Edexcel GCSE English Literature

Macbeth is a tragedy written by Shakespeare around 1606, set in an eleventh-century Scotland that Shakespeare took from Holinshed's Chronicles and reshaped. It follows a successful and loyal soldier who murders his king to take the throne, and who is destroyed by what that act makes of him.

Act 1: the prophecy and the decision to kill

Three witches meet on a heath amid thunder and agree to meet Macbeth. Their first exchange sets the play's habit of reversals: they speak of fair being foul and foul being fair. In the next scene a wounded captain reports to King Duncan that Macbeth and Banquo have defeated rebel forces and an invading Norwegian army, and that Macbeth fought with ferocious courage. Duncan names Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, after the previous Thane of Cawdor is condemned as a traitor.

Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches on their way back from battle. The witches hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, which he already is, then as Thane of Cawdor, and then as king to come. They tell Banquo that he will be less than Macbeth and greater, and that his descendants will be kings, though he will not be one. When Ross and Angus arrive and announce that Macbeth is Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth sees part of the prophecy come true, and he begins to think about murder. His thoughts about Duncan are frightening to him, but they will not go away. Banquo warns him that evil agents often tell small truths to lead people into serious harm.

Duncan names his son Malcolm as his heir, which Macbeth sees as a barrier in his way. Duncan announces that he will stay at Macbeth's castle at Inverness. Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth's letter about the prophecy, fears that her husband is too kind to seize the crown, and calls on dark spirits to remove her womanly feeling so that she can be cruel enough. When Macbeth arrives she tells him to look like an innocent flower and be the serpent underneath, and takes charge of the plan.

Macbeth wavers. In a soliloquy he lists the reasons not to kill Duncan: he is the king's kinsman and subject, and his host, and Duncan has been a good and gentle ruler. He has only ambition to set against all this. He tells Lady Macbeth that they will go no further, and she attacks his courage and manhood and tells him the plan: she will get the king's chamberlains drunk, and they will then smear the sleeping men with blood and blame them. Macbeth is persuaded.

Act 2: the murder

Banquo and his son Fleance, out in the night, meet Macbeth, who says nothing about the witches' prophecy but suggests that they speak later. Alone, Macbeth sees a dagger in the air pointing him toward Duncan's room, and he is not sure whether it is real. A bell rings, which is Lady Macbeth's signal, and he goes to commit the murder.

Lady Macbeth waits, nervously. She says that she could not kill the king herself because he looked like her father as he slept. Macbeth returns with the daggers in his hands and says that he has done the deed. He is horrified, and he could not say amen when one of the grooms prayed in his sleep. He believes that he heard a voice say that Macbeth had murdered sleep. Lady Macbeth sees that he has brought the daggers away with him, and returns them herself, smearing the grooms with blood. A knocking at the gate frightens them both, and she tells him to wash his hands and put on his nightgown. He fears that the blood on his hands could colour the whole ocean red.

The porter, comic and drunk, answers the knocking, pretending to be the gatekeeper of hell. Macduff and Lennox arrive to wake the king. Macduff finds Duncan dead and raises the alarm. Macbeth kills the two grooms before they can speak, which he says was out of fury at their crime. Lady Macbeth faints, which may be real or may be a distraction. Malcolm and Donalbain, the king's sons, fear for their lives and flee, Malcolm to England and Donalbain to Ireland. Their flight makes them look guilty, and Macbeth is named king. Ross and an old man speak of unnatural events: darkness at noon, a falcon killed by an owl, and Duncan's horses eating one another.

Act 3: Banquo's murder and the banquet

Banquo is suspicious of Macbeth and reflects that the witches' words to him might come true as well. Macbeth, now king, invites him to a feast and asks about his plans for the evening, learning that he and Fleance will ride out. Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he is troubled, that Banquo's line is a threat, and that he has a deed in mind, which he does not describe to her. He hires murderers, whom he persuades that Banquo has wronged them, and they kill Banquo on the road, but Fleance escapes.

