Macbeth Plot

• The witches gather, planning to meet Macbeth after the battle
• Macbeth is a brave and honourable soldier
• To reward his efforts in battle, King Duncan names Macbeth the new Thane of Cawdor
• Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches who tell Macbeth he will be King and tell Banquo he will be the father of kings
• Macbeth begins to think about the possibility of becoming the King

- Macbeth: 'If Chance will have me King, why, Chance may crown me.' (Iiii)

- King Duncan (to Macbeth): 'O worthiest cousin!' (Iiv)

- Macbeth: 'Let not light see my black and deep desires' (Iiv)

• Lady Macbeth shares her husband's ambition for the throne - she fears that Macbeth is too good and honourable to achieve his ambitions
• She appears crueller tan her husband and makes plans for the murder of Duncan
• The immorality and the possible consequences of the murder cause Macbeth great anxiety
• He decides not to murder the King but Lady Macbeth bullies him into agreeing to her plan

- Lady Macbeth: 'The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan / Under my battlements.' (Iv)

- Macbeth (on the consequences of illing the King): '...tears shall down the wind.' (Ivii)

- Macbeth: ' I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat' (Ivii)

• Macbeth is disturbed by the idea of killing the King - vision of a dagger
• He is full of fear and panic after he has committed the murder - focussed on a noise
• He thinks he will never be able to rest or pray again - feels he is damned
• Lady Macbeth is more controlled and tries to calm him down - not to dwell - weak - returning the daggers - mocks his fears - blood can be easily washed off

- Macbeth: 'art thou but / A dagger of the mind.' (IIi)

- Lady Macbeth: 'These deeds must not be thought / After these ways: so, it will make us mad.' (IIii)

- Lady Macbeth: 'My hands are of your colour: but I shame / To wear a heart so white.' (IIii)

• Lennox and Macduff arrive at Macbeth's castle and the murder of King Duncan is dicovered - the Macbeths act shocked
• Macbeth kills the guards so they cannot be questioned - Lady Macbeth faints to distract from Macbeth - Banquo becomes suspicious
• Malcolm and Donalbain, fearing for their own lives, run away and are then suspected of plotting the murder
• Macbeth is pronounced King - Macduff doesn't attend - doubts about Macbeth's innocence

- Macduff: 'O horror, horror, horror!' (IIiii)

- Macbeth: '...his gash'd stabs look's like a breach in nature,' (IIiii)

- Donalbain: 'There's daggers in men's smiles...' (IIiii)

• Macbeth fears Banquo and does not want Banquo's children to succeed him as King - Banquo suspects that Macbeth killed the King
• He organises the murder of Banquo and Fleance, but Fleance escapes
• Lady Macbeth is worried about Macbeth's behaviour as he is still troubled by the murder of King Duncan - does not now about the planned murder
• She encourages him to act more cheerfully at the celebration feast

- Macbeth: 'Our fears in Banquo / Stick deep.' (IIIi)

- Macbeth: 'Upon my head they plac'd a fruitless crown.' (IIIi)

- Macbeth: 'O, full of scorpions is my mind.' (IIIii)

• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hold a banquet as King and Queen
• The murderer reports Banquo's death but Macbeth is disturbed to hear that Fleance escaped
• Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost and loses control in front of his guests - denying responsibility
• Lady Macbeth tries but fails to calm him down and keep order
• Hecate (witch) - begins to draw him on to his own downfall
• Some of the lords are beginning to turn against Macbeth, in particular Macduff, who has gone to England to raise an army

- Macbeth: 'Ourself will mingle with society.' (IIIiv)

- Macbeth: 'But now, I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confin'd bound in / To saucy doubts and fears' (IIIiv)

- Macbeth: 'Avaunt!and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!' (IIIiv)

• Macbeth revisits the witches and they present visions that trick Macbeth into feeling over-confident
• He gives orders for Macduff's entire family to be murdered
• Malcolm and Macduff describe Macbeth as a tyrant and discuss what a terrible place Scotland has become under his reign
• Macduff is brought news of his family's murder and vows to kill Macbeth

- Macbeth: 'give to th'edge o'th'sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.' (IVi)

- Malcolm: 'This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongue,' (IViii)

- Malcolm (on Scotland): 'It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash / Is added to her wounds:' (IViii)

• Lady Macbeth has been driven mad by guilt
• Macbeth is initially confident but begins to realise that the witches have tricked him
• Lady Macbeth dies, presumably by suicide
• Malcolm's army, using branches from Birnam Wood to hide their numbers, advance on Macbeth's castle
• Macbeth is illed in battle by Macduff and the throne is restored to the rightful King, Malcolm

- Lady Macbeth: 'Out, damned spot!' (Vi)

- Macbeth (to the Doctor): 'cast ? The water of my land, find her disease.' (Viii)

- Macbeth: 'I have supped full with horrors: / Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts...' (Vv)