims, "You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting, with most admired disorder," (III, 4, 109-110). The turnaround from a time of joy to a time of sorrow as a consequence of Macbeth's guilty conscience is startling.

The greatest reversal of the play and one of the greatest examples of the twists in natural events concerns the fortunes of Scotland. When the play begins, King Duncan has successfully warded off invaders from foreign lands, maintaining the peace and prosperity of Scotland. By the end of the play, it becomes clear that Scotland's fortunes have been thoroughly reversed by the malevolence of Macbeth. When Macduff and the exiled prince Malcom meet, Macduff says, "Each new morn new widows howl, new orphans cry, new sorrows strike heaven on the face, that it resounds as if it felt with Scotland and yelled out like syllable of dolor," (IV, 3, 4-8). The whole of Scotland goes from a land blessed by a good king and victory in battle to a squalid, suffering hell.

Throughout the play, Shakespeare indicates the strangeness and horrible nature of Macbeth's actions through disruptions and reversals of events. The witches announce this pattern when they leave the stage in the first scene. The pattern continues to hold from the moment of Macbeth's contemplation of murdering King Duncan to the traitor's final downfall from the throne. All of the realms of nature from the smallest to the largest are reversed and disrupted. Everything is distorted as Macbeth twists reality to serve is over-reaching ambition. The immensity of Macbeth's crimes becomes readily apparent to the reader through these layers of distortion. To emphasize Macbeth's error in going against natural process, Shakespeare skillfully uses symbolic distortions, disruptions, and reversals of natural events.

Throughout the entirety of MacBeth, Shakespeare works in a cunning and subtle `bird theme'. Often birds are used to represent a sequence of events, or characters from the play; we meet this time and time again. I think that you'll see what I mean after reading the following points, on the more obvious examples in the play.

Act 4, Scene 2; almost this entire scene is taken up by Lady MacDuff and her son talking about, and comparing themselves to different types of birds. He, as a child calls himself a "thrush", this is an obvious reference to his size, as he is still small in stature, much like the thrush is in comparison with other birds. The thrush is a very quick bird, which matches the young MacDuff's quick wit. He says that he is like a Thrush in the way that he will "do with what he gets", his mother then warns him of all of the dangers a small bird must face to survive, appropriate as MacDuff had become MacBeth's enemy, and even as they spoke assassins were riding to kill them both.

Earlier in Act 2, Scene 4, some people are talking about all of the strange things that have been occurring in the world since MacBeth murdered the King. The Old Man says, "On Tuesday last, a falcon towering in her pride of place was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed". This is a reversal in nature, and in those times that is exactly what the murder of a king by anyone's hand but God's would have seemed like- a reversal in all things natural. Duncan (the former King of Scotland) is represented by the falcon, such a noble bird to be killed by a mere owl, the owl represents MacBeth, who was once a loyal and trust worthy servant to the King.
This is the more obvious translation of this passage, however I have another theory as to what it may mean. The falcon, though a noble bird is surely out ranked by a few other birds? The falcon is referred to as "she", so I think that it might represent Lady MacBeth, with the mousing owl still as MacBeth himself. The owl's act of killing the falcon could represent Lady MacBeth's loss on power over MacBeth as he declines into madness.

All through the play birds are used, ravens, eagles, falcons, sparrows, owls, usually to represent a person, but sometimes for pure dramatic effect. For example Act 2, Scene 2 "an owl shrieks" in the middle of Lady MacBeth's speech. Birds are never put on the side of good or evil; they are merely neutral bystanders, much like the rest of nature. No living birds are mentioned when the three witches are on stage, the only reference to one is a part of their potion, a "howlet's wing" is used in the infamous "Hubble-Bubble" [potion.

William Shakespeare uses this `bird theme to good effect throughout the play, creating subtle comparisons with what is happening to the characters in the play to what is happening with birds in the wild.

Please note that anything in Italics is taken from Shakespeare's MacBeth, thank-you.

Double, Double: Paradox in Macbeth

By August 7, 1606, the day on which some historians claim Macbeth was first performed, William Shakespeare's two tetralogies of English history plays were by some estimates already seven years behind him. A new king had come from the north in 1603 to unify the crowns of England and Scotland, an accession that gave Shakespeare, then halfway through his career, a new patron and new politics to negotiate. A long-standing reading of Macbeth rests upon the foundation of its ultimate patronage and the scene of its first performance--for King James I himself and the visiting King Christian IV of Denmark. Many critics have long read the play as if not specifically commissioned by then certainly intended as a compliment to the King, and a complement to his political and spiritual tracts. Further analysis, however, reveals significant disruptions in what Alan Sinfield terms this "Jamesian Reading."

As with his other histories, Shakespeare took his characters and plot largely from contemporary chronicles, including Holinshed's. In it, we see the plot largely as we recognize it from the play, with some notable exceptions. The essential characters are there, including the witches (whose prophecies Shakespeare took almost verbatim), Macbeth, Duncan, Banquo, Fleance, and MacDuff. Holinshed puts Duncan down as overly kind and condemns Macbeth as overly cruel, and in a nod to Machiavellian politics suggests that "the mean vertue betwixt these two extremities" (207) might have made a very decent king.

Neither of their histories--Holinshed's nor Shakespeare's--is particularly accurate or all encompassing. King Duncan reigned from 1034-1040, Macbeth for another seventeen years after that. Duncan's reign was characterized by rebellion and warfare; Macbeth's was stable enough to allow him a trip to Rome. Duncan died not in his bed, but on the battlefield near Elgin, defending his crown from the combined forces of Macbeth and Thorfinn, the Jarl of Orkney, and it was Duncan's son Malcolm, as opposed to MacDuff, who ultimately killed Macbeth--possibly in single combat, and almost certainly miles away from Dunsinane. Importantly, however, Shakespeare does include in his version of events the military aid lent to Malcolm under the Earl of Northumberland. Such a selective portrayal of history, especially in the scenes dedicated to singing the praises of England's then King Edward I and the dramatic reduction of Macbeth's reign to an apparently brief temporal eruption in an otherwise stable successive line attest to James' influence over the play in favor of his own political agenda: emphasizing the "rightness" of