William Shakespeare

The play opens with a brief scene featuring the witches. They set the tone and atmosphere for what is to follow; their language emphasises the turbulence and chaos of the times and the reversal of the normal moral order that will be the subject of the play:"Fair is foul and foul is fair". The audience's attention is drawn to the bleak landscape, darkness and foul weather which will be the physical setting for most of the play.

As Macbeth's brave deeds are recounted, his great abilities as a warrior are clear. He is the right man for the job - he is able to match the enemy blow for blow. The action of the play begins with images of blood and savage violence, and despite the salvation of the kingdom, the element of treachery is introduced with the story of the Thane of Cawdor.

It would seem that, without human assistance, the witches are capable of little more than mischief - however nasty. Evil exists as a latent energy, in need of an opportunity to release its full potential. Macbeth represents such an opportunity - he is powerful and about to become more so. This reminds us in some ways of The Crucible, where a situation also arises in which human beings potential for evil is released. As in The Crucible, the evil is not the witchcraft - Abigail's nastiness could never have generated the mass hysteria of Salem without the repressed jealousies, hatreds and fears of the rest of the community.

Are the witches really in touch with the supernatural? Modern interpretations suggest they are symbolic figures representing the capability for evil which lies within all of us. At times they seem like projections of Macbeth's own mind, i.e. they represent some of Macbeth's "shadow" - qualities in himself which he is unaware of and would rather not acknowledge. It is interesting that Banquo also sees them - is Shakespeare perhaps pointing to the fact that these unacknowledged qualities lie within all of us, and that it's what we do with them - how we deal with them, that counts?

The contrast between Macbeth's and Banquo's responses to the witches is crucial here - Macbeth, immediately seduced by the prospect of being King - Banquo much more sceptical and content to wait. Macbeth enters, echoing the witches' line from Scene 1 ('So foul and fair a day I have not seen' - foul weather but a fair day because the battle has been won). Macbeth, ironically, is about to receive the 'good news' (fair) which will lead him to ultimate disaster (foul). When the witches speak, though they address Macbeth, it is Banquo who replies. Banquo's speech indicates that Macbeth is dumbstruck. Does this mean that what the witches have said chimes in with ambitions in Macbeth that he dare not speak aloud? (It's as though the witches have 'fingered' him - probed to his innermost thoughts - thoughts he may not even have acknowledged to himself and which come as a shock even to him...)

Only as the witches leave can Macbeth collect himself. Their departure is followed by some words between Macbeth and Banquo which may be played in various ways, according to how a director would interpret the play at this point. Do they take the witches seriously, or do they regard all this as a bit of a joke? Perhaps they are not sure...

Their uncertainty doesn't last long. Rosse and the others arrive (note the many other instances in the play where Rosse arrives with important news) to announce that Macbeth has been made Thane of Cawdor. This time Macbeth's reaction leaves the audience in no doubt of what he is thinking. The soliloquoy is used to give the character's thoughts to the audience. Here we see the beginning of the conflict within Macbeth - the prospect of becoming King is immensely appealing, and he is already thinking of the 'nearest way'. Yet the thought of actual assassination is clearly horrible to him, and he is at a loss to understand why it should intrude itself on his consciousness: '...why do I yield to that suggestion/Whose horrid image doth unfix my hairAnd make my seated heart knock at my ribs/Against the use of nature.'

Macbeth immediately engages in deception - he knows he must hide his thoughts. In a sense, he is already committing treason by falling prey to the very idea of murdering Duncan - an idea which he can only hint at even to himself. It is as if Macbeth's inner 'kingdom' has already fallen victim to its inner 'traitor' - as his soliloquoy indicates: 'My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical/Shakes so my single state of man...'

But it is interesting that neither Macbeth nor Banquo mentions the witches to the others.

The most important line in Scene 4 is certainly Duncan's: speaking of the previous Thane of Cawdor he says: 'There's no art/To find the minds construction in the face;/He was a gentleman on whom I built/An absloute trust.'This is a strong instance of dramatic irony, given what the audience knows about the man whom Duncan has just promoted to the very position the now executed traitor held. Duncan's failure to detect treason within, and to see through deception, can be seen in the context of his other speeches in this and other scenes, where values of loyalty, trust, honour, the bonds of kinship, generosity and sincerity and the benefits of all of these virtues to the kingdom, are strongly stressed. It is plain that everyone loves and respects Duncan. This makes doing him in all the more dreadful, of course, but it also points to a major issue in the play, one which is only partly resolved by Malcolm later on. It is simply that in a world in which evil exists, goodness alone is not enough - it is necessary to 'borrow' some of the resources normally employed by evil, in order to safeguard the good. And when you do this, you take the first step on the perilous path which leads to evil itself. If Duncan were a more 'Machiavellian' ruler, he would know how dangerous it is to give too much reward to powerful and successful servants - they become ambitious and may threaten you. His innocence leaves him prey to treason yet again - as it has already done. That Duncan cannot even see the potential for evil in others is shown by his immediately naming Malcom as his successor.

