The key ideas

Macbeth

William Shakespeare, 1606

Scotland's bravest general rides home from victory, and on a heath three bearded old women hail him as a future king. The first of their prophecies comes true almost at once. Soon the king comes to stay at his castle, and the general's wife has already decided that the sun will never see the next morning.

Who it is for

For anyone who knows “Macbeth” from the witches and the bloody hands and wants to walk through the whole play, from the heath to the last duel. For anyone who is drawn to stories of how one decision drags others after it. For students who have “Macbeth” on the reading list.

There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face.

Thunder over the heath

Thunder and lightning. In an open place three witches gather and agree to meet again: when the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won, before the set of sun. The place: upon the heath. “There to meet with Macbeth.” A grey cat and a toad call to them, and they vanish into the fog, chanting: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”

In the camp near Forres the old King of Scotland, Duncan, meets a bleeding sergeant fresh from the fighting. He tells of brave Macbeth: Macbeth carved his way to the rebel leader Macdonwald, unseamed him from the nave to the chaps and fixed his head upon the battlements.

Ross, a thane, arrives: victory. The Thane of Cawdor secretly helped the Norwegians. Duncan orders the traitor executed and his title given to Macbeth. “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.”

So begins William Shakespeare's tragedy, first performed around 1606. And on the heath three witches are already waiting for the hero.

Three greetings

The heath, thunder. One witch promises to rob a sailor of his sleep: his wife would not give her a handful of chestnuts. A drum beats. “Macbeth doth come.”

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen,” says Macbeth. The play does not tell us his age or his looks: only that he is Thane of Glamis and a kinsman of the king. Beside him is Banquo, the king's other general. He is the first to look closely at the strangers: withered and wild in their attire, they look like no inhabitants of the earth. Each lays a chappy finger on her skinny lips. Women, and yet they have beards.

“All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” Macbeth starts. Banquo demands a prophecy of his own and hears riddles: lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy, yet much happier. He shall get kings, though he be none. The witches vanish.

Ross and Angus ride up: the king has made Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. “What, can the devil speak true?” asks Banquo. Macbeth steps aside. The mere thought of murder, still only imagined, makes his hair stand on end and his heart knock at his ribs. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.”

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About the author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and died there in 1616. He was an actor and a part owner of a London theatre company, and he wrote about forty plays for it. “Macbeth” was first performed around 1606 and is one of his shortest tragedies. The quotations in this book are Shakespeare's own lines.

All books by this author: William Shakespeare

Terms from the book

  • Edward
  • Macbeth: A Scottish general, Thane of Glamis and a kinsman of King Duncan.
  • Lady Macbeth: Macbeth's wife. The play never gives her a name of her own.
  • Duncan: King of Scotland, father of Malcolm and Donalbain.
  • Malcolm: Duncan's elder son. The king names him as his heir.
  • Donalbain: Duncan's younger son.
  • Banquo: One of King Duncan's generals, Macbeth's comrade in arms and the father of Fleance.
  • Fleance: Banquo's son, a boy who walks with his father and carries a torch before him.
  • Macduff: A Scottish nobleman, Thane of Fife, a husband and a father.
  • Ross: A Scottish nobleman who brings news more often than anyone else.
  • Lennox: A young Scottish nobleman at court.
  • Angus: A Scottish nobleman at court.
  • Siward: Earl of Northumberland, Malcolm's uncle and the old general of the English army.
  • witches: The three weird sisters: withered, bearded women who meet Macbeth and Banquo on the heath and foretell their future.
  • thane: A Scottish title: a lord who holds land under the king.
  • Glamis: Macbeth's lands in Scotland: at the start of the play he is Thane of Glamis.
  • Cawdor: Lands in Scotland. Their former thane helped the Norwegians against the king.
  • Cumberland: Prince of Cumberland: the title Duncan gives to his heir.
  • Forres: The town where the Scottish king has his palace.
  • Inverness: Macbeth's castle, where King Duncan comes to stay.
  • Fife: Macduff's lands, where his castle stands.
  • Dunsinane: A high hill with Macbeth's castle on it.
  • Birnam: Birnam Wood, which can be seen from Dunsinane hill.
  • Scone: The place where Scottish kings are crowned.

All terms

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