At the banquet Macbeth learns from the murderer that Fleance is alive. When he goes to take his place at the table he sees the ghost of Banquo sitting in his seat, which no one else sees. He speaks to it, in front of his guests, and Lady Macbeth tries to explain that he has had such fits since youth. She sends the guests away when his behaviour grows too wild. Macbeth says that blood will have blood, and that he will go to the witches. He mentions that Macduff has refused to come to the feast, and that he has a spy in Macduff's household. The scene ends with Macbeth saying that he is so far in blood that going back would be as tedious as going on.

Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, scolds the witches for dealing with Macbeth without her. She plans to give him false confidence. A final short scene shows Lennox talking with another lord, using irony to show that he suspects Macbeth. They report that Macduff has gone to England to join Malcolm and ask for an army.

Act 4: the apparitions and the massacre

Macbeth returns to the witches, who are brewing a cauldron of grotesque ingredients. They summon three apparitions at his request: an armed head, which warns him to beware Macduff; a bloody child, which tells him that no man born of woman can harm him; and a child wearing a crown and holding a tree, which tells him that he cannot be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is comforted, but still asks whether Banquo's descendants will be kings. The witches show him a line of eight kings, with Banquo's ghost smiling at the end of it, and then vanish. Lennox tells him that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth decides to act at once on every impulse from now on, and to have Macduff's wife and children killed.

At Macduff's castle, Lady Macduff is angry that her husband has left his family, which she calls a kind of betrayal. She talks with her young son. Ross visits and tries to prepare her. A messenger warns her to flee, but murderers arrive, and kill her son on stage and then pursue the rest of the family.

In England, Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty by accusing himself of being greedy, lustful and unfit to rule, until Macduff despairs, and then admits that he was lying. Ross brings Macduff the news that his wife and children have been killed. Macduff is grief-stricken and swears to fight Macbeth himself. Malcolm tells him to turn his grief into anger. England has agreed to give Malcolm an army led by Siward.

Act 5: the downfall

A doctor and a gentlewoman watch Lady Macbeth sleepwalk. She rubs her hands as if washing them and cannot clean them of blood, and she speaks of Duncan's murder, of Lady Macduff and of Banquo. The doctor decides that she needs a priest more than a physician.

The Scottish lords go to join the English forces near Birnam Wood. Macbeth has fortified Dunsinane, and tells himself that he cannot be hurt by anyone born of a woman. He is told that an army of ten thousand is coming, and he is short with the servant. He asks the doctor to cure Lady Macbeth's mind, and is told that the patient must treat herself. The English army decides that each soldier will cut a branch and carry it as camouflage, and so hide their numbers.

A cry is heard, and Macbeth is told that Lady Macbeth is dead. His reaction is flat and weary. He says that she would have died at some time anyway, and reflects on life as a walking shadow and a tale told by an idiot. A messenger then says that he saw Birnam Wood begin to move. Macbeth starts to doubt the prophecy and says that he is weary of the sun, but he will fight on.

In battle Macbeth kills young Siward. Macduff searches for Macbeth alone. When they meet, Macbeth says that he has avoided Macduff so far because he has already done him too much harm. Macduff tells him he was not born in the natural way but was cut from his mother's womb before his time. Macbeth realises that the prophecy has deceived him, and says that he will not yield to Malcolm. They fight offstage, and Macduff returns carrying Macbeth's head. Malcolm is hailed as king of Scotland, rewards his supporters with the new title of earl, and invites everyone to his coronation at Scone. He calls Macbeth and his wife a dead butcher and a fiend-like queen.

Key moments to know well

• The dagger soliloquy, in which Macbeth's mind produces a vision that points him toward the crime.
• The reaction after the murder, where Macbeth fears he will never be clean.
• The banquet scene, in which Macbeth's guilt becomes visible to everyone in public.
• Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, in which her mind breaks down because she cannot put the guilt away.
• The "tomorrow" speech after her death, in which Macbeth sees life as meaningless.
• The final fight, in which the prophecy's loophole is revealed.