Macbeth: Act One Scene One
Macbeth: Act One Scene One
Scene One is very short but extremely important because it sets the tone for the entire play. The scene opens with a dramatic storm, and three witches appear on stage. They are planning to meet again after a battle is finished. One witch says they will meet "upon the heath," an open, wild piece of land, and that they plan to meet with a man named Macbeth. The scene ends with all three witches chanting together: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." This famous line means that things which seem good may actually be evil, and things which seem evil may actually be good. This idea of appearances being deceiving will be a major theme throughout the entire play. The witches then disappear into the "fog and filthy air," which creates an atmosphere of mystery, darkness, and supernatural evil from the very beginning.
Scene Two takes place at a military camp in Scotland. King Duncan, the ruler of Scotland, is receiving a report from an injured and bloodied sergeant who has just come from the battlefield. The sergeant tells the king that at first the rebel forces seemed to be winning, but then the brave Scottish general Macbeth turned the tide of the battle. Macbeth fought ferociously and defeated the enemy forces. The sergeant is then helped away to receive medical treatment for his wounds.
Two Scottish noblemen, called thanes, meaning lords or nobles, arrive and bring more news. They inform King Duncan that the Thane of Cawdor, a Scottish nobleman and one of Duncan's trusted men, has betrayed Scotland by siding with the enemy. However, Macbeth fought against the traitor and defeated him as well. King Duncan is deeply grateful and orders the Thane of Cawdor to be executed for his treachery. He then announces that Macbeth will receive the Thane of Cawdor's title as a reward for his loyalty and bravery. The scene ends with the memorable line, "Cawdor's loss is Macbeth's gain," which shows how quickly fortune can change for people in positions of power.
Scene Three begins with the three witches reuniting on the heath during a thunderstorm. The first witch tells a story about a sailor's wife who refused to share her chestnuts, and as revenge, the witch plans to torment the woman's husband at sea. She says she will make him unable to sleep and will cause his ship to be tossed violently by storms, though she notes she cannot actually sink the ship. This short story is important because it shows how petty and cruel the witches can be, and it also demonstrates their power to cause suffering.
Macbeth and his fellow general Banquo then arrive on the heath. Banquo is immediately disturbed by the appearance of the witches, describing them as wild looking, withered, shrunken and dried up with age, and strange. He notes that they appear to be women, yet they have beards, making them seem unnatural and otherworldly. When Macbeth demands that the witches speak, they deliver three prophecies to him. The first witch calls him "Thane of Glamis," which is already his title. The second witch calls him "Thane of Cawdor," which surprises him because that title belongs to someone else. The third witch makes the most shocking prediction of all, telling him he "shalt be king hereafter." Macbeth appears startled and disturbed by the prophecies.
Banquo then asks the witches to speak to him as well. The witches tell Banquo that he will be "lesser than Macbeth, and greater," and "not so happy, yet much happier." Most importantly, they tell him that though he will not be king himself, his children will be kings. These prophecies are puzzling and contradictory, saying opposite things at once, which shows the tricky nature of the witches' words.
When Macbeth tries to demand more information from the witches, they suddenly vanish into thin air. Macbeth and Banquo are left to question whether they actually saw what they thought they saw, with Banquo wondering if they have eaten something called "the insane root," a plant believed to cause hallucinations, meaning visions of things that are not real.
Almost immediately after the witches disappear, two Scottish noblemen named Ross and Angus arrive with news from King Duncan. Ross tells Macbeth that the king is extremely pleased with his performance in battle and has decided to reward him with the title of Thane of Cawdor. This news is deeply shocking to Macbeth and Banquo, because the witches had just predicted exactly this. Banquo responds with the line, "What, can the devil speak true?" suggesting he is suspicious of the witches and worried about what their true intentions might be.
