MACBETH
INTRODUCTION
Macbeth (full title The Tragedy of Macbeth) is one of the most famous dramas and the
shortest tragedy written by William Shakespeare, and is considered one of his darkest and
most powerful works. The play is set in Scotland and tells the story of a brave Scottish general
called Macbeth, who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become
King of Scotland. (it dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced
when evil is chosen as a way to satisfy the yarning of power).
The play is supposed to have been written between 1599 and 1606. It has been adapted to
film, television, opera, novels, comic books, and other media.
Macbeth can be defined as a gloomy and bloody tragedy, in which evil dominates/rules and
characters are complex and deceptive.
CHARACTERS
Macbeth: Macbeth is a Scottish general and thane of Glamis, who is led to wicked thoughts
by the prophecies of the three witches (especially the one about his future as thane of
Cawdor). He is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous one. He is easily
tempted into murder to satisfy his ambition to the throne, and once he commits his first crime
and is crowned King of Scotland, he embarks on further atrocities with increasing ease.
Macbeth proves himself better suited to the battlefield than to political intrigue, because he
lacks the skills necessary to rule without being a tyrant: actually his response to every problem
is violence and murder.
Unlike Shakespeare’s great villains, Macbeth is never comfortable in his role as a criminal. He
is unable to accept the psychological consequences of his atrocities.
The Three Witches: The three witches are defined as ‘black and midnight hags’, who plot
against Macbeth using charms, spells, and prophecies. Their predictions prompt him to murder
Duncan, to order the deaths of Banquo and his son, and to blindly believe in his own
immortality. The play leaves the witches’ true identity unclear: we just know that they are
servants of Hecate. In some ways they resemble the mythological Fates, who impersonally
weave the threads of human destiny. They clearly take a perverse delight in using their
knowledge of the future to toy with and destroy human beings.
Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who desires power and position.
At the beginning of the play she seems to be stronger and more ruthless than her husband, as
she encourages and instigates him to kill and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins,
however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness (she eventually commits suicide).
she and Macbeth are presented as being deeply in love, and many of Lady Macbeth’s speeches
imply that her influence over her husband is primarily sexual. Their joint alienation from the
world, occasioned by their partnership in crime, seems to strengthen the attachment that they
feel to each other.
Macduff: A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth’s kingship from the start. He eventually
becomes a leader of the crusade to overthrow Macbeth. The battle’s aim is to place the rightful
king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth’s murder of
Macduff’s wife and young son.
