1. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1606 approx.)
Plot (Acts) 1
This Act opens with the three witches. A war is taking place between Scotland and Norway; Scotland is victorious due to the valiant efforts of M. The traitorous Thane of Cawdor is captured and executed. King Duncan rewards M with the title of Thane of Cawdor. Before he is given the title, the three witches confront M and Banquo. They tell M that he will become Thane of Cawdor and eventually king. M soon learns of his new title which fulfils part of the prophesy and sends word to his wife. Duncan plans on staying the night at M’s castle in Inverness. LM receives the news and immediately plots the death of King Duncan so her husband will be king. LM manipulates M into following her plans; he reluctantly agrees. By the end of Act 1, M is determined to follow through with the plan. 2
M has some doubts (and visions) but he talks himself into murdering Duncan in his sleep. M is so scared that LM must finish the rest of the plan by wiping blood on the drunk guards. The next morning, Macduff and Lennox arrive at M’s and Macduff discovers the dead body of King Duncan. The guards are immediate suspects and M kills them. Malcolm and Donaldbain, the King’s sons, flee the castle because they are afraid that they will be blamed for the murder of their father. 3
Banquo begins to suspect M for the murder of King Duncan. Therefore, M sends out some men to murder Banquo and his son, Fleance. Banquo is murdered but Fleance escapes. M, LM, Lennox, Ross and other lords attend a banquet. The ghost of Banquo presents itself to M who begins to rant and rave which makes the other guests uneasy. Lady M tries to cover up the situation by saying that M is prone to fits. Macduff has not attended the banquet because he has gone to England looking for help because he is suspicious of M. 4
M confronts the three Weird Sisters and they show him more visions. The visions lead M to believe that he cannot be killed by any man born of woman and until Birnham wood comes to his castle which gives him a false sense of security. He then sends murderers to kill Macduff’s family. Meanwhile, Macduff is in England begging Malcolm to return to Scotland to seize the throne from M who has become a tyrant. Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty; once satisfied he agrees to wage war against M with help from his uncle, Siward. 5
LM has gone mad with guilt over the murders, and ultimately kills herself. Some of the Scottish lords discuss M’s state of mind and agree that they will help Malcolm and Macduff fight against M. The witches’ prophecies come true when Macduff’s men use branches to hide their numbers, and when Macduff reveals he was born by caesarian. Macduff kills M and the natural order is restored by the announcement of Malcolm as the rightful king.
Characters
Macbeth (M)
Eponymous protagonist, ambitious and ruthless
Lady Macbeth (LM)
Defies expectations, strong and ambitious, but goes mad
Witches (or weird sisters)
Supernatural beings, who prophesise (and influence?) events, could represent conscience.
Banquo
M’s friend, sons prophesised to rule, killed by M’s murderers and returns as ghost. In real-life James I’s ancestor.
Duncan
Good king, praises M at start but murdered by him.
Macduff
Wife and children killed; kills M; born by caesarian.
Malcolm
Duncan’s son and heir to throne, good man, finally crowned
Fleance
Banquo’s son, represents innocence and justice.
Context
Mac Bethad
Born around 1005, the real-life inspiration for the story.
James I
Shakespeare wrote the play to please the King, focussing on topics of personal interest to him (Scotland, witchcraft etc.)
Gunpowder Plot (1605)
A failed attempt to kill James I along with the government. Regicide was therefore topical.
Great Chain of Being
A natural order, everyone having their proper place.
Divine Right of Kings
Kings were appointed by God, becoming his representative on earth, James I promoted this view to help secure his reign
Tragedy
M is a tragedy with M as a tragic hero.
Witchcraft
James I fascinated and terrified by witchcraft, writing the book “Demonologie” on the subject.
Garden of Eden
M works as an Allegory for the Bible story of Adam and Eve where man is tempted by evil, via woman to claim undeserved power.
Themes
Ambition
Shown only as negative; M and LM sacrifice their morals to achieve their desires.
Guilt
Macbeth is at first stunned by regret, can’t sleep and LM is driven mad by her guilt.
Supernatural
Witches, apparitions and M’s belief in prophecy
Violence
M seeks to achieve his goals solely through battle and murder.
Order and Disorder
Natural order is disrupted then re-established. M inverts the order of royal succession; LM inverts the patriarchal hierarchy.
Masculinity / Femininity
LM challenges M’s manliness and dismisses her femininity to commit dark deeds. Witches too described as having beards.
Kingship vs tyranny
Duncan is presented as a good King whereas M is a tyrant usurper.
Fate and free will
Ambiguous if M is to blame or no choice because of those manipulating him.
Appearance vs reality
Characters hallucinate visions and sounds and deceive, hiding their true thoughts.
Motifs / Imagery
Blood
Symbolises violence and guilt.
Children
Symbolise innocence and legacy.
