Macbeth Plot and Key ideas
1) Macbeth and Banquo return victorious fighting a traitor of King Duncan,
Macdonwald, who is backed by the Norwegian army,
2) Leaving the balefield they meet the Witches, who prophesied that Macbeth will be
king and the Banquo’s sons will be king.
3) Ambitious Macbeth tells his wife, Lady Macbeteh who convinces him to kill King
Duncan. Together, as the king sleeps they drug the guards and kill him.
4) Malcom and Donalbain (King Duncan’s sons and inheritors of the throne) flee the
country fearing the assassination as the death of the King ushers in dark,
supernatural forces across Scotland.
5) Macbeth is thus crowned king, and losing his sanity due to the murder, begins to
hallucinate, and kills everyone who he feels is a threat. This includes Banquo
although his son Fleance escapes.
6) Macbeth then receives another prophecy from the Witches- that no man born of
woman can kill him and that he will only die when Birnam Woods begin to walk.
7) Malcolm and Macduff raise an army against Macbeth, and in retaliation Macbeth
orders the death of Macduff’s wife and his children.
8) Lady Macbeth kills herself out of guilt, and as the bale continues Macduff’s army
disguises as the trees of Birnam wood begin to walk, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
9) Macbeth is then killed by Macduff, as Macduff is not born of woman, but was
conceived through a caesarean.
10) Malcolm is now crowned King, and Scotland returns to peace.
Social Context:
Regicide: Kill a king
●Play
○Dramatic tragedy
○Hamartia (Fatal Flaw) eg. Macbeth’s Hamartia is his desire to kill the
king.- (Ambition)
○Catharsis: Evokes emotions of pity in audience
○Peripeteia: Reversal of fortune eg. Macbeth is powerful as the start
however near the end it is reversed and Malcolm is more powerful.
●Position of Women
○Subservient to men(inferior)
○Domestic sphere- different way of thinking between the opposing
genders.