Macbeth, on the other hand, begins thinking deeply about the third prophecy, the one about becoming king. He speaks in an "aside," a theatrical term for when a character speaks their private thoughts out loud to the audience, while the other characters on stage cannot hear them. Macbeth's thoughts begin to drift toward the idea of murdering
King Duncan in order to become king. He calls this thought a "horrid image" that frightens him and makes his heart race. However, he also considers that perhaps destiny will simply make him king without any action on his part, telling himself that "chance may crown me without my stir." This shows that Macbeth is already tempted by the idea of becoming king but is not yet committed to doing anything about it. The scene ends with everyone agreeing to go and meet King Duncan together.
Scene Four, presented as a summary, takes place at King Duncan's castle. Duncan receives confirmation that the traitorous Thane of Cawdor has been executed. When Macbeth arrives, Duncan praises him warmly and expresses deep gratitude for his loyalty and bravery. Macbeth replies modestly, saying he was simply doing his duty.
However, the mood shifts significantly when Duncan makes an important announcement. He declares that his son Malcolm will be his successor, meaning Malcolm will become king after Duncan dies, and gives him the title Prince of Cumberland. This is extremely significant for Macbeth, because it means that even if something were to happen to Duncan, Malcolm would become king, not Macbeth. Macbeth realizes that Malcolm now stands between him and the throne.
Duncan announces that everyone will travel to Macbeth's castle to celebrate. Macbeth rides ahead to prepare, but as he leaves, he speaks privately to himself about his "black and deep desires." He asks the stars to "hide their fires," meaning he wants darkness to cover his dark thoughts, so that no one can see what he is truly thinking. He is beginning to consider that the only way to become king is to take drastic and terrible action. This moment marks a significant turning point in Macbeth's character. Scene Five
Scene Five takes place at Macbeth's castle, where Lady Macbeth is reading a letter from her husband. In the letter, Macbeth describes his encounter with the witches and their prophecies, including the prediction that he will be king. He addresses Lady Macbeth as his "dearest partner of greatness," which shows that he sees her as an equal and wants her to share in the glory that may come.
After reading the letter, Lady Macbeth immediately begins analyzing her husband's character. She is worried that Macbeth is "too full o' the milk of human kindness,"
meaning too compassionate, gentle, and decent, to do what is necessary to seize the throne. She believes he has ambition but lacks the ruthlessness, willingness to be cruel without feeling guilt, needed to act on it. She decides that she must "pour her spirits into his ear," meaning she will use her influence over him to push him toward taking violent action.
When a messenger arrives and tells Lady Macbeth that King Duncan is coming to their castle that very night, she immediately sees this as an opportunity. She begins speaking in dark, powerful language, calling on evil spirits to "unsex" her (meaning she wants them to remove all her feminine qualities like compassion and tenderness) and fill her with cruelty. She asks for darkness to cover the deed she is planning so that neither she nor heaven will have to witness what she intends to do. This speech reveals that Lady Macbeth is in many ways more coldly ambitious and ruthless than her husband at this point in the play.
When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth greets him with great excitement. When he tells her that Duncan will be leaving the next day, she responds ominously that the king will not live to see the next morning's sun. She advises Macbeth to appear completely innocent and welcoming on the surface, using the famous image of looking "like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" (meaning he should seem harmless but be hiding deadly intentions). She tells him to leave all the planning to her, and Macbeth, still uncertain, simply says they will talk more about it later.
Scene six, presented as a summary, shows King Duncan arriving at Macbeth's castle. Duncan comments pleasantly on how nice the castle seems, completely unaware of the danger he is in. Lady Macbeth greets him warmly, showering him with compliments and words of loyalty. She tells him that everything she has is at his service. Duncan is charmed by her welcome. The dramatic irony (when the audience knows something the characters do not) here is very powerful, because the audience knows what Lady Macbeth is truly planning, while Duncan suspects absolutely nothing.
