1. Macbeth act by act summary

2. Act I, Scene 1
Three witches gather and say that they’ll meet with Macbeth before sunset and after a terrible battle that has been fought nearby.
The three witches are later referred to as “the three weird sisters.”
Remember: “Fair is foul and foul is fair.”

3. Act I, Scene 2
The scene is set on a battlefield where Macbeth’s army has been fighting the army of the traitor Macdonwald.
The King, Duncan, asks a brave soldier to comment on the course of the battle. This sergeant has proved his valor by fighting to save the King’s son, Malcolm, from capture by the rebel Macdonwald’s forces.

4. Act I, Scene 2, cont.
The Sergeant says that…
The battle was evenly matched – with the “whore” Fortune smiling temporarily on Macdonwald…
…at which point Macbeth “unseamed him (Macdonwald) from the nave to the chops and stuck his head upon the battlements.”

5. Act I, Scene 2, cont. Macdonwald’s men run – “trusting their heels.”
The King of Norway fights on the side of Macdonwald. Norway hopes that a successful uprising by the traitor will allow him to capitalize on his support and gain political power in Scotland.
At this point, Norway sends his fresh forces onto the field to fight Macbeth and Banquo’s tired and battle-worn men.
Duncan asks: “Didn’t this dismay Macbeth (and Macbeth’s co-leader, Banquo)?”
The Sergeant replies: “Yes. Like the sparrow dismays the eagle or the rabbit dismays the lion.”

6. Act I, Scene 2, cont.
Macbeth’s men defeat Norway’s army, and then march to Fife, where Norway – here working with the traitor the Thane of Cawdor – has a second force battling the loyal Scottish thane, Ross and his troops.
Remember: “Thane” = “Lord” or “Duke”
Macbeth wins there, too.
The King orders that the traitor Cawdor be executed and that Macbeth be named the new Thane of Cawdor in gratitude for his awesome performance on the battlefield.

7. Act I, Scene 3 Macbeth and Banquo ride from the battlefield.
Macbeth observes: “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”
`Macbeth and Banquo happen across the three weird sisters, who greet Macbeth:
“Hail Thane of Glamis.”
“Hail Thane of Cawdor.”
“Hail he that shalt be king hereafter.”

8. “Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” Macbeth asks.
Act I, Scene 3, cont.
The greeting unnerves Macbeth. He already is Thane of Glamis (that was his father’s title, he inherited it).
Macbeth knows, though, that he cannot be Thane of Cawdor. “The Thane of Cawdor yet lives…” Macbeth wonders (he knows; he is responsible for Cawdor’s arrest as a traitor on the battlefield).
“Why do you dress me in borrowed robes?” Macbeth asks.

9. About Banquo the witches say
Act I, Scene 3, cont.
While Macbeth thinks-through the witches’ greeting, Banquo asks them about himself.
About Banquo the witches say
“You are lesser than Macbeth, but greater.”
“You are not so happy as Macbeth, but happier.”
“You are not a king, but you will father kings.”

10. Act I, Scene 3, cont.
Ross and Lennox arrive, and greet Macbeth as “Thane of Cawdor.” They tell him that Duncan has promoted him in gratitude for his bravery and loyalty, and that Duncan wants to meet with Macbeth and Banquo so he can personally deliver his thanks.
“Can the devil speak true?” wonders Macbeth.
Banquo suggests that all of what the witches said must be true.

11. Act I, Scene 3, cont.
Macbeth ponders this, and wonders whether the witches are good, or evil.
“If their prediction is evil, how could it have been fulfilled… and fulfilled for the good (i.e. “with me replacing the traitorous Cawdor.”)
“BUT,” he continues, “if what they said was good, why is the last part of their prediction evil (i.e. that Macbeth will have to somehow unseat Duncan and Malcolm and Donalbain)?”
So: what Macbeth thinks about is whether the witches are foul creatures making fair predictions or fair creatures making foul ones. Where have we heard this before?

12. Act I, Scene 3, cont.
The King says to Macbeth that there is no way he can fully repay him both for helping to save his eldest son Malcolm from capture and for driving-off the traitors Macdonwald and Cawdor.
Duncan then announces that he has an important announcement to make regarding an official declaration as to who will inherit his throne.
Malcolm has been named Prince of Cumberland and next in line to the throne!

