Shakespeare's Macbeth - Happiness and
Success
Macbeth
Key characters
Macbeth, Thane (Lord) of Glamis.
Lady Macbeth, his wife.
Banquo and Macduff, thanes (Scottish aristocrats).
The Three Witches.
Set
in...
11th century Scotland.
Fun facts
-
Shakespeare’s shortest and most gruesome play.
- Actors never mention the play’s name, because they think it’s bad luck. They call it
‘the Scottish play’.
- Many great actresses have played Lady Macbeth including Judi Dench, pictured right
above (M in the James Bond films) and Maggie Smith, pictured right (Minerva
McGonagall in the Harry Potter films).
The story
Having helped Duncan, the king of Scotland, defeat the Norwegian army.
Macbeth and his fellow general, Banquo, meet three witches
who prophesy that Banquo’s descendants and Macbeth will become kings.
This prophesy fuels Macbeth's ambition, encouraged still further by his wife, Lady Macbeth. She
persuades him to murder King Duncan, while he is staying at their castle at
Glamis.
Macbeth (Kenneth Branagh, pictured right, in a 2013 production) hesitates approaching Duncan’s bedroom,
troubled by strange hallucinations. But he kills the drugged Duncan.
Then Macduff, another Scottish lord, arrives and discovers the body. Faking horror, Macbeth kills the guards
whom Lady Macbeth has attempted to frame by smearing them with blood.
Fearing for their own lives, Duncan’s two only sons, Donalbain and
Malcolm, flee. So Macbeth becomes king and the witches’ prophesy comes true.
Although Banquo thinks Macbeth might have been the murderer, he agrees to attend a
banquet to celebrate Macbeth’s coronation.
To silence Banquo and fearful of the witches' prophesy that his heirs will become kings, Macbeth hires assassins
to kill him. But his son, Fleance, manages to escape
At the banquet Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost, and Macbeth’s guilt is now suspected by
some lords including Macduff.
The witches then prophesy that
“none of woman born shall harm Macbeth”.
So Macbeth (Orson Welles, pictured right, in a 1948 film) kills Macduff’s wife and children.
But Macduff:
- joins the army of Malcolm, Duncan’s eldest son.
Lady Macbeth is now:
- ranting about the murders.
Malcolm’s army advances and disguises itself with branches from Birnam Wood, near Macbeth’s
castle.
But Macbeth responds slowly to the threat, convinced of his invincibility by the witches’ latest prophesy (but
they also say that this will end when Birnam Wood moves!).
Lady Macbeth commits suicide (offstage) but Macbeth fights on, meeting Macduff, whom he
learns was delivered by Caesarean section (so fitting the witches’ description “none of woman
born”).
Macduff kills him and Malcolm becomes king.
Lessons for life
1. Beware of ruthless ambition
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are prepared to kill for their ambition.
He reflects that only “vaulting ambition” can overrule his troubled conscience. Lady
Macbeth even says she would kill her own child, if necessary.
But they both pay the price with:
- nightmarish hallucinations (like Banquo’s gory ghost).
“Out, damned spot; out, I say”, Lady Macbeth cries as she tries to wash Duncan’s imaginary
blood off her hands.
2. You reap what you sow
Lady Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most
wicked and ambitious characters:
- is the one who suffers most.
Her thoughts about the murders change from:
- dismissiveness (“what’s done is done”) to
- guilt (“what’s done cannot be undone”, she says just before her suicide).
Macbeth, too, is plagued by guilt and horrendous hallucinations.
So he becomes indifferent to his
- life (“signifying nothing”).
- beloved wife (whom he once described as “his dearest partner of
greatness”).
3. You alone are responsible for your life
It seems that Macbeth’s fate is predetermined by the witches’ prophecies.
But it is his actions that condemn him, not witchcraft.
So his doctor tells him that
“the patient must minister to himself”
In other words, Macbeth must sort out his own problems.
4. Temptation can be tempting (even to good people)
Macbeth probably never thought about becoming king until the witches suggested it.
He was:
- “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness” (according to Lady Macbeth).
But he didn’t have the moral courage to resist her evil persuasion.
5. Good accompanies evil
Macbeth (see point 4) and even Lady Macbeth are not totally evil (leading to their tortured consciences).
She refuses to kill Duncan herself, because he reminded her of her father.
6. Put virtue into action
Duncan is:
- honourable and trusting.
Just before his murder, he:
- gives her a diamond for her hospitality.
Banquo:
- stoutly resists (with God’s help) the temptation of the witches’ prophesy.
- has (according to Macbeth) “a wisdom that doth guide his valour”.
Banquo's only weakness is that he fails to act quickly enough against Macbeth, because he
doesn't see his bad side.
7. One bad thing leads to another
Macbeth hoped that one murder would be enough (“the be-all and end-all”), but one killing led to another.
“Blood will have blood”, he says.
8. Trust can be misplaced
Duncan and Banquo:
- blind themselves to other people’s evil intentions.
Just before his murder, Duncan is completely deceived by Lady Macbeth’s “thoughtfulness”.
9. Envy is evil
Macbeth:
- envies Banquo because he has children.
- concludes that the only way to fill this hole in his life is ambition (that, of course,
ends in murder).
Macbeth (Ian McKellen, Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films) and Lady Macbeth (Judi Dench) are pictured
right above in a 1978 production.
10. Alcohol and sex don't mix!
“It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance” , the porter tells
Macduff.
Key quotes on ethics and evil
Screw your courage to the sticking-place and we’ll not fail, Lady Macbeth.
Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle toward my hand?, Macbeth.
We but teach bloody instructions which, being taught, return to plague the inventor,
Macbeth.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair, the Witches
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble, the Witches.
Blood will have blood, Macbeth.
Key quote on success
It [life] is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, Macbeth.
Key quote on decision making
Things without all remedy should be without
regard, Lady Macbeth.
Key quotes on stress and pain
What’s done cannot be undone, Lady Macbeth.
The night is long that never finds the day, Malcolm.
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak whispers the o’er-fraught heart, and bids it break,
Malcolm.
Key quote on relationships
There’s daggers in men’s smiles, Donalbain.
Key quote on
fear
When our actions do not, our fears do make us traitors, Lady Macduff.
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