Macbeth
Here’s a full summary of Macbeth Acts 1–4, scene by scene.
Act 1
Scene 1 — The witches meet.
Three witches meet in thunder and lightning and agree to meet again with Macbeth after a battle.
Scene 2 — Macbeth’s bravery reported.
King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lennox, and others hear reports of the battle. A bleeding captain says Macbeth and Banquo fought bravely against Macdonwald and Norway. Ross reports that the Thane of Cawdor betrayed Scotland. Duncan orders Cawdor executed and gives his title to Macbeth.
Scene 3 — The witches’ prophecies.
Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches. They hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter. They tell Banquo he will be lesser than Macbeth but greater, not so happy but happier, and father of kings though not king. Ross and Angus arrive and tell Macbeth he is now Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is disturbed and begins thinking about murder; Banquo warns that the witches may be instruments of darkness.
Scene 4 — Duncan names Malcolm heir.
Duncan welcomes Macbeth and Banquo at Forres and praises them. Duncan names his son Malcolm Prince of Cumberland, making him heir to the throne. Macbeth sees this as an obstacle to the prophecy and begins planning. Duncan decides to visit Macbeth’s castle at Inverness.
Scene 5 — Lady Macbeth reads the letter.
Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter about the prophecies. She fears he is too kind to seize the crown. A messenger says Duncan is coming that night. She calls on spirits to “unsex” her and fill her with cruelty. When Macbeth arrives, she tells him to look innocent but act ruthlessly, and says she will handle the plan.
Scene 6 — Duncan arrives at Inverness.
Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Macduff, and Lennox arrive at Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth welcomes them with false courtesy.
Scene 7 — Macbeth doubts, Lady Macbeth pushes him.
Macbeth soliloquizes about why he should not kill Duncan: Duncan is his king, kinsman, and guest, and is a good king. Lady Macbeth attacks his manhood and outlines the plan: drug Duncan’s guards, kill Duncan, and smear the guards with blood. Macbeth agrees.
Act 2
Scene 1 — The dagger hallucination.
Banquo and Fleance are awake late. Macbeth enters and lies about not thinking of the witches. Banquo leaves. Macbeth sees a hallucinated dagger leading him toward Duncan. A bell rings, and he goes to commit murder.
Scene 2 — Duncan is murdered.
Lady Macbeth has drugged the guards. Macbeth returns from killing Duncan, bloody and shaken. He says he heard a voice cry “Murder!” and could not say “Amen.” Lady Macbeth takes the daggers back and smears the sleeping guards with blood. Someone knocks at the gate.
Scene 3 — The murder discovered.
The porter jokes about hell and opens the gate to Macduff and Lennox. Macbeth leads them to Duncan’s room. Macduff finds Duncan murdered and raises the alarm. Lady Macbeth faints. Macbeth kills the two guards in apparent fury. Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee—Malcolm to England, Donalbain to Ireland—because they fear they will be blamed.
Scene 4 — Macbeth becomes king.
Ross and an old man discuss unnatural events. Macduff says the guards are suspected but Malcolm and Donalbain’s flight makes them suspects too. Macbeth has been named king and goes to Scone to be crowned. Macduff returns to Fife rather than attend.
Act 3
Scene 1 — Macbeth plots Banquo’s death.
Banquo suspects Macbeth gained the crown by foul means. Macbeth invites Banquo to a feast and asks about his ride that afternoon, learning Fleance will be with him. Alone, Macbeth fears Banquo’s prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will be kings. He hires murderers and convinces them Banquo is their enemy. They agree to kill Banquo and Fleance.
Scene 2 — Macbeth hides his plan from Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to be cheerful at the feast. Macbeth hints that a terrible deed will happen before the feast but does not tell her it is Banquo’s murder. He envies the dead and says they are safer.
Scene 3 — Banquo killed, Fleance escapes.
The murderers attack Banquo and Fleance in a park. They kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes.
Scene 4 — Banquo’s ghost appears.
At the banquet, a murderer reports that Banquo is dead but Fleance escaped. Macbeth is uneasy. Then Banquo’s ghost appears and sits in Macbeth’s place. Macbeth panics and speaks to the ghost; Lady Macbeth covers by saying he has fits. The ghost disappears and reappears, and the feast breaks up. Macbeth decides to visit the witches again for more answers.