Sleep
Symbolises guilt and conscience.
Light & Dark
Symbolise good and evil thoughts & actions.
Birds (Avian)
Symbolise misfortune, death and chaos.
Dramatic/Stylistic Devices
Oxymoron
Opposites and contradictions are used to reflect the disorder.
Soliloquy
One character speaking their thoughts aloud for the benefit of the audience; M uses to make audience complicit
Dramatic irony
Audience knows more than characters; audience knows D will die
Hamartia
Tragic flaw; M’s is that he is easily influenced and has ambition
Anagnorisis
Character’s recognition or the tragedy to come; M realises Macduff was born by cesarean
Peripetieia
Sudden reversal of fortune.
Rhyme
Used by the witches to create chant-like, supernatural atmosphere
Pathetic fallacy
unnatural events are usually echoed by unnatural weather
Chiasmus
Repetition of a phrase in reverse (fair is foul and foul is fair)
Chapters, quotes for chapters, characters, themes, techniques, context
Key Vocabulary
Patriarchal society
A society ruled by men.
Regicide
Murder of the monarch
Usurp
To take power
Treason
Betrayal of monarch or country.
Thane
A title, like ‘Lord’
Hubris
Excessive pride, suffered by M or LM
Jacobean
During the reign of James I ( )
Apparition
Ghost or ghostly vision.
Tyrant
Someone who rules with fear. Abuses power.

2. Key Quotations Act & Scene Spoken by: Quotation: Techniques Context
Act I, Scene i
The Witches
Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air. 
When the battle’s lost and won.
Chiasmus
Oxymoron
Rhyme
Pathetic Fallacy
First scene of the play
Introduces idea of inverting the natural order and of witches’ supernatural abilities.
Act I, Scene ii
Captain
For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name
Establishes the audience’s view of M before we meet him on stage. Makes his fall from grace more shocking
unseamed him from the nave to th' chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements
Metaphor Imagery
Establishes M’s capacity for violence, foreshadowing the violence come. Also shows the brutal treatment of anyone considered a traitor.
Act I, Scene III
Macbeth
So foul and fair a day I have not seen
Allusion to witches’ lines
M’s echo of the witches’ lines shows he may already be succumbing to their manipulations.
Banquo
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths
Foreshadowing
Banquo warns M of temptation and manipulation by evildoers.
Act I, Scene IV
Stars hide your fires let not light see my black and deep desires.
Motif: Light and dark
M learns of Duncan naming Malcolm as heir which makes him feel dark desires which he wants to keep secret.
Act I, Scene V
Lady Macbeth
Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness.
Gender roles
LM has just read M’s letter and started to plot, she fears M is not ruthless enough to act.
Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't.
Simile & metaphor
LM advises M to be deceitful., looking harmless but being dangerous.
un-sex me here
Imperatives
LM calls on dark forces to strip her of feminine qualities to let her commit evil acts
Act I, Scene vii
If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly.
Euphemism
M cannot bring himself to say the words ‘murder’ or ‘kill’ showing how he tries not to face the reality of his intended acts.
When you durst do it, then you were a man.
Theme: masculinity
LM challenges M’s masculinity to manipulate him into action.
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Theme: Appearance
M realises he must deceive; pretending to be loyal when actually betraying.
Act II, Scene ii
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand
Hyperbole
Motif: Blood
M has killed Duncan and immediately feels guilt
My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white.
Theme: masculinity Metaphor
LM has hands covered in red blood, like M, but says she would be ashamed if she (a woman) acted as cowardly as him.
Amen stuck in my throat.
Theme: supernatural
M cannot speak a prayer by saying Amen because he is no longer ‘good’.
These deeds must not be thought after these ways. So, it will make us mad.
Theme: Guilt
LM tells M not to think about the murder; if they do it will make them mad.
Act II, Scene iii
Donalbain
There’s daggers in men’s smiles.
Even when someone smiles at you they could be plotting against you.
Act III, Scene ii
What’s done is done.
Irony
LM says the matter is finished even though they will soon face deadly consequences..
O full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Metaphors
M discusses his guilt/paranoia. He has killed Duncan and ordered Banquo and Fleance’s.
Duncan is in his grave; After life's fitful fever he sleeps well
Motif: Sleep
M almost envies Duncan’s peaceful death compared to his own stressful existence.
Act IV, Scene i
give to th' edge o' th' sword his wife, his babes,
Theme: Violence
M orders the murder of Macduff’s wife and children showing his absolute brutality and desperation by this point in the play.
Act V, Scene i
Out, damned spot! out, I say!
Sleepwalking scene. LM’s guilt overcomes. This is the last time she is seen on stage.
Here’s the smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.
Allusion to M’s ‘Neptune’
Act V, Scene v
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
 Extended metaphor
M talks about futility of life, just before his death.