Macbeth

Story in five beats

1. Act 1The witches meet on the heath and prepare to meet Macbeth. Duncan hears a battle report. Macbeth to take Thane of Cawdor from the traitor. Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches, who give their prophecies. Duncan names Malcolm his heir. Lady Macbeth reads the letter and greets Macbeth. Macbeth's changed mind - Lady Macbeth persuades him.
2. Act 2Macbeth imagines a dagger leading him to murder Duncan. The murder of Duncan. Macduff finds the murder. Macbeth to be crowned King.
3. Act 3Banquo's suspicions grow. Plans are discussed. Banquo is murdered by the murderers but Fleance escapes. Banquo's ghost appears at the feast.
4. Act 4Macbeth returns to the witches. Macbeth has Macduff's family murdered. Malcolm and Macduff in England.
5. Act 5Lady Macbeth's downfall - the sleepwalking scene. Malcolm's army advances. Macbeth awaits attack. Malcolm's army attacks Macbeth's castle. Macbeth is killed.

Characters in one line

• Macbeth

  Macbeth is a brave and noble warrior at the start of the play.

• Lady Macbeth

  Lady Macbeth is ambitious, manipulative and initially the driving force behind Duncan's murder.

• King Duncan

  Duncan is a gracious, decisive and holy king.

• Malcolm

  Malcolm is Duncan's eldest son and the rightful heir.

• Banquo

  Banquo is, in many ways, similar to Macbeth; he is a warrior, a thane and a witness to the witches' predictions.

Themes in one line

• The Supernatural

  The supernatural runs through the play - from the witches' opening prophecies, to the ghost of Banquo, to the visions and apparitions that haunt Macbeth and his wife.

• Ambition

  The power and the dangers of ambition are constantly explored in 'Macbeth' as the plot revolves around the decision to kill for power and the consequences of this decision..

• Guilt

  Guilt is a theme that dominates the play and is shown through Macbeth's internal conflict and the blood imagery.

• Appearance vs Reality

  Lies and deceit lie at the heart of 'Macbeth'.

• Fate vs Free Will

  One of the most interesting questions raised by the play is whether Macbeth had any control over his actions.

• Gender and Power

  Shakespeare explores the concept of masculinity and femininity in 'Macbeth'.

• Order and Chaos

  Order and disorder is a theme which runs throughout the play, reflecting the time in which Shakespeare was writing.

• Kingship

  Shakespeare presents kingship as a sacred office.

• Violence

  'Macbeth' is a play carefully constructed to have an enormous dramatic impact on the audience.

Ten quotations to know cold

• “Fair is foul and foul is fair”
• “brave Macbeth”
• “Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires”
• “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't”
• “unsex me here”
• “I have no spur… but only vaulting ambition”
• “I could not say Amen”
• “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”
• “Out, damned spot!”
• “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player”

Facts about the play

• Written by William Shakespeare, first performed around 1606.
• Genre: Jacobean tragedy, in the Greek convention of a noble hero with a hamartia.
• Set in medieval Scotland; based on Holinshed's Chronicles.
• Structure: five acts, ending in resolution.
• Assessment: AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1, Section A.
• You write one extract-based essay in roughly 50 minutes.

Context you must know

• Divine Right of Kings

  Regicide (killing of a king/queen) was seen as an appalling crime because it was a crime against God. The Jacobeans believed in the Divine Right of Kings - that God anointed (chose) the monarch. Murdering a king disrupted the natural order and would have been condemned by an audience to whom Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot was a recent memory.

• Witchcraft & superstition

  The Jacobean audience were highly superstitious and would have believed in the power of the supernatural. The witches were viewed by Christian Jacobean audiences as powerful, malicious figures, closely associated with the devil.

• Women in Jacobean society

  The Jacobean audience believed that women were natural nurturers, meek and subservient. Lady Macbeth's decision to unsex herself to fulfil her desire for power would have been very shocking to a Jacobean audience who would find this completely unnatural. Jacobean society was a patriarchal one which meant that men held authority over their wives.

• Holinshed's Chronicles

  Shakespeare uses an old source, Holinshed's Chronicles, as a basis for 'Macbeth'. In the original story, Duncan was an imperfect king and Banquo was an accomplice in the murder of Duncan. Shakespeare deliberately changes both in his version to create a saint-like king and an innocent Banquo, to flatter James I (who claimed Banquo was his ancestor).

• Greek tragedy convention

  Shakespeare uses the Greek tragedy convention of a tragic and noble hero who has a fatal flaw/weakness - a hamartia - which leads to his downfall. Macbeth's hamartia is his ambition. Shakespeare also uses the classic five act structure of the ancient Greeks which always ended with resolution.

• Predetermination vs self-determination

  The Jacobeans believed in predetermination but Shakespeare was interested in the idea of self-determination, the way in which people control their own lives. This exploration is evident in the examination of the witches' role in the play - do they control the characters or do the characters have autonomy over their own decisions?

• Shakespearean staging

  Shakespearean theatre would have been limited in terms of props and special effects, so the hideous vocabulary of moments like 'gouts of blood' works hard to help the audience imagine the violent murder.

• Military manhood

  The Jacobean era was one of political and social unrest. Military strength was seen as an important part of being a man, as was loyalty to the king. In Jacobean times, kings were expected to be able to lead armies at time of war.

Methods you must be able to name

• Adjective

  A word that describes a noun, e.g. 'innocent' (flower).

• Alliteration

  Repetition of the same letter in words next to or near each other, e.g. 'trumpet-tongued'.

• Anagnorisis

  Moment when a character makes a crucial discovery, e.g. Macbeth realises that the witches have tricked him.

• Anaphora

  Deliberate repetition of a phrase in a sentence, e.g. 'tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow'.

• Blank verse

  Verse without rhyme (poetry), especially verse using iambic pentameter.

• Comic relief

  Humorous scene that eases the tension, e.g. the Porter's scene in Act 2.

• Contrast / Juxtaposition

  Use of opposites, e.g. 'flower' and 'serpent' are used to contrast with each other to show how wonderful the Macbeths look on the outside but how poisonous they are on the inside.

• Dialogue

  Conversation between characters.

• Dramatic irony

  When the audience knows something the characters do not, e.g. only the audience understands how ill-advised Duncan is to be addressing Macbeth as 'worthiest cousin'.

• Epithet

  A descriptive phrase for a person, e.g. 'brave Macbeth'.

• Enjambment

  When a sentence runs onto the next line.

• Exposition

  The beginning of a play or story.

• Foil

  Something or someone that works as a contrast, e.g. Macduff's emotion contrasts with Macbeth's lack of emotion.

• Foreshadowing

  To give a warning of a future event, e.g. 'it will make us mad'.

• Fragmented speech

  Speaking in short, incomplete sentences, e.g. 'Out, I say!- one:two'.

• Hamartia

  A convention from Greek tragedy where the noble hero has a fatal weakness.

• Heptameter

  Seven syllables/beats to a line.

• Iambic pentameter

  10 syllables/beats to a line.

• Image

  Powerful words or phrases that paint a picture in our heads, e.g. 'all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand' uses imagery to describe how guilty Lady Macbeth is feeling.

• Imperative verbs

  Verbs that give orders, e.g. 'Come, you spirits'.

Full 48-term glossary in the Writer's Methods tab.