Scene 5 — Hecate and the witches.
Hecate meets the witches and scolds them for meddling with Macbeth without her. She plans to lead Macbeth to his ruin by giving him false security. The witches prepare their charms.
Scene 6 — Scotland’s resistance grows.
Lennox and another lord discuss Macbeth’s tyranny. They say Malcolm is in England with King Edward, and Macduff has gone to England to raise an army against Macbeth. Macbeth is preparing for war and has spies in his enemies’ houses.
Act 4
Scene 1 — The second set of prophecies.
The witches make a cauldron and summon apparitions for Macbeth:
1. An armed head: “Beware Macduff.”
2. A bloody child: “None of woman born shall harm Macbeth.”
3. A crowned child holding a tree: Macbeth will never be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill.
4. A show of eight kings, with Banquo last, indicating Banquo’s descendants will rule.
Macbeth is relieved by the second and third prophecies but angry about Banquo’s line. He decides to seize Fife and kill Macduff’s wife, children, and household.
Scene 2 — Macduff’s family murdered.
Lady Macduff complains that Macduff fled to England and left them. Ross says Macduff acted wisely. Murderers arrive and kill Lady Macduff, her son, and the household.
Scene 3 — Malcolm tests Macduff; news of the massacre.
In England, Malcolm tests Macduff’s loyalty by claiming he has terrible vices—lust, greed, and no kingly virtues. Macduff despairs for Scotland. Malcolm then reveals he was testing him and is actually virtuous. Ross arrives and reports that Scotland suffers under Macbeth. He then tells Macduff that his wife and children have been murdered. Macduff grieves deeply and vows revenge. Malcolm, Macduff, and the English forces prepare to invade Scotland.
Key turning point: By the end of Act 4, Macbeth is a tyrant relying on the witches’ misleading prophecies, while Malcolm and Macduff have assembled an army to overthrow him.
Act 5 of Macbeth is the climax and resolution: Lady Macbeth’s guilt drives her mad and she dies; Macbeth’s remaining confidence collapses as the witches’ prophecies come true; Macduff kills him; Malcolm becomes king.
Scene 1 — Lady Macbeth sleepwalks.
A doctor and gentlewoman watch Lady Macbeth sleepwalking with a candle. She rubs her hands as if washing blood and says “Out, damned spot!” She recalls Duncan’s blood, Banquo, and Lady Macduff, saying “What’s done cannot be undone.” The doctor realizes she is troubled by guilt and says she needs divine help more than medicine.
Scene 2 — Scottish nobles gather against Macbeth.
Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox meet with forces and discuss Macbeth fortifying Dunsinane. They call him a tyrant and say his title hangs loosely. They march to Birnam Wood to join Malcolm, Macduff, and the English army led by Siward.
Scene 3 — Macbeth at Dunsinane.
Macbeth remains confident because of the prophecies: Birnam Wood cannot move, and no man born of woman can harm him. A servant reports the English army, and Macbeth insults him. He calls for his armor. The doctor reports Lady Macbeth is troubled by “thick-coming fancies” and cannot sleep. Macbeth asks whether the doctor can cure a diseased mind, then dismisses medicine. The doctor privately wishes to leave Dunsinane.
Scene 4 — Malcolm’s army at Birnam Wood.
Malcolm orders each soldier to cut down a tree branch and carry it before him, so the army will look like a moving forest. Siward and his son are with him. They march toward Dunsinane.
Scene 5 — Lady Macbeth dies; Birnam Wood “moves.”
Macbeth prepares for battle and hears a cry of women. Seyton reports that the queen is dead. Macbeth gives his famous “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” speech, saying life is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” A messenger then reports that Birnam Wood appears to be moving. Macbeth begins to doubt the witches’ “equivocation” but resolves to fight anyway.
Scene 6 — Battle begins.
Malcolm’s army throws down the branches and prepares for battle. Siward and his son lead the first attack; Malcolm and Macduff follow.
Scene 7 — Macbeth kills Young Siward.
On the battlefield, Macbeth fights and kills Young Siward, saying he was born of woman. Macduff searches for Macbeth, refusing to fight hired soldiers and wanting only the tyrant. Malcolm and Siward enter and note that the castle is being surrendered and the battle is nearly won.