13. Act I, Scene 4 Important: In this scene, Duncan says …
“There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He (the executed Thane of Cawdor) was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.”

14. 1. Introduction (exposition) 5. Conclusion (dénoument)
Freytag’s Triangle
In Technique of the Drama (1863), Gustav Freytag outlined what he considered to be the most successful structure for a play, based on the writings of Aristotle, Shakespeare, and other he considered to be outstanding playwrights. Briefly, Freytag believed the action of the play could be organized in the shape of a triangle, stressing that there should be five distinct parts:
3. Climax
2. Complication
4. Falling action
1. Introduction (exposition)
5. Conclusion (dénoument)

15. Act I, Scene 5
Lady Macbeth reads a letter sent by her husband in which he relates the details of what the witches have predicted and what Duncan has done.
He tells his wife that he’s invited Duncan to their castle as a guest.
She begins to formulate her plan to assassinate Duncan.

16. Act I, Scene 5, cont.
Lady Macbeth asks “spirits that tend on mortal thoughts” to unsex her. She continues, saying: “Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall.”
She reveals her intentions to her husband. Macbeth dismisses her immediately.
Lady Macbeth also urges her husband to consider treachery as the quick way to become king. Deceit is easy: “Look like the innocent flower,” she says, “But be the serpent under it.”
Lady Macbeth knows that her husband is “too full of the milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way” to power.

17. Act I, Scene 6
Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle (Inverness) and comments on its pleasantness and “good vibe.” Dramatic Irony.
Dramatic Irony happens when the audience knows more about what is going on in a drama/comedy than one or more of the characters know.
Lady Macbeth welcomes him cordially, giving no hint of her real intentions.
Duncan remarks on how happy he is to be with Macbeth and his wife: “I love him greatly, and will continue to show him favor.”
This is the final time we see Duncan

18. Act I, Scene 7
Macbeth contemplates murdering the king saying “If it were done when it is done, then it is better it were done quickly.”
He is here in double-proof, Macbeth says, reminding us that Duncan is not just Macbeth’s sovereign, but his cousin as well.
In the same speech, Macbeth comments that as Duncan’s host he “should lock the door against any murderer” not bear the knife himself. Macbeth continues to observe that Duncan has been a good and benevolent king, not worthy of any treachery against him.
Macbeth decides that he and his wife will make no more plots against Duncan: “We will proceed no further in this business.”
She calls him a coward. “When you dared to do the deed, then you were a man… now that [our opportunity] has presented itself… you [are] impotent.” [1, 7, 50ff.]
She also reminds Macbeth that had she promised so, she would “dash the brains out” of a baby even in the act of nursing the infant.

19. Act 2, Scene 1- Banquo Suspects
Banquo tells Macbeth he dreamt of the witches.
He suspects Macbeth and attempts to catch him out.
Macbeth has a vision of a dagger floating in the air before him, its handle pointing toward his hand and its tip aiming him toward Duncan. Macbeth tries to grasp the weapon and fails. He wonders whether what he sees is real or a “dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain” (2.1.38–39).

20. Act 2, Scene 2 – Bloody Hands
Macbeth murders the King while his guards are drunk asleep.
Lady Macbeth says that she cannot understand how Macbeth could fail—she had prepared the daggers for the chamberlains herself. She asserts that she would have killed the king herself then and there,“[h]ad he not resembled / [her] father as he slept” (2.2.12–13).
Macbeth chaotically completes the job. He returns to his chamber bloody and with the murder weapons, which he was supposed to plant on the guards.
Lady Macbeth, after chastising her husband as a “weak-willed creature,” plants the dagger and returns now just as bloody as her husband.
Remember: 1. “Macbeth has murdered sleep.”
2. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?”

