Full Synopsis
ACT I
Returning from their victory over King Duncan’s enemies, Macbeth and Banquo meet a coven of witches. They greet Macbeth not only as Thane of Glamis (his rightful title), but as Thane of Cawdor and future King of Scotland. Banquo they hail as one who will not be king but will beget kings.
Messengers announce that the king has made Macbeth Thane of Cawdor in recognition of his victory. Macbeth is shaken by the rapid fulfilment of part of the prophecy, and is deeply preoccupied by the promise of the throne. The witches foretell that they will meet Macbeth again very soon.
Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband telling her about his encounter with the witches. She knows that he is ambitious but doubts his will, and so decides that her own intent must strengthen his. News is brought that King Duncan will be staying at the castle that night. Lady Macbeth’s resolve hardens, and she invokes the ministers of evil to help in her task – the murder of Duncan and the elevation of her husband to the throne of Scotland.
When Macbeth appears Lady Macbeth insists that if the prophecy is to be fulfilled Duncan must not leave the castle alive. Duncan arrives. Macbeth is torn between ambition and loyalty, and the phantom of his murderous thoughts haunts him in a vision of a dagger dripping with blood. A bell sounds: the signal that he has arranged with Lady Macbeth, and he enters the King’s chamber.
Macbeth returns and tells Lady Macbeth that the deed is done. He is overcome with remorse, but Lady Macbeth is unmoved and says he must go back and smear the king’s attendants with blood to incriminate them. Overcome with the horror of what he has done, he refuses, and it is Lady Macbeth who ‘gilds the faces of the grooms’ with Duncan’s blood.
At the sound of a loud knocking, Lady Macbeth leads her husband to their own rooms to wash away the traces of their crime. The knocking announces the arrival of Macduff and Banquo, who enter the king’s chamber to wake him. They rouse the castle to horror and lamentation.
ACT II
Macbeth is sunk in gloom, and Lady Macbeth tries to cheer him by pointing out that the dye is cast: he is king, and Duncan’s son Malcolm has fled to England. But Macbeth cannot forget what the witches foretold – that Banquo and his descendants will rule Scotland for generations. He determines to get rid of these obstacles to his ambition. Left alone, Lady Macbeth revels in the prospect of sovereignty.
Macbeth has hired a band of murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, his son. While Macbeth is entertaining a large company one of the murderers appears, and Macbeth learns that Banquo is dead and Fleance has escaped. He turns back to see a blood-stained ghost in Banquo’s seat. Only Macbeth can see it, and the guests are disconcerted at his distress. Lady Macbeth tries to rally his spirits and to pacify her guests by assuring them that it is nothing but a passing illness, but the company breaks up in disorder. Meanwhile Macbeth resolves to find the witches and learn what the future holds.
ACT III
The witches’ incantation summons Macbeth, and a sequence of apparitions foretells his future: the first vision warns him to beware of Macduff; a bloody child says that none born of woman shall harm him; a crowned child tells him that he will not be overcome until Birnam Wood rises against him.
Macbeth is reassured, but still wants to know whether Banquo’s descendants will inherit the throne. Ghostly kings appear, all resembling Banquo. Banquo himself is the last, and in a mirror he shows Macbeth images of many other kings, his remoter descendants. Macbeth faints; when he recovers Lady Macbeth is with him, and together they swear to destroy Macduff and root out Banquo’s line.
ACT IV
Among the refugees from Macbeth’s tyranny is Macduff; his wife and children have been killed at Macbeth’s command, and he vows vengeance. Led by Duncan’s son Malcolm, they march against Macbeth. The exiles join him, and the soldiers cut boughs from Birnam Wood to cover their advance.
Lady Macbeth’s reason has given way under the pressure of remorse at her crime and horror at Macbeth’s mounting tally of violence. Her Lady-in-Waiting and a doctor are on watch as she approaches, open-eyed, carrying a candle, but asleep. She relives the night of Duncan’s murder, trying in vain to wash the blood from her hands.
Macbeth repeats to himself that none born of woman shall harm him, but he is a prey to desperate thoughts, and he reacts with indifference when he hears that Lady Macbeth is dead. Messengers report that Malcolm and his army are approaching, and that Birnam Wood seems to be moving towards the castle. Macbeth arms for the futile fight.
Malcolm and Macduff lead the advance, and Macbeth dies in single combat with Macduff after learning that Macduff was not born of woman but “was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped”. The victorious people celebrate the accession of Malcolm to the Scottish throne and the death of the usurper and tyrant Macbeth.