Shakespeare - Macbeth - plot summary

Macbeth is a spooky horror story set in Scotland. There are gory bits. There are witches and spooky visions. Macbeth and his wife commit so many horrible crimes that towards the end even Lady Macbeth goes mad with the horror of it all. What was it all for? The couple were power hungry and happy to kill their friends and family to fulfil their ambition to become royalty.

Did you know?

King James I was on the throne when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth. He was Scottish, so perhaps Shakespeare wrote a play about Scottish kings to please him.

Three witches meet on the heath and hatch a plan to meet again. They have some evil schemes in mind for a man called Macbeth.

Macbeth and his best friend Banquo are riding home from a big battle. The three ugly Witches appear and tell Macbeth that the King will give him a promotion. They also say that one day Macbeth will be king. They tell Banquo that in the future, his children will be kings too. Banquo doesn’t take it seriously.

Ross arrives from the King to tell Macbeth that he has a promotion. It seems like a big coincidence: Macbeth can’t stop thinking about what the Witches have said.

Did you know?

King James I was so worried about witches, he wrote a book about it. Perhaps the king’s interest in witchcraft gave Shakespeare some ideas for the Witches in his play.

Lady Macbeth opens a letter from her husband telling her all about the Witches and what they have promised him. She is really excited about being queen. She wants to kill the King so that Macbeth can become king as soon as possible. She worries that Macbeth is too nice to carry out this plan. She asks evil spirits to make her strong like a man.

When Macbeth comes home, Lady Macbeth talks about how they should kill the King. Macbeth isn’t keen. She treats Macbeth horribly until he agrees to do what she says.

King Duncan comes to stay at Macbeth’s castle.

Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that she has got the King’s guards drunk. She sends him off to commit the murder. Macbeth likes Duncan and doesn’t really want to kill him. He really wants to be king though. A ghostly dagger floats in front of him and points the way to King Duncan’s bedroom. Macbeth stabs Duncan. He comes back, covered in blood and still holding the murder weapons. It’s as if he is in shock. Lady Macbeth helps him plant the bloody daggers on Duncan’s drunken guards.

Macduff finds King Duncan dead in his room. Everyone panics. When the lords go to arrest Duncan’s guards, they discover that Macbeth has killed them. He says it’s because he was so angry with them for murdering Duncan, but it looks really suspicious.

Duncan’s sons are scared that they might be next on the hit list, so they run away. Soon after, Macbeth is made King of Scotland.

Did you know?

James I also believed that kings were chosen by God. This idea was known as the Divine Right of Kings. Kings could do anything they liked and couldn’t be challenged because they were more important than ordinary men and second only to God. Killing a king was a terrible sin. In the play, Macbeth knows this. He even says that the angels will weep when King Duncan dies.

Macbeth invites Banquo to a banquet. Their friendship has changed and things seem strained between them. Macbeth asks lots of leading questions about where Banquo is going riding that evening and whether his son will be with him.

Macbeth remembers what the Witches said about Banquo’s children becoming kings of Scotland. He is worried that Banquo’s son will take over from him. Even though Banquo is his best friend, he pays some thugs to murder him and his son.

The thugs brutally stab and kill Banquo, but his son, Fleance, runs away. One of the murderers turns up at the party to tell Macbeth what has happened. He is still covered in Banquo’s blood.

At a party, later on that evening, Macbeth thinks he can see Banquo’s gory ghost sitting at the dinner table. He is terrified, and everyone, including his wife, thinks he is acting really strangely.

Macbeth goes to see the Witches again. They are boiling up a horrible spell. Macbeth asks the Witches to tell him what will happen in the future.

Several ghosts appear. They warn Macbeth to keep an eye on Macduff. They tell Macbeth that he will be safe until the woods start climbing up the hill to his castle. They also say that no man who has been born can ever kill Macbeth. Macbeth believes that he is invincible. Even when they show him a prediction that Banquo’s son and his great great grandchildren will be kings in the future, Macbeth doesn’t realise that his fate will soon be a grisly one.

Macbeth gives orders for Macduff’s wife and young family to be assassinated. Macduff’s little boy is cheeky to the murderers and they kill him. Then they go after his mother.

Lady Macbeth’s gentlewoman calls the doctor. Lady Macbeth has been having bad dreams because she feels guilty about murdering the king. In her sleep, she talks about what happened. The doctor watches and feels that he has heard too much. He says that she needs a priest, not a doctor.

Meanwhile, things are not going well for Macbeth. Everyone is deserting him. When he hears that his wife has killed herself, this is the last thing that he needs.

A messenger tells Macbeth that he’s just seen some trees moving up the hill towards the castle. Macbeth starts to realise that the Witches have tricked him. The English army, camouflaged with branches, is marching up the hill towards him.

The English army come to fight Macbeth. They want Duncan’s son, Malcolm, the rightful heir, to rule Scotland.

Macbeth puts on his armour. He thinks no man born can harm him. This is what the Witches have told him. He goes out into the castle grounds and starts fighting ferociously.

A man called Macduff hates Macbeth because he killed his family. Macduff was also delivered by way of Caesarean section, so in a way he wasn’t born in the usual sense of the word. When Macbeth hears this, he realises that the Witches really did trick him. He decides to go down fighting, rather than give himself up. Macduff chops Macbeth’s head off. Duncan’s son, Malcolm, is made king.