21. Act 2, Scene 3 – The Porter Scene
In most of his tragedies, Shakespeare balances scenes of intense drama or action with lighter scenes – which often contain crude, offensive humor. Macbeth is no different. Act 2, scene 3 immediately follows Duncan’s murder and Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s unexpected(?) admission that they feel guilt. This scene is commonly called The “Porter” Scene.
The persistent knocking of Macduff and Lennox (two of Duncan’s very loyal thanes) wakens the castle’s porter, who shuffles toward the gate – still a little drunk from the night before – to admit the knocker.

22. Act 2, Scene 3, cont.
Macduff and Lennox have come to meet Duncan and leave with him from Inverness (the castle). Macbeth – who has “just awakened” – tells Macduff to go ahead and get Duncan. Macduff, of course, comes back screaming the news that the King’s been murdered.
Macbeth acknowledges that he killed the King’s obviously guilty guards – he says he could not restrain his anger at their treachery.
Macduff tells Lady Macbeth that the details of murder scene are so terrible that “the reciting of [them] in a woman’s ear would kill her as she heard [them].”
Macolm and Donalbain – the King’s sons – agree to leave Scotland.

23. Act 2, Scene 4
Outside Macbeth’s castle, an Old Man and Ross (another thane loyal to Duncan) talk of the strange occurrences of the night before. “The heavens [were] troubled by men’s sins, punishing this bloody world.” Besides the night’s storminess, the two also observed that the sun was dark – “snuffed out by the darkness of night” – and that Duncan’s beautiful and well-bred horses killed each other and became cannibals.
Macduff and Ross seem to agree that Malcolm and Donalbain’s quick departure from Scotland makes them look guilty.
Macbeth, says Ross, is in Scone for his coronation. Macduff makes it clear that he has no intention of attending.

24. Act 3, Scene 1
Macbeth invites Banquo to be the guest of honor at a feast. Banquo says he will attend – he has been ordered to, after all, but that he’ll be a few minutes late. He wants to go riding with his son, Fleance.
Macbeth’s soliloquy:
“To be king is nothing but to be safely king…My immortal soul I have given to the devil to make the children of Banquo kings!”
By convincing them that Banquo is the cause of their misfortunes, Macbeth persuades two seedy characters to assassinate Banquo and Fleance in the evening as they return to the castle for the feast.

25. Act 3, Scene 2
Like her husband does, Lady Macbeth says (to herself) that We gain nothing and sacrifice everything when we get what we want without achieving happiness.
Macbeth enters and tells his wife that he too is discontented, saying that his mind is “full of scorpions” (3.2.37). He feels that the business that they began by killing Duncan is not yet complete because there are still threats to the throne that must be eliminated.
Lady M notices that her husband is upset and preoccupied. She presumes that he is still distracted by Duncan’s murder. He tells her that he has something “awful and infamous” planned – but will not reveal any other details of his plan to murder Banquo.

26. Act 3, Scene 3
The murderers kill Banquo, who dies urging his son to flee and to avenge his death. One of the murderers extinguishes the torch, and in the darkness Fleance escapes. The murderers leave with Banquo’s body to find Macbeth and tell him what has happened.
Who is the third murderer? If it’s Macbeth, why don’t the other two assassins recognize him? Could it be that he’s in disguise? Remember: “Borrowed robes.” Could Macbeth be disguised (i.e. wearing “borrowed robes”) so that the other two guys don’t spot him?

27. Act 3, Scene 4 - Banquet
Macbeth asks the assembly why Banquo is not present, and the noblemen reply that he has broken his promise to attend the feast. 
The news of Fleance’s escape angers Macbeth—if only Fleance had died, he muses, his throne would have been secure. Instead, “the worm that’s fled / Hath nature that in time will venom breed” (3.4.28–29).

28. At this point, Banquo's ghost enters the room and sits in Macbeth's place.  Macbeth turns pale after seeing this apparition and shouts at it to leave.
The ghost disappears, and Macbeth recovers, telling his company: “I have a strange infirmity which is nothing / To those that know me” (3.4.85–86). As he offers a toast to company, however, Banquo’s specter reappears and shocks Macbeth into further reckless outbursts.

