A Scottish noble and an initially valiant military man, Macbeth, after a supernatural prophecy and the urging of his wife, Lady Macbeth, commits regicide, usurping the kingship of Scotland. He thereafter lives in anxiety and fear, unable to rest or to trust his nobles. He leads a reign of terror until defeated by his former ally Macduff. The throne is then restored to the rightful heir, the murdered King Duncan's son, Malcolm.
The tragedy begins amid a bloody civil war in Scotland, where Macbeth is first introduced as a valorous and loyal general with the title of Thane of Glamis (which he inherited from his father Sinel) serving under King Duncan, who gives a colourful and extensive exaltation of Macbeth's prowess and valor in battle. Macbeth is Scotland's hero and is undefeated in war. Macbeth's most admirable trait is bravery, "For brave Macbeth – well he deserves that name", "O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman", in Scene 4, "worthiest" and "Like valour’s minion" to convey that Macbeth is bravery's favourite and extremely courageous. Macbeth is proven to be the ultimate warrior, "brandished", "carved" and "unseamed". His courageousness is also suggested, "Bellona’s bridegroom", comparing Macbeth to the Roman God of War, Mars. This gives Macbeth a legendary and epic status. When the battle is won, largely due to Macbeth and his lieutenant Banquo, the Thane of Lochaber, Duncan honours his generals with high praise and sends the messenger Ross to deliver Macbeth his reward: the title of Thane of Cawdor, since its previous holder was to be executed for betraying Scotland and siding with the enemy. In Scene 2, Shakespeare foreshadows who Macbeth will become, "Go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth".
Macbeth and Banquo wander onto a heath following the conflict, where they encounter three witches who greet them with prophecies. They address Macbeth first, hailing him as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, and that he shall be King afterwards, while Banquo is hailed as a father to a line of kings, though he himself will never rule. Macbeth's reaction was one of consumption and fixation,"rapt withal" and "look how our partner’s rapt". The word 'rapt', showing how Macbeth is obsessed with the witches' powers and is tempted by their predictions. Then, as they turn to leave, Macbeth calls out "tell me more", meaning that he's interested in their abilities. In Macbeth's letter to his wife, he explains that he "burned in desire to question them further".
Shakespeare also presents Macbeth as a very determined character who wants to control his own fate, rather than letting it be for the witches to decide. The line "Your children shall be kings" proves that Macbeth is already plotting and "horrible imaginings" demonstrates that Macbeth is already thinking of committing the greatest sacrilege of them all – regicide – despite this act will damn him to hell for eternity. This conveys how single-minded Macbeth can be.
These responses are the antithesis of Banquo's, who knew that the witches were forces of evil and shouldn't be trusted – "can the Devil speak true?” – whereas Shakespeare presents Macbeth in this scene as if he could be corrupted and his allegiance could shift, due to his state of moral conflict – "nothing is but what is not".
As the witches disappear, Ross arrives and presents Macbeth with his new title, but it becomes apparent that Macbeth has already begun to consider murdering Duncan and taking his place as king. (In medieval times and in the Elizabethan era, plans to murder royalty were punishable by death). He states that the kingship will fall into his lap by luck alone and that he will not have to take any action to fulfil the witches' last prophecy: "If chance may have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir". Macbeth becomes fixated on the prophecy, ignoring Banquo's advice that "oftentimes to win us to our harm these instruments of darkness tell us truths…to betray us in deepest consequence".
When he returns home, Lady Macbeth tries to convince him to kill Duncan. Macbeth at first refuses but changes his mind when she accuses him of cowardice. This suggests that Macbeth could be easily manipulated and his wife, and the witches, could see this flaw in him. When Macbeth says, "I am settled", this is the beginning of his fall from greatness, as Scotland's best defender to its nemesis. Giving in to his ambition, he kills Duncan and plants evidence of the regicide on two guards, whom he also kills. He hears voices that say "Macbeth shall sleep no more. Macbeth does murder sleep". He acknowledges that only the innocent sleep and that sleep is "the balm of hurt minds". The king's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, fear they will be blamed for Duncan's death and flee the country. Macbeth is then crowned king.