Scene seven is one of the most important scenes in Act one. It opens with Macbeth alone, speaking a long "aside" (private thoughts shared with the audience) in which he tries to reason through whether or not to murder Duncan. He first considers whether the murder could be done quickly and cleanly, with no consequences. He immediately concludes that it cannot, because violent actions have a way of coming back to punish those who commit them. He says "bloody instructions return to plague the inventor," meaning that when you teach others to commit violence, you invite violence back upon yourself. He then lists three powerful reasons why he should not kill Duncan. First, Duncan is his kinsman (relative) and his king, and loyalty to both demands that he protect him, not harm him. Second, Macbeth is Duncan's host, and a host's duty is to protect his guest, not become the guest's murderer. Third, Duncan is a genuinely good and humble king whose virtues (good qualities) are so strong that his murder would cause outrage throughout the entire kingdom. Macbeth concludes that his only reason for wanting to kill Duncan is personal ambition, which he compares to a horse that tries to jump too high and falls on the other side. This suggests that unchecked ambition leads to one's own destruction. When Lady Macbeth enters and asks why he has left the banquet (feast), Macbeth tells her plainly that he does not want to go through with the plan. He says that Duncan has recently honored him and that he wants to enjoy his new reputation rather than risk everything.
Lady Macbeth responds with a fierce and withering (deeply cutting and harsh) attack on his courage and manhood. She accuses him of being a coward, comparing him to a cat in an old saying who wanted fish but was afraid to get its paws wet. She tells him that he was a man when he first proposed this plan, and that going through with it would make him even more of a man. She even goes so far as to say that she would have smashed her own baby's head against a wall if she had sworn to do something the way Macbeth has sworn to become king. This is one of the most shocking lines in the play, and it shows just how completely Lady Macbeth has committed herself to this course of action. When Macbeth asks nervously what will happen if they fail, Lady Macbeth dismisses his fear and lays out a detailed plan. She will get Duncan's two personal guards (chamberlains) drunk so that they fall into a deep, heavy sleep. Then Macbeth can murder the unguarded Duncan, and they will smear the sleeping guards with blood and use the guards' own daggers as the weapons, making it appear that the guards committed the murder. Macbeth is deeply impressed by her boldness and cold cleverness. He completes his reversal and agrees to go through with the plan. The scene ends with Macbeth saying "False face must hide what the false heart doth know," meaning that he must wear a mask of innocence to hide the murderous intentions in his heart. This line echoes back to the witches' opening words about fair being foul and foul being fair, showing that Macbeth has now fully embraced the world of deception and darkness.
Act two, Scene one. Scene one begins in the dark hallways of Macbeth's castle late at night. Banquo and his son Fleance are walking through the castle when they unexpectedly run into Macbeth. Banquo mentions that he has been dreaming about the three witches, and he tells Macbeth that the witches have "shown some truth" to him, referring to the fact that Macbeth has already received the title of Thane of Cawdor, just as the witches predicted. Macbeth responds somewhat dishonestly, saying that he has not been thinking about the witches at all, even though the audience knows this is untrue. He suggests they talk about the matter more at a later time. Banquo agrees but makes an important statement, saying he will only participate in things that keep his "conscience clean," meaning he will not do anything that compromises his honor or morality. This is a significant contrast to Macbeth, who is about to do something deeply immoral. Banquo's refusal to involve himself in anything dishonest shows that he is a man of integrity (strong moral principles), which makes him very different from Macbeth at this point in the play.
After Banquo and Fleance leave, Macbeth dismisses his servant and is left completely alone in the dark. What follows is one of the most famous monologues (a long speech delivered by one character alone on stage) in all of Shakespeare's work. Macbeth suddenly sees a vision of a dagger floating in the air in front of him, its handle pointing toward his hand as if inviting him to grab it. He reaches out to take hold of it but grasps nothing. He questions whether the dagger is real or a hallucination (something seen by the mind that does not actually exist), describing it as "a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain." The word "heat-oppressed" suggests that his brain is overheated with anxiety, guilt, and dark thoughts. The vision of the dagger is deeply significant because it represents Macbeth's tortured mental state on the edge of committing murder. He is so consumed by thoughts of killing Duncan that his mind is literally creating images of the weapon he plans to use.