Macbeth's reaction to this news shows him even more deeply in the grip of his ambition - and more determined to conceal that ambition from others:

In this important speech, too, we find the first of many instances of imagery of sight and blindness in the play. Macbeth wishes to be able to do the deed 'blind' - without having to be a witness to his own act. This ironically foreshadows his own nightmares and visual hallucinations both before and after the murder. In his own consciousness, he cannot escape detection. You can conceal what you are about to do from others; he and Lady Macbeth may be able to conceal what they have done from others for a while; but they cannot escape being witness to their own deed. Macbeth's desire to be able to act unconsciously, yet to consciously enjoy the rewards of his action, marks him out as different from the modern day psychopath as displayed in 'Silence of the Lambs' or 'Pulp Fiction'. Macbeth is capable of murder, but not of the kind of senseless and remorseless killing that seems to be a feature of contemporary portrayals of evil.

As if to underline the theme of deception and treachery, the scene ends with Duncan congratulating himself on what an asset Macbeth is to him: 'It is a peerless kinsman.'

Introduces Lady Macbeth. She responds to the letter with absolute determined resolution - she will push Macbeth to the deed come what may. In this scene she literally psyches herself up to the ruthless single-mindedness that she knows only she is capable of providing. She fears that Macbeth might not be capable of acting alone, and takes upon herself the role of being the driving force. Yet when she learns of the imminent arrival of Duncan, her speech echoes Macbeth's in the previous scene -

That is, she too would like to be able to 'act without seeing' as well as without being seen. This obviously foreshadows her own fate in Act 5, where the psychological suit of armour she attempts to put on here breaks down, and she is forced to relive again and again the sickening physical horror of the murder.

What are her motives? Quite clearly, she sees the crown as the ultimate in achievement - a prize that justifies any means. Her speeches, and Macbeth's letter, indicate how powerful a human motive the desire for power and prestige can be - the words 'great' and 'greatness' are repeated and emphasised. We are reminded of the lengths people will go to achieve their ambition - this is a simple human fact.

When Macbeth arrives, it is clear who is setting the agenda. Macbeth seems confused and uncertain. Lady Macbeth takes charge. One of the key lines in this scene is 'He that's coming/Must be provided for'- with its sinister double meaning of taking care of the guest, and, well, taking care of him. Her straightforward ruthlessness is well expressed here. She has no moral scruples whatsoever. Macbeth has little to say - he doesn't have his wife's verbal agility (typical male!). This will be a problem for him later, when he tries to resist her .

When Duncan and the others arrive, Lady Macbeth proceeds to act out the role she has given herself in the previous scene, She does the 'welcoming hostess�'to perfection, and poor Duncan is completely taken in. This underlines another dimension to it all which Macbeth picks up on in his soliloquoy in the next scene - that Duncan is a guest (the rules of hospitality dictate that you should give shelter and protection even to an enemy within the walls of your own house - let alone your King).

In this scene Macbeth's inner conflict is fully revealed. He wishes he could commit the murder, and escape the inevitable consequences - both here on earth, and after. He realises that 'what goes around, comes around' - knows that seizing the crown by force will mean he will have to defend it by force, since others will act the way he has- indeed that his actions will break down the morality that restrains others and so make further violence more likely. He seems more worried about this than about the prospect of divine punishment.

He then proceeds to the moral arguments against killing Duncan - that he is his guest; that he (Macbeth) is the King's subject (therefore bound to obey), and kinsman (they are cousins). Duncan's subjects will react with pity and horror - there will be no support at all for anyone who removes him, therefore increasing the chances of discovery (a variation on the theme that 'evil will out'). By the time Lady Macbeth arrives, he seems to have made up his mind and announces to her that 'We will proceed no further in this business'.

Lady Macbeth's response, in three great speeches, is to shame and humiliate Macbeth and once again wind him up to the murder - by attacking him for cowardice and lack of manhood - a hard accusation for a soldier to take. Her chief charge is that of inconsistency - why did you talk to me about it if you weren't going through with it - in effect, she says, you're all talk., no action. You haven't got 'the right stuff' - and she contrasts Macbeth's lack of it with herself:'I have given suck, and know/How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:/I would, while it was smiling in my face/Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,/And dashed the brains out, had I so swornAs you have done to this'

As far as the audience knows, this last statement is a lie - Macbeth hasn't really sworn to anything - but he is too swept away by her language and determination to argue the point. His resistance is almost gone, and the only thing he can oppose her with is the possibility of failure. She sweeps this aside as well: 'We fail?/But screw your courage to the sticking place