29. Since only he can see the ghost, the rest of the assembly thinks that Macbeth has gone mad. 
Lady Macbeth tries to cover up the situation by saying that her husband occasionally has such fits of delirium.  Banquo’s ghost appears, and Macbeth starts screaming at what all the others see as an empty chair. Lady Macbeth tells them to pay no mind to Macbeth’s disturbing behavior. “He has been like this since boyhood, “ she says.

30. Banquo's ghost leaves the banquet, but not after creating utter chaos in the castle.  Lady Macbeth scolds her husband for disrupting the mirth of the banquet with all of his screaming. 
Alone after all of his guests have departed, Macbeth tells his wife that he fears for his life now that Banquo's ghost roams the area. 
In addition, he is troubled that Macduff did not attend the feast.  Macbeth has spies in every nobleman's household except that of Macduff.  He decides to visit the weird sisters the next day to hear more of their prophecies, whether good or bad

31. Act 3, Scene 5
The witches meet with their mistress, the powerful sorceress Hecate. 
Hecate is a figure from Greek mythology, the queen of the night and the protector of witches and enchanters.  She is angry that the witches have not asked her for any help in their dealings with Macbeth. 
Hecate is also furious that the weird sisters have helped Macbeth become king, while he has been utterly ungrateful to them despite all of their assistance.  After all, without the witches' prophecies, Macbeth would not be the King of Scotland. 
Hecate decides to make a potion that will lead Macbeth to his ruin.

32. Act 3, Scene 6
Lennox, who is loyal to Duncan, makes sarcastic remarks about Macbeth to another (unnamed) thane.
Banquo’s murder has been officially blamed on Fleance, who has fled. Nevertheless, both men suspect Macbeth, whom they call a “tyrant,” in the murders of Duncan and Banquo.
The lord tells Lennox that Macduff has gone to England, where he will join Malcolm in pleading with England’s King Edward for aid. News of these plots has prompted Macbeth to prepare for war. Lennox and the lord express their hope that Malcolm and Macduff will be successful and that their actions can save Scotland from Macbeth.

33. Act 4, Scene 1
Macbeth’s returns to the witches and demands more information. They agree to reveal to him three apparitions:
A helmeted head. This apparition warns: “Beware Macduff; beware the Thane of Fife.”
A bloody baby. The second illusion delivers this warning: “Macbeth cannot be harmed by any man born of woman.”
A crowned child holding the branch of a tree. This third apparition promises that “Macbeth will not be defeated until Birnam Wood (a forest near his castle) comes to Dunsinane hill (the hill on which Macbeth’s castle is built).”

34. Act 4, Scene 2
Lady Macduff wonders why her husband has abandoned her and gone so hastily to England. She observes that “even when our actions are not traitorous, our fear can make us look like traitors (lines 3-4).” Regardless of her husband’s true intent, Lady Macduff tells her friend Ross that he has betrayed her and his children and that he may, in fact be a coward. Lady Macduff and all of her children are brutally murdered in their undefended castle by Macbeth’s henchmen.

35. Act 4, Scene 3
Macduff meets with Malcolm in England. Malcolm confides in Macduff that he (Malcolm) is lustful and greedy. Malcolm wonders if Macduff could support his right to the throne knowing that his evils would make Macbeth look “white as snow” and “innocent as a lamb.” At first, Macduff reassures Malcolm, suggesting that no one can be as evil as Macbeth has been in his short reign. Soon, though, Macduff admits that not only is Malcolm not fit to be king, he’s not fit to live! (103-4) Malcolm confesses that he was only testing Macduff’s loyalty. Malcolm is pleased that Macduff has shown himself to be loyal to Scotland, not just to whoever happens to be on Scotland’s throne.

36. Act 5, Scene 1
Lady Macbeth’s maid has summoned a doctor to try to cure Lady Macbeth of sleepwalking. The doctor observes that Lady Macbeth’s seeming wakefulness but absolute unawareness of anything happening around her is quite unnatural (Remember: “Macbeth has murdered sleep” – II, ii, 35). Lady Macbeth mentions the murders of Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff. All the while she scrubs her hands, trying to wash away imaginary blood that her guilt causes her to see. “Out, damned spot!”( V, i, 27). This reminds us of what Macbeth says in Act II (Can all great Neptune’s ocean wash [Duncan’s blood] from my hands?” (ii, 58-9). Lady Macbeth replies (ironically) that “A little water will clear us of this [bloody] deed.” (II, ii, 66-7).