As Macbeth continues speaking, he notices that the blade of the vision-dagger becomes covered in "gouts" (drops or splashes) of blood, which was not there before. He tells himself that there is no actual dagger, that it is simply the "bloody business" (meaning the murder he is about to commit) that is creating these visions in his mind. He then describes the nighttime world around him as a place where nature seems dead, where evil dreams torment sleeping people, and where witchcraft is active and dangerous. He compares himself to "withered murder," moving silently and ghostlike toward his terrible goal. He even asks the ground beneath his feet not to make noise as he walks, so that no one will hear him coming.
A bell rings, which is a signal from Lady Macbeth that everything is ready. Macbeth takes this as his cue to move forward, saying "I go, and it is done." His final lines in this scene are chilling. He tells Duncan not to hear the bell, because it is a "knell" (the ringing of a bell to announce a death) that is calling him either to heaven or to hell. Then Macbeth exits to commit the murder, crossing the point of no return. Scene Two
Scene Two takes place almost immediately after the murder. Lady Macbeth enters alone, speaking with a kind of dark excitement. She says that the same wine that made Duncan's guards drunk has given her boldness and courage. She mentions hearing an owl shriek, which she describes as "the fatal bellman" (in old times, a bellman would ring a bell outside the cell of someone condemned to death, giving them their final warning before execution) . She also confirms that she has drugged the guards' "possets" (a warm, spiced drink similar to hot milk mixed with alcohol) so deeply that they are hovering between life and death in their heavy sleep.
When Macbeth calls out from offstage, Lady Macbeth panics briefly, worrying that something has gone wrong. She reveals in this moment a surprisingly human vulnerability, admitting that she could not kill Duncan herself because he reminded her of her own father as he slept. This is a crack in her cold exterior, showing that she is not completely without feeling, even if she tries very hard to suppress (hold down and hide) those feelings.
Macbeth enters with his hands dripping in blood and still carrying the daggers he used in the murder. He is deeply shaken and speaks in short, broken sentences, suggesting that he is in a state of shock and psychological distress (extreme mental and emotional suffering) . He tells Lady Macbeth that he heard Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, sleeping in a nearby room. One of them laughed in his sleep and the other cried out "Murder!" They woke each other up briefly, said their prayers, and fell back to sleep. The detail about their prayers is very troubling to Macbeth, because when they said "God bless us," he could not bring himself to say "Amen" (a word meaning agreement or approval, commonly used at the end of prayers) . He is deeply disturbed by this, feeling that he has cut himself off from God's grace (divine blessing and forgiveness) by committing this terrible act.
Lady Macbeth tries to calm him down, telling him not to think so deeply about what has happened, warning that overthinking it will drive them both mad. However, Macbeth cannot stop. He says he heard a voice crying out "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep!" He goes on to describe sleep in beautiful and poetic terms, calling it "the death of each day's life" and "balm of hurt minds," meaning that sleep is the thing that heals and restores the human mind and body. By murdering Duncan while he slept, Macbeth feels he has destroyed his own ability to ever find peace or rest again.
Lady Macbeth tries to pull him back to practical reality. She notices that he has made a catastrophic mistake in bringing the daggers away from the murder scene. The daggers need to be left with the sleeping guards so that the guards will appear to be the killers. She tells him to go back and return the daggers, and to smear the guards' faces with Duncan's blood. Macbeth absolutely refuses, saying he cannot bear to look at what he has done again.
Lady Macbeth, showing her characteristic cold practicality (the ability to think clearly and logically even in a crisis), takes the daggers herself and goes back to the murder scene. While she is gone, Macbeth hears a loud knocking at the castle gate and becomes terrified, saying that every sound now frightens him. He stares at his bloody hands in horror and says that not even all the water in Neptune's ocean (Neptune being the Roman god of the sea) could wash the blood clean from his hands. Instead, he believes his hands would turn the entire green ocean red. This is a powerful metaphor (a comparison that does not use the word "like" or "as") for how deeply guilty and permanently stained he feels.
