William Shakespeare Macbeth

William SHAKESPEARE: M A C B E T H.

Main characters:
 Duncan – the king of Scotland
 Malcolm and Donalbain – his sons
 Macbeth – Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, later king of Scotland
 Lady Macbeth – his wife
 Banquo – Thane of Scotland
 Fleance – his son
 Macduff and Ross – Thanes of Scotland

Plot:

The Scotland is in war with Norway. The Thane of Cawdor has been assisting Norway in this conflict, so Duncan command to kill him. He appoint Macbeth to be the new Thane of Cawdor because he was doing well in the battle. But Macbeth doesn´t know it. He is surprised when three witches appear and greet him like Thane of Glamis (that is what he is in the moment), Thane of Cawdor and the future king. Stay, you imperfect speakers! Tell me more!
By Sinell´s death I know I am Thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives
A prosperous gentleman. And to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief –
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you
Macbeth do not understand it, but when he meet Ross and Angus and they tell him what happened he say: “Whatever is going to happen, will happen inevitably. After that they all meet king Duncan. He established his son Malcol for the future king. Macbeth is disappointed because he thinks that he should be the new king, like the three witches said. That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o´erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires,
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
After that king Duncan receives the offer to spend the night at the castle of Macbeth and Macbeth starts to thinking about assassination. But he is really confused and can not decide what he shall do.
He´s here in double trust:
First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,
Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,
Who should against his murderer shut the door,
Not bear the knife myself.
His wife wants him to be the king, so she advises him to do this crime. And after this Macbeth decided to murder Duncan, the king of Scotland. And so he did. He murders Duncan with a dagger. But suddenly he has a guilty conscience.

He realise what he really done.
I´ll go no more.
I am afraid to think what have I done;
Look on´t again I dare not.
.. What hands are here! Ha – they pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptune´s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine ,
Making the green one red.
But Lady Macbeth doesn´t thnik so. She consider the murder for something what should happend. She thinks more practical. A little water clears us of this deed;
How easy is it then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended.
Than in the morning came Lennox and Macduff for the king and they saw him dead. Nobody knows who can make something awful. The two sons of the king know that their father was murdered by someone who was close to him.(The nea´er in blood the nearer bloody) That is because they are afraid that this murderer tries to kill them too. Donalbain escapes to Ireland and Malcolm escapes to England. But when they escape they are suspicious of the murder of their father. And because Duncan is dead and his sons escaped, Macbeth is going to be crowned as the new king of the Scotland. But he is not happy. He is still afraid of Banquo – in who he sees his rival. Because when the witches fortell him the crown, they hailed Banquo as father to a line of kings, so Macbeth call two murderes and tell them that Banquo is their enemy and they should kill him. The murderers wait for Banquo and when he comes with Fleance, they attack him. Banquo is killed but Fleance escaped. Macbeth makes an banquet on which are all lords. When he wants to invite them Banquo´s ghost appears. Macbeth is shocked.
Blood hath been shed ere now, i´the olden time,
Ere humane statue purged the gentle weal;
Ay, and since too, murders have been performed
Too terrible for the ear. The times has been
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end. But now they rise again
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools. This is more strange
Than such a murder is.
Macbeth is afraid that everybody knows about his crime
It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood.
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augurs and understood relations have
By maggot-pies, and chougs, and rooks brought forth
The secret´st man of blood. What is the night?
After this Macbeth met the three witches again. He wants to know what happens next.

They say to him:
Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are
Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnan Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.
Than came Lennox and informs Macbeth that Macduff escaped to England. So Macbeth sent murderers to kill his family.The murderers came to Macduff´s castle and killthe son of Macduff. In the next act there are Malcolm with Macduff speaking about the future of the Scotland. They see that Macbeth is a tyrant but there is nobody who can be fit to govern.
If such a one be fit to govern, speak.
I am as I have spoken.
Fit to govern!
No, not to live! O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant, bloody-scrptred,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accused
And does blaspheme his breed? Thy royal father
Was a most sainted king.
Malcolm agree with that and so he join Macduff against Macbeth. After this dialogue came Ross. He is complaining about the living conditions in the country:
Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself! Itcannot
Be called our mother, but our grave; where nothing
But who knows nothing is once seen to smile;
Where sighs and groans and shrieks that rent the air
Are made, not marked; where violent sorrow seems
A modern ecstasy. The dead men´s knell
Is there scarce asked for who, and good men´s lives
Expire before the flowers in their caps
Dying or ere they sicken. Malcolm tells to Ross that Edward the Confessor – the king of England lent them Seyward and ten thousand men. Ross expkain to Macduff what happened to his family and Malcolm wants revenge. After all Lady Macbeth has a guilty conscience and she suddenly went mad. Her sense are shut. She thinks that she has still blood of Duncan on her hands and that is why she rubs her hands still. Macbeth is also crazy, but he is not afraid of Malcolm. He does not have reason to live. He is ready to defend the castle and defeat anyone who wants to attack. But than Macbeth heard that his wife suicide. From this point Macbeth is only waiting for his death. Suddenly comes an messenger and informs Macbeth thatsomething strange is happening. A wood is coming toward Dunsinane and Macbeth remembers the forecast. The castle is weak and cannot defend itself. Macduff finds Macbath ´cause he wants revenge. So he kills Macbeth, he cuts him the head off. The new king of the Scotland is Malcolm who don´t want to be such a tyrant.