Shakespeare cleverly compares Macbeth to Lucifer, who started out as the Morning Star, the highest and brightest one could go, but greed overtook him and he fell to become Satan, "angels are bright still, though the brightest fell". The similarities of the Devil and Macbeth are that Macbeth wanted to rise up the Great Chain of Being but, in trying, became the most hated man in Scotland.
Macbeth becomes a tyrant, brutally stamping out any real or perceived threats to his power. He believes himself to be beyond redemption, "in blood stepp'd in so far, that, ... returning were as tedious as go o'er". Macbeth decides to hire two murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance, with a Third Murderer sent later to assist. Banquo is murdered, but Fleance survives. Macbeth goes to the witches for counsel, and their initial prophecy is for him to fear Macduff. However, they subsequently state that he will not be defeated "until Birnam wood move to high Dunsinane," and that "no man of woman born" may harm him. Macbeth takes this to mean that he is invincible. Nevertheless, Macbeth decides to get rid of Macduff and sends assassins to kill him and his entire family. Macduff escapes harm, but his wife, her young son and their entire household are brutally murdered. Macduff swears revenge and joins forces with Malcolm to overthrow Macbeth.
In Act V, Lady Macbeth is overcome with guilt; she dies and it is later postulated that she committed suicide. Now completely alone, Macbeth laments that life is a "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." By the end of the play Macbeth learns that the witches' second set of prophecies have hidden meanings: Malcolm's army carries shields made from Birnam wood to Macbeth's fortress in Dunsinane, and Macduff reveals that he was prematurely removed from his mother's womb, meaning that he technically was not "of woman born". Beaten but still defiant, Macbeth declares, "Lay on Macduff, and damned be he who first cries, hold, enough!" In the ensuing duel, Macduff kills Macbeth and cuts off his head, mirroring how Macbeth himself decapitated the traitor Macdonald at the beginning of the play.
LordBanquo, the Thane of Lochaber, is a semi-historical character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play Macbeth. In the play, he is at first an ally of Macbeth and they meet the Three Witches together. After prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his descendants will be. Later, Macbeth in his lust for power sees Banquo as a threat and has him murdered by three hired assassins; Banquo's son, Fleance, escapes. Banquo's ghost returns in a later scene, causing Macbeth to react with alarm in public during a feast.
Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, Macbeth most clearly reflects his relationship with King James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.
Macbeth was King of Scots from 1040 until his death. He ruled over the Kingdom of Alba, which covered only a portion of present-day Scotland.
Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is a character and the main antagonist in William Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603–1607) that is loosely based on history. Macduff, a legendary hero, plays a pivotal role in the play: he suspects Macbeth of regicide and eventually kills Macbeth in the final act. He can be seen as the avenging hero who helps save Scotland from Macbeth's tyranny in the play.
Macbeth is a 1971 historical drama film directed by Roman Polanski and co-written by Polanski and Kenneth Tynan. A film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, it tells the story of the Highland lord who becomes King of Scotland through treachery and murder. The film stars Jon Finch as the title character and Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth, noted for their relative youth as actors. Themes of historic recurrence, greater pessimism and internal ugliness in physically beautiful characters are added to Shakespeare's story of moral decline, which is presented in a more realistic style.
Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes queen of Scotland. When she does this, she is regarded as more powerful than Macbeth as she is able to manipulate him into doing what she wants. After Macbeth becomes a murderous tyrant, she is driven to madness by guilt over their crimes, and commits suicide offstage.
Fleance is a figure in legendary Scottish history. He was depicted by 16th-century historians as the son of Lord Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, and the ancestor of the kings of the House of Stuart. Fleance is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, in which the Three Witches prophesy that Banquo's descendants shall be kings. Some screen adaptations of the story expand on Fleance's role by showing his return to the kingdom after Macbeth's death.