Lady Macbeth returns, her own hands now covered in blood. She tells Macbeth that her hands are the same color as his, but she is ashamed of him for having "a heart so white," meaning a heart that is pale with fear and cowardice. She believes that simply washing their hands with water will remove all evidence of the deed and that everything will be fine. She urges him to put on his nightgown so that if anyone sees them, it will look like they were simply woken from sleep by the noise, rather than having been awake and active. The contrast between Lady Macbeth's practical confidence and Macbeth's emotional collapse is very striking here. He ends the scene with a heartbreaking line, wishing that the knocking at the gate could somehow wake Duncan from the dead.
Scene Three
Scene Three
Scene Three, presented as a summary, brings the discovery of the murder into the open. Macduff and Lennox arrive at the castle early in the morning and it is their knocking that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth heard at the end of the previous scene. Macbeth greets them and shows Macduff the way to the king's chambers. While Macduff is gone, Lennox describes the terrible and unnatural storms that shook the country the previous night, including earthquakes, violent winds, and strange screams heard in the air. These unnatural events reflect the theme that runs throughout the play, that when something goes deeply wrong in the moral order of the world (like the murder of a king), nature itself reflects that wrongness through strange and terrifying events.
When Macduff returns he is completely distraught (extremely upset and horrified) because he has discovered Duncan's murdered body. Macbeth and Lennox run to see for themselves. Macduff raises the alarm and wakes everyone in the castle. Lady Macbeth enters, performing a perfect mask of innocent shock. Banquo rushes in and is genuinely horrified by the news.
Macbeth's behavior in this scene is very revealing. He overdoes his expressions of grief and outrage, going on and on dramatically about how meaningless his life now feels without the king. Then, most significantly, Lennox reports that the guards appear to be responsible for the murder, since they were found near the body with blood on their faces and hands and with bloody daggers beside them. Rather than leaving well enough alone, Macbeth dramatically announces that he killed the guards in a fit of rage over the murder, claiming he could not control his anger. This is a very risky move, and the audience can sense the danger in it. Macduff in particular seems suspicious, questioning why Macbeth would kill the only people who could have explained what happened. Before anyone can press Macbeth too hard on this point, Lady Macbeth cleverly draws attention to herself by pretending to faint. This breaks the tension and causes everyone to rush to her aid, giving the conversation a different direction. Meanwhile, Duncan's two sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, quietly discuss the situation between themselves. They quickly realize that as the murdered king's sons, their own lives may be in danger. They decide to flee Scotland immediately, Malcolm going to England and Donalbain going to Ireland. Their sudden departure will later be used against them, with many people suspecting that they arranged their own father's murder and then fled to avoid punishment.
Scene four, presented as a summary, takes place outside Macbeth's castle and continues the theme of unnatural events reflecting moral disorder in the kingdom. Ross speaks with an old man who says he has never in his long life seen a night as dark and terrible as the night of the murder. The old man also reports a strange sight, that a falcon (a noble and powerful bird) was killed by a common mousing owl (a much smaller and lesser bird), which symbolizes the unnatural overturning of the natural order, just as a lesser man like Macbeth has struck down his king, who was considered almost sacred in Shakespeare's time.
Ross confirms that the king's horses, which are normally obedient and calm, broke out of their stalls and ran wild. According to some reports, they even turned on each other and became cannibalistic (eating others of their own kind). These strange events all serve as reflections of the deeply unnatural act of regicide (the murder of a king) that has been committed.
Macduff arrives and brings further news. He tells Ross that many people suspect Malcolm and Donalbain of having arranged their father's murder, pointing to their sudden and suspicious flight from Scotland as evidence. He also reports that Macbeth has already been chosen as the new King of Scotland and will be crowned at Scone (pronounced "Skoon," a place of great historical and ceremonial importance in Scotland where Scottish kings were traditionally crowned). Macduff's tone here is notably cautious and carefully neutral, suggesting that he may already have doubts about Macbeth's role in the events of the previous night. This scene sets up the conflicts and suspicions that will drive the action of the rest of the play.