Macbeth - Study Guide
Written around 1606, Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most popular and frequently performed plays. Based mostly on historical accounts, the play is a brutal, bloody story of a Scottish nobleman whose murderous ambition destroys him. Shakespeare changed some of the history to ensure that the play would appeal to England's King James I, who was Scottish.
Overview
Author
William Shakespeare
Year Written
c. 1606
Type
Play
Genre
Tragedy
About the Title
As the main character in the play, Macbeth has the title role. The simplicity of the single-word title belies the intricacy of the play and its main character, however. Plot details and character details unfold side-by-side in Macbeth. Powerful yet weak, courageous yet afraid, the character of Macbeth has layers of complexity and influence that make him bigger than life or any title.
Plot Summary
Set in medieval Scotland, Macbeth traces the rise and fall of the title character as he gains and loses the throne of Scotland. As the play opens, Macbeth is described as the Thane of Glamis, indicating that he is a Scottish nobleman. (The title of thane was awarded to men favored by the king who were also given land, usually for proven loyalty. Military service to the king was expected of thanes.)
The play's action begins when King Duncan's forces engage in a battle to defeat a rebellion started by a lord named Macdonwald, who enlists the help of the King of Norway. Macbeth, duty-bound to defend his king, fights honorably in this battle and captures another supporter of the rebellion, the Thane of Cawdor. As Macbeth and his friend Banquo travel home from the battle, they meet three witches. These women predict Macbeth will be the next Thane of Cawdor and that he will become king of Scotland. In addition, they prophesy that Banquo's descendants will inherit the throne in years to come.
After the king executes the Thane of Cawdor for treason, he gives the thane's title and lands to Macbeth, which leads Macbeth to believe the witches' predictions. He sends word of these developments to his wife, and Lady Macbeth immediately begins plotting Duncan's demise, which is made easier when Duncan comes to visit Macbeth's castle. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth then start scheming in earnest against Duncan.
While Duncan dines at their castle, Macbeth confers with his wife and raises objections to the murder; his wife dismisses them with scorn. By conversation's end, Macbeth is ready to kill the king. Lady Macbeth takes the lead in plotting the murder. She gets Duncan's guards drunk, and they are unconscious when Macbeth enters Duncan's chamber and kills him. He returns to his own rooms with the daggers in his blood-stained hands. Lady Macbeth goes back to plant the weapons and frame the guards. The following morning, Duncan's body is discovered, and the lords are thrown into an uproar. Macbeth kills the guards before they can speak. He claims to have done this in his rage at Duncan's death. Fearing for their own safety, Duncan's sons flee the country, so Macbeth implicates them in Duncan's murder as well. Macbeth is crowned king of Scotland, while the other thanes speculate about strange events and dark times.
Meanwhile, remembering the witches' predictions, Banquo grows suspicious of Macbeth. Recognizing that Banquo knows he had motive to kill Duncan, and vexed by the thought that Banquo's descendants will reign after him, Macbeth hires murderers to assassinate Banquo and his son Fleance. At a banquet the same night, Macbeth has a vision of Banquo's ghost, and the other lords are alarmed by his erratic behavior. Lady Macbeth makes excuses for her husband as best she can, but the seeds of suspicion are sown. Macbeth seeks another meeting with the witches to plan his next move.
At Macbeth's second meeting with the witches, they make three predictions about his future. First, they tell him to beware of Macduff, who has been suspicious of Macbeth since Duncan was killed. Second, they tell him that no man born of woman shall harm him. Third, they say he will be secure until Great Birnam Wood, a nearby forest, comes to Macbeth's castle at Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth, believing the last two predictions are impossible, assumes he is safe. In the meantime, Macduff travels to England to find Malcolm, Duncan's oldest son, and convince him to head back to Scotland to fight for his rightful throne. Macbeth takes this opportunity to send assassins to Fife, where they murder Macduff's wife and son. Macduff is successful in his mission, though, and Malcolm agrees to return to Scotland with an English army of 10,000 men.