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. Written for the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, it was Verdi's tenth opera and premiered on 14 March 1847. Macbeth was the first Shakespeare play that Verdi adapted for the operatic stage. Almost twenty years later, Macbeth was revised and expanded in a French version and given in Paris on 19 April 1865.
Macbeth is a 1948 American historical drama directed by Orson Welles. A film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, it tells the story of the Scottish general who becomes the King of Scotland through treachery and murder. The film stars Welles in the lead role and Jeanette Nolan as Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macduff is a character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. She is married to Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Her appearance in the play is brief: she and her son are introduced in Act IV Scene II, a climactic scene that ends with both of them being murdered on Macbeth's orders. Though Lady Macduff's appearance is limited to this scene, her role in the play is quite significant. Later playwrights, William Davenant especially, expanded her role in adaptation and in performance.
Macbeth is a 2006 Australian adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was directed by Geoffrey Wright and features an ensemble cast led by Sam Worthington in the title role. Macbeth, filmed in Melbourne and Victoria, was released in Australia on 21 September 2006.
Holinshed's Chronicles, also known as Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, is a collaborative work published in several volumes and two editions, the first edition in 1577, and the second in 1587. It was a large, comprehensive description of British history published in three volumes.
The Three Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters or Wayward Sisters, are characters in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The witches eventually lead Macbeth to his demise, and they hold a striking resemblance to the three Fates of classical mythology. Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland. Other possible sources, aside from Shakespeare, include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft as King James VI of Scotland's Daemonologie, the Witch of Endor from the Bible, the Norns of Norse mythology, and ancient classical myths of the Fates: the Greek Moirai and the Roman Parcae.
Just Macbeth is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. It was written by Australian children’s author Andy Griffiths and produced by Bell Shakespeare as well as being released as a book.
King Duncan is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Macbeth. He is the father of two youthful sons, and the victim of a well-plotted regicide in a power grab by his trusted captain Macbeth. The origin of the character lies in a narrative of the historical Donnchad mac Crinain, King of Scots, in Raphael Holinshed's 1587 The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, a history of Britain familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Unlike Holinshed's incompetent King Duncan, Shakespeare's King Duncan is crafted as a sensitive, insightful, and generous father-figure whose murder grieves Scotland and is accounted the cause of turmoil in the natural world.
Macbeth is a 2015 epic historical drama film directed by Justin Kurzel and written for the screen by Jacob Koskoff, Todd Louiso and Michael Lesslie, based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role and Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth, with Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Jack Reynor, Elizabeth Debicki and David Thewlis in supporting roles. The story follows a Scottish lord's rise to power after receiving a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Like the play it was adapted from, the film dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake.
Malcolm is a character in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The character is based on the historical king Malcolm III of Scotland, and is derived largely from the account in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of Britain. He is the elder son of King Duncan, the heir to the throne, and brother to Donalbain. In the end, he regains the throne after mustering support to overthrow Macbeth.
Makibefo is a 1999 Malagasy black-and-white drama film written and directed by Alexander Abela. The director filmed the movie near the town of Faux Cap, Madagascar, with a single technical assistant. With the exception of an English-speaking narrator, all the roles are played by indigenous Antandroy people who performed a largely improvised story based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth set in a remote fishing village.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a 2021 American historical thriller film written, directed and produced by Joel Coen, based on the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. It is the first film directed by one of the Coen brothers without the other's involvement. The film stars Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand, Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, Kathryn Hunter, and Brendan Gleeson.
The Battle of Dunsinane, also known as the Battle of the Seven Sleepers, was fought between the forces of Macbeth, King of Scotland and forces led by Siward, Earl of Northumbria and Malcolm Canmore on 27 July 1054. The battle was part of a campaign launched by Siward in support of Malcolm's claim to the Scottish throne, which Macbeth had gained after killing Malcolm's father, Duncan I of Scotland, at the battle of Pitgaveny in 1040. Ending in victory for Siward and Malcolm the battle of Dunsinane was fought in Perthshire, traditionally on Dunsinane Hill.
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