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Act 1, scene 2 Duncan, king of Scotland, hears an account of the success in battle of his noblemen Macbeth and Banquo.

Act 1, scene 1 Three witches plan to meet Macbeth.

Macduff kills Macbeth and Malcolm becomes Scotland’s king. He learns that the promises are tricks, but continues to fight. Malcolm and Macduff lead an army against Macbeth, as Lady Macbeth goes mad and commits suicide.Macbeth confronts Malcolm’s army, trusting in the Weïrd Sisters’ comforting promises. Macbeth has Macduff’s wife and children murdered. They comfort him with ambiguous promises.Another nobleman, Macduff, rides to England to join Duncan’s older son, Malcolm. Macbeth determines to consult the Weïrd Sisters again. At a royal banquet that evening, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost appear covered in blood. Fearing that Banquo’s descendants will, according to the Weïrd Sisters’ predictions, take over the kingdom, Macbeth has Banquo killed. When Macbeth arrives at his castle, he and Lady Macbeth plot to assassinate King Duncan, soon to be their guest, so that Macbeth can become king.After Macbeth murders Duncan, the king’s two sons flee, and Macbeth is crowned.

Three “Weïrd Sisters” appear to Macbeth and his comrade Banquo after a battle and prophesy that Macbeth will be king and that the descendants of Banquo will also reign.

Entire Play Macbeth, set primarily in Scotland, mixes witchcraft, prophecy, and murder.

His boldness and impression of personal invincibility mark him out for a tragic fall. This feature of his personality is well presented in Act IV, Scene 1, when he revisits the Witches of his own accord. The appearance of Banquo's ghost, in particular, causes him to swing from one state of mind to another until he is no longer sure of what is and "what is not" (I:3,142).īut Macbeth's hubris or excessive pride is now his dominant character trait.

Nevertheless, the new-found resolve, which causes Macbeth to "wade" onward into his self-created river of blood (Act III, Scene 4), is persistently alarmed by supernatural events. Each successive murder reduces his human characteristics still further, until he appears to be the more dominant partner in the marriage.

His ambition now begins to spur him toward further terrible deeds, and he starts to disregard and even to challenge Fate and Fortune.

However, by Act III, Scene 2, Macbeth has resolved himself into a far more stereotypical villain and asserts his manliness over that of his wife. Macbeth is at his most human and sympathetic when his manliness is mocked and demeaned by his wife (see in particular Act I, Scene 7). When he is about to commit the murder, he undergoes terrible pangs of conscience. When Duncan announces that he intends the kingdom to pass to his son Malcolm, Macbeth appears frustrated. Despite his fearless character in battle, Macbeth is concerned by the prophecies of the Witches, and his thoughts remain confused, both before, during, and after his murder of King Duncan. These often conflict with the opinion others have of him, which he describes as "golden" (I:7, 33). Essentially, though, he is a human being whose private ambitions are made clear to the audience through his asides and soliloquies (solo speeches). Macbeth is introduced in the play as a warrior hero, whose fame on the battlefield wins him great honor from the king.