Around the time Macbeth begins losing his grip on power, Lady Macbeth loses her grip on reality. She is under a doctor's care because of persistent sleepwalking and hallucinations brought about by her memories of Duncan's murder. The Scottish lords and thanes have united against Macbeth, calling him a tyrant; they are prepared to join with Malcolm's army when it arrives. The Scottish and English armies meet at Great Birnam Wood and use tree branches as camouflage to approach Dunsinane Hill. While Macbeth prepares for the onslaught at Dunsinane, he learns his wife has died. One of his servants then tells him Birnam Wood appears to be moving toward them. This rattles Macbeth because it fulfills one of the witches' prophecies. Still, he engages in battle, relying on the witches' assurance that no man born of woman will cause him harm. When he meets Macduff on the field, however, he learns Macduff was delivered by surgery, rather than by conventional birth. Macduff kills Macbeth, and Malcolm claims his throne.
Characters
Macbeth
Macbeth is a Scottish nobleman who holds three successive titles in the play. Initially serving as Thane of Glamis, he meets three witches who prophesy he will be awarded the title of Thane of Cawdor and later become king of Scotland. When King Duncan makes him Thane of Cawdor as a reward for his role for putting down a rebellion, Macbeth decides the witches must be correct. He kills Duncan and takes the crown for himself. He then has his friend Banquo killed, as Banquo was the only other person to know the prophecy. When the other thanes become suspicious, they help Duncan's rightful heir raise an army and defeat Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth
When Lady Macbeth hears of the witches' predictions, she helps her husband murder Duncan and take the throne. Abandoning the characteristics expected of a woman in her position (though she has no problem using them when it suits her purpose), she claims to feel no guilt about the murders that she and Macbeth have committed. She encourages Macbeth to let go of his guilt as well. However, it becomes clear that she still feels guilty, and the memory of Duncan's murder slowly drives her insane.
Witches
The sisters in this malevolent trio act as the catalyst for the play's action. The predictions they give Macbeth spark his thoughts of becoming king. They meet twice with Macbeth, and it becomes clear during a meeting with their goddess, Hecate, that they are not working in Macbeth's best interests, as they show him visions that are incomplete and lead to his demise.
Banquo
Banquo is a friend and thane who fights alongside Macbeth in the battle to put down Macdonwald's rebellion. He is with Macbeth when the witches first appear, and they predict that Banquo will never be king but that his descendants will be. He also hears them predict Macbeth's rise to the throne. Later, this makes him suspicious of Macbeth's role in Duncan's murder, and Macbeth knows this. Based on this knowledge and the prediction about Banquo's descendants, Macbeth decides Banquo is a threat and has him killed.
Macduff
Macduff is the Thane of Fife and a loyal follower of King Duncan. He has suspicions about Macbeth's role in Duncan's death, as seen in his refusal to attend Macbeth's coronation. Later, he tracks Duncan's son Malcolm to England and convinces him to return to Scotland to fight for his birthright and save the country. The cost of his loyalty, though, is his wife and child, whom Macbeth murders while Macduff is away. When Macduff encounters Macbeth on the battlefield, Macduff is the one to kill him.
Duncan
Duncan is, by all accounts, a good, respectable king. He inspires loyalty in his thanes and rewards them for this, giving Macbeth a new title to honor his performance in battle. After he is murdered, the thanes and lords mourn him and avenge him by uniting against Macbeth.
Malcolm
Malcolm is King Duncan's older son. Fearing that he and his brother might also be killed—or accused of their father's murder—he flees to England. He has fears about returning to challenge Macbeth but overcomes them when Macduff convinces him how much his country needs him. With an army of 10,000 English soldiers and a thirst for revenge, he returns to Scotland to claim his rightful place as king.
Symbols
Blood
Blood represents the guilt Macbeth and Lady Macbeth share. When Macbeth returns from killing Duncan, his hands are covered with blood, which marks his actions. Lady Macbeth also stains her hands when she returns the daggers to the scene of the crime. For her, the symbolism becomes more permanent, as she hallucinates blood on her hands during the throes of her madness later in the play.
