The plot of Macbeth in 11 quotes

T HE PLAY BEGINS with the appearance of three witches on a heath. There is thunder,
lightning and rain! Macbeth and Banquo encounter the witches as they cross a moor. Banquo
and Macbeth are at first shocked by the witches who are so ugly a man like that they appear
to have beards. The witches predict that Macbeth will be made thane (a rank of Scottish
nobility) of Cawdor and eventually King of Scotland.

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!

The witches also tell Banquo that his sons will be Kings!

The witches vanish, and Macbeth and Banquo don’t really take what the witches have said
very seriously. But then some of King Duncan’s men come to thank the two generals for their
victories in battle and to tell Macbeth that he has indeed been named thane of Cawdor.
Macbeth is intrigued by the possibility that the remainder of the witches’ prediction—that
he will be crowned king—might be true, but he is uncertain what to expect. He visits with
King Duncan, and they plan to dine together at Inverness, Macbeth’s castle, that night.
Macbeth writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her all that has happened. He writes
a letter to his wife Lady Macbeth to tell her all about what the witches said to him.

Lady Macbeth is full of ambition, wanting him to be king and most importantly she will
have him do anything to achieve this. She wants him to murder King Duncan so that he can be
King and she can be Queen! When Macbeth arrives home she manages to persuades him to kill
the king that very night!

Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan’s two chamberlains drunk so they will black
out; the next morning they will blame the murder on the chamberlains, who will be
defenseless, as they will remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him,
despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody
dagger.

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

King Duncan is now dead but it is not discovered that night. The next morning a man called
Macduff comes to visit. It turns out that the King has asked Macduff to see him in the
morning. Macduff is a bit late and ventures up to see the King...then discovers him dead!

O horror, horror, horror! Ring the alarum bell! Murder and treason!

Macbeth then kills the chamberlains (that’s 3 people he has managed to murder in about 24
hours)—but he excuses this by making at as though has has killed them out of his anger that
they killed the King! Macbeth becomes King. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee to
England and Ireland fearing that whoever killed Duncan will be after them as well!
But Macbeth still feels very under pressure. He is stressed and feels threatened by what
the witches had told Banquo. Can you remember? They told Banquo that his sons would be
King!. Macbeth cannot stop thinking murderous thoughts.

O, full of scorpions is my mind dear wife!

He makes the decision to kill Banqou. Banquo who is his best friend! Has he gone completely
mad? Did he really need to do this if the witches said he would become King? What if the
King had died a day later by mistake...It’s something to think about! Anyway, Macbeth hires
two hitmen to get rid of Banquo and his son Fleance. After all Macbeth can’t get his hands
dirty anymore!

The hitmen ambush Banquo on his way to the royal feast. As they jump on him he shouts out
to his son,

O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly. Thou mayst revenge

Fleance manages to escape into the night! When Macbeth finds out that his hitmen have
failed he is furious. Their failure means that Banquos son might still become King and this
means that his being King is threatened!
However, Macbeth goes ahead with the feast he has planned that night. Banquos seat
remains empty! He and his wife entertain their friends but at the feast that night, Banquo’s
ghost visits Macbeth. When he sees the ghost, Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests,
(Sees the ghost) Avaunt and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee!

Many of his guests are scottish nobility so they are important people. Lady Macbeth tries to
sort the damage but it is very clear that something is up with Macbeth.

Frightened by the ghost of Banquo, Macbeth goes to visit the witches in their cavern.

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

There, they show him a sequence of demons and spirits who present him with further
predictions: he must beware of Macduff, a Scottish nobleman who opposed Macbeth’s
accession to the throne; he is incapable of being harmed by any man born of woman; and he
will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. Macbeth is relieved and feels
secure, because he knows that all men are born of women and that forests cannot move.
When he learns that Macduff has fled to England to join Malcolm, Macbeth orders that
Macduff’s castle be seized and, most cruelly, that Lady Macduff and her children be
murdered.

What you egg! Young fry of treachery! (He stabs him) He has killed me, mother!

When news of his family’s execution reaches Macduff in England, he is stricken with grief
and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncan’s son, has succeeded in raising an army in England,
and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth’s forces. The invasion
has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are appalled and frightened by Macbeth’s
tyrannical and murderous behavior. Lady Macbeth, meanwhile, becomes plagued with fits of
sleepwalking in which she bemoans what she believes to be bloodstains on her hands.

Out damned spot! Out I say! Here’s the smell of blood still.

Before Macbeth’s opponents arrive, Macbeth receives news that she has killed herself,
causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair. Nevertheless, he awaits the English
and fortifies Dunsinane, to which he seems to have withdrawn in order to defend himself,
certain that the witches’ predictions guarantee his invincibility. He is struck numb with fear,
however, when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with
boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is indeed coming to Dunsinane, fulfilling half of
the witches’ prophecy.

In the battle, Macbeth hews violently, but the English forces gradually overwhelm his army
and castle. On the battlefield, Macbeth encounters the vengeful Macduff, who declares that
he was not “of woman born” but was instead “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb (what
we now call birth by cesarean section). Though he realizes that he is doomed, Macbeth
continues to fight until Macduff kills and beheads him. Though whilst Shakespeare likes his
violence he has Macbeth killed off stage! Perhaps more fitting for a King?

Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his benevolent intentions for the country and
invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

Lay on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries, ‘Hold, enough!' Exeunt fighting