Scene 8 — Macduff kills Macbeth; Malcolm becomes king.
Macduff confronts Macbeth. Macbeth says he has avoided Macduff because he already has too much of Macduff’s family’s blood on his conscience. Macbeth boasts that he has a charmed life and cannot be harmed by one born of woman. Macduff reveals he was “untimely ripped” from his mother’s womb—i.e., born by Caesarean section. Macbeth curses the witches’ double meanings but fights. Macduff kills him and exits with Macbeth’s head.
Then Malcolm, Siward, Ross, and others enter. Ross reports that Young Siward died, and Siward is comforted that his son’s wounds were on the front. Macduff brings in Macbeth’s head and hails Malcolm as king. Malcolm rewards his supporters, makes the thanes earls, calls exiles home, says Lady Macbeth is thought to have killed herself, and invites everyone to Scone for his coronation. Order is restored.
Here is the transcription of the page, followed by the answer key identifying the speaker for each quote.
Transcription of the Page
Macbeth Study Guide: Important Quotes
Who said the following quotes and why were they important?
1. “No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest. Go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth”
2. “Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness”
3. “look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.”
4. “the raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements”
5. “The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures”
6. “the bell invites me. Hear it not Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell”
7. “Had I but died an hour before this chance I had liv’d a blessed time,”
8. “I pray you speak not he grows worse and worse, question enrages him”
9. “I will to the weird sisters – more shall they speak”
10. “That a swift blessing may soon return to this our suffering country under a hand accurs’d”
11. “Let grief convert to anger, blunt not the heart, enrage it”
12. “you should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so”
13. “That which had made them drunk hath made me bold”
14. “On Tuesday last, a falcon, towering in her pride of place, was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d”
15. “Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, as the weird women promis’d; and, I fear, thou play’dst most foully for ‘t”
16. “Thou canst not say I did it: never shake thy gory locks at me”
17. “Out damned spot! Out, I say!”
18. “More needs she the divine than the physician”
19. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
20. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand?”
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Answer Key (Who said it)
1. King Duncan (Act 1, Scene 2) - He orders the execution of the traitorous Thane of Cawdor and gives the title to Macbeth.
2. Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5) - She reads a letter from Macbeth and worries he is too kind to murder the King.
3. Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5) - She advises Macbeth to hide his murderous intentions behind a welcoming face.
4. Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5) - She calls upon dark spirits as she plans Duncan's murder.
5. Lady Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 2) - She tries to calm Macbeth's nerves after he has killed Duncan, comparing the dead to mere paintings.
6. Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 1) - His soliloquy just before he goes to murder King Duncan.
7. Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 3) - Spoken right after Duncan's body is discovered.
8. Ross (Act 3, Scene 4) - Spoken during the banquet scene when Macbeth is having a fit/vision of Banquo's ghost.
9. Macbeth (Act 3, Scene 4) - He decides to go back to the witches to learn more about his fate.
10. Lord (Act 3, Scene 6) - Speaking to Lennox about hopes that Malcolm and Macduff will save Scotland from Macbeth.
11. Malcolm (Act 4, Scene 3) - Speaking to Macduff, urging him to channel his grief over his family's murder into anger against Macbeth.
12. Banquo (Act 1, Scene 3) - His first reaction upon seeing the Weird Sisters.
13. Lady Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 2) - Explaining why she is bold enough to commit the crime (the drugged guards' wine gave her courage).
14. Old Man (Act 2, Scene 4) - Describing unnatural events that mirror the unnatural murder of Duncan (a small owl killing a great falcon).
15. Banquo (Act 3, Scene 1) - His soliloquy where he suspects Macbeth of foul play to achieve the prophecy.
16. Macbeth (Act 3, Scene 4) - Speaking to the ghost of Banquo at the banquet.
17. Lady Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 1) - The famous sleepwalking scene where she tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands.
18. Doctor (Act 5, Scene 1) - Observing Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, noting she needs a priest (divine) rather than a doctor.
19. The Three Witches (Act 1, Scene 1) - The famous paradoxical chant that sets the tone of the play.
20. Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 1) - His hallucination of a floating dagger leading him to Duncan's chamber.