37. Act 5, Scene 2
Outside the castle, a group of Scottish lords discusses the military situation: the English army approaches, led by Malcolm, and the Scottish army will meet them near Birnam Wood, apparently to join forces with them. The “tyrant,” as Lennox and the other lords call Macbeth, has fortified Dunsinane Castle and is making his military preparations in a mad rage.“Now [Macbeth] feels his hidden murders sticking to his hands.” (Angus: V, ii, 17-8). Sticking… like drying blood.

38. Act 5, Scene 3
Macbeth strides into the hall of Dunsinane with the doctor and his attendants, boasting proudly that he has nothing to fear from the English army or from Malcolm, since “none of woman born” can harm him (4.1.96) and since he will rule securely “[t]ill Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane” (5.3.2). He calls his servant Seyton, who confirms that an army of ten thousand Englishmen approaches the castle. Macbeth insists upon wearing his armor, though the battle is still some time off.

39. The doctor tells the king that Lady Macbeth is kept from rest by “thick-coming fancies,” and Macbeth orders him to cure her of her delusions (5.3.40).
Macbeth’s men are abandoning him in droves.
Those who remain are terrified of the obviously superior English force gathering near the castle.
Despite his professed confidence in the “safety” guaranteed by the witches’ prophesies, Macbeth seems to be giving-way to panic and fear.

40. Act 5, Scene 4
In the country near Birnam Wood, Malcolm talks with the English lord Siward and his officers about Macbeth’s plan to defend the fortified castle. They decide that each soldier should cut down a bough of the forest and carry it in front of him as they march to the castle, thereby disguising their numbers.

41. Act 5, Scene 5
Within the castle, Macbeth blusteringly orders that banners be hung and boasts that his castle will repel the enemy. A woman’s cry is heard, and Seyton appears to tell Macbeth that the queen is dead. Shocked, Macbeth speaks numbly about the passage of time and declares famously that life is “a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing” (5.5.25–27). A messenger enters with astonishing news: the trees of Birnam Wood are advancing toward Dunsinane. Enraged and terrified, Macbeth recalls the prophecy that said he could not die till Birnam Wood moved to Dunsinane. Resignedly, he declares that he is tired of the sun and that at least he will die fighting.

42. Act 5, Scene 6
The English forces under Malcolm, Macduff, and Siward capture Macbeth’s castle.

43. Act 5, Scene 7
Macbeth kills Young Siward (“quote from”) [V, vii, 12]. Outside, the English forces report that Macbeth’s few remaining men do not even fight. Several have come face-to-face with Malcolm himself and done nothing.

44. Act 5, Scene 8
Macduff confronts Macbeth (“Turn, hell-hound, turn!” [V, viii, 3]). Macduff reveals to Macbeth the news that he (Macduff) “was from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d.” (V, viii, 15-6). Macduff kills Macbeth. Siward ironically observes that they have been very successful with almost no deaths. Malcolm immediately assumes his rightful place as King.

45. Act 5 Scene 9
Malcolm and Siward emerge and enter the castle.

46. Act 5 Scene 10
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Macbeth at last encounters Macduff. They fight, and when Macbeth insists that he is invincible because of the witches’ prophecy, Macduff tells Macbeth that he was not of woman born, but rather “from his mother’s womb / Untimely ripped” ( –16). Macbeth suddenly fears for his life, but he declares that he will not surrender “[t]o kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet, / And to be baited with the rabble’s curse” ( –29).
They exit fighting.

47. Act 5 Scene 11
Malcolm and Siward walk together in the castle, which they have now effectively captured. Ross tells Siward that his son is dead.
Macduff emerges with Macbeth’s head in his hand and proclaims Malcolm King of Scotland. Malcolm declares that all his thanes will be made earls, according to the English system of peerage.
They will be the first such lords in Scottish history. Cursing Macbeth and his “fiend-like” queen, Malcolm calls all those around him his friends and invites them all to see him crowned at Scone ( ).