Ghosts
Ghosts represent the way past actions come back to haunt the present and future, as when Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost seated at the banquet table. It is unclear whether the ghost is actually Banquo or a figment of Macbeth's guilt-ridden imagination. Later, when Banquo's ghost appears again, this time with the witches, he is leading a line of kings—his descendants—which demonstrates that his death will give rise to future monarchs who will rule Scotland.
Storms
The storms that rage in Macbeth—whenever the witches appear and on the night Duncan is murdered—are symbols of Scotland's unrest, both politically and socially. They also display Shakespeare's belief in "the great chain of being," a symbiotic relationship between a divinely appointed ruler, the people, and all of nature. Shakespeare uses storms and other natural disasters in Macbeth and other plays (Julius Caesar, for example) to foreshadow adverse actions planned against a ruler.
The thunder and lightning that accompany the witches' meetings reflect their intentions regarding Macbeth. Their predictions do Macbeth no favors, and his adherence to them leads to his own demise.
Themes
Ambition
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are driven to kill in the name of satisfying their ambitions. Lady Macbeth is particularly susceptible to the lure of power. Once the witches introduce the idea that Macbeth could be king, it is Lady Macbeth whose thoughts immediately turn to murder, and she plots accordingly. She is the one who pushes Macbeth to take part in killing Duncan. Once he has the throne, Macbeth works on his own to keep it, killing Banquo because he is a perceived threat. This second murder is the one that really arouses the suspicions of the other thanes and lords, which demonstrates how Macbeth's ambition becomes his undoing.
Gender Roles
Much of the action in the play is driven by women who do not act in conventionally feminine ways. Lady Macbeth defies the expectations of her gender with her ruthless actions. She asks the spirits to "unsex" her so she can carry out her part in Duncan's killing, and when Macbeth expresses any sign of doubt or guilt, she consistently attacks him for being unmanly. At the same time, she uses the expectations the other thanes and lords have for women—delicacy and sensitivity—when Macbeth is in trouble, feigning a fainting spell to create a distraction. Lady Macbeth's ultimate descent into madness serves as the punishment for her actions.
Destiny versus Free Will
After the three witches introduce their prophecy that he is to become king, Macbeth takes to the suggestion with alarming speed. Until this point, he is loyal to King Duncan and has just fought in battle to stop a rebellion against the king and bring one of the perpetrators, the Thane of Cawdor, to justice. When Macbeth is awarded Cawdor's former title, he chooses to believe the rest of the prophecy; from then on, a lust for power and revenge appears to drive his actions. In this sense, he exerts his will in service of the prophecy. The same can be said of Macbeth's belief in the other visions that "predict" his invincibility. His belief in destiny causes him to act rashly and directly leads to his destruction.
Throughout the play, Shakespeare demonstrates that exercising free will has its consequences. Although the prophesies serve as a powerful catalyst for their actions, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth show that their minds are divided in their pursuit of power. Lady Macbeth, initially firm in her resolve to act and to influence her husband's actions, eventually becomes racked with guilt, which manifests in hysteria and bizarre actions (her incessant handwashing and sleepwalking). Macbeth, initially goaded by his wife, freely chooses to follow her directives and then begins acting on his own, as when he orders killers to dispatch Banquo, Fleance, and Macduff's family. Macbeth's acts deliver the rewards he seeks (the kingship and power), but guilt gnaws at him, as seen in his fight with Macduff, when he reveals, "My soul is too much charged / with blood of thine already" (Act 5, Scene 8).
Loyalty
In the end, the thanes and lords who remained loyal to Duncan and his bloodline are rewarded. Malcolm is able to retake the throne and call his brother and Fleance back from exile. Macduff does lose his family, but he is allowed to avenge them when he kills Macbeth. Macduff also keeps his own life and title. Even Banquo will have a line of kings descended from him as his legacy. Macbeth's treachery, however, is punished by his death, but even before that, he loses the trust and faith of his people. Lady Macbeth—whose repressed guilt pushes her into insanity—precedes her husband in death.
