Macbeth in Plain English: Witches, Ambition and the Bloody Path to the Scottish Crown

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, probably first performed around 1606, about a brave Scottish general who hears a prophecy from three witches that he will become king and, pushed on by his own ambition and by his wife, murders King Duncan to take the crown, then sinks into more and more killing to keep it. It is one of Shakespeare's shortest tragedies and one of his darkest, and it remains among his most performed plays.

Where the story came from

Shakespeare based his play on the account of Macbeth, Macduff and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a popular history of England, Scotland and Ireland, although the events in the play differ a great deal from the history of the real Macbeth, King of Scotland. Shakespeare compressed years into days, invented scenes and made the story far more violent and supernatural. The real Macbeth ruled Scotland for many years; the stage Macbeth is a portrait of how ambition destroys a person.

The witches and the prophecy

The play opens amid thunder and lightning as three witches plan to meet Macbeth. Soon afterwards, Macbeth and his fellow general Banquo, returning from a victory over rebels, meet the witches on a heath. They greet Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and future king, and tell Banquo that he will father a line of kings without being king himself. Moments later, messengers arrive to say that Duncan has made Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. One prophecy has already come true, and the idea of the crown takes hold of Macbeth's mind.

Murder in the night

Macbeth writes to his wife, and Lady Macbeth immediately begins planning. When Duncan comes to stay at their castle, she mocks her husband's hesitation and persuades him to act. That night, after a vision of a blood-smeared dagger, Macbeth stabs the sleeping king. In the morning, Duncan's death is discovered, his sons flee in fear, and Macbeth is crowned.

One crime leads to the next

Macbeth cannot rest. Remembering that the witches promised kings to Banquo's descendants, he hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance; Banquo dies, but Fleance escapes. At a royal banquet, Banquo's ghost appears and sits in Macbeth's place, visible only to him, and Macbeth's terror alarms his guests. He returns to the witches, who warn him to beware of Macduff but also tell him that no man born of woman can harm him, and that he will not be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Feeling safe, Macbeth orders the slaughter of Macduff's wife and children.

Lady Macbeth's collapse

Lady Macbeth, once the stronger of the two, is destroyed by guilt. In a famous scene she walks in her sleep, trying to wash imaginary blood from her hands. She later dies, probably by her own hand. Macbeth hears the news with exhausted despair, in the speech that begins "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow", describing life as a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

The prophecies turn

Malcolm, Duncan's son, and Macduff lead an army against Macbeth. The soldiers cut branches from Birnam Wood to hide their numbers, so the wood seems to move towards Dunsinane. In the final battle Macduff reveals that he was not born in the ordinary way but "untimely ripped" from his mother's womb, and he kills Macbeth. Malcolm becomes king. The witches' promises were true, but never in the way Macbeth imagined.

"The Scottish Play"

There is a long theatre superstition that the name of the play should not be spoken inside a theatre; actors call it "the Scottish Play" instead. Despite, or because of, this reputation, it has drawn many famous actors and has been adapted for film, opera, television and novels many times.

Learn with Macbeth: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
vaulting ambition	ambition that goes too far	His vaulting ambition ruined his career.
a Lady Macbeth	a woman who pushes someone to do wrong	She played a real Lady Macbeth in the office.
out, damned spot!	(jokingly) when a stain won't come out	Out, damned spot! This coffee stain won't go.
sound and fury	lots of noise with little meaning	The debate was all sound and fury.
to screw your courage to the sticking place	to find the courage to act	Screw your courage to the sticking place and ask.

Try this: Write three English sentences about a time ambition helped or hurt someone, using "vaulting ambition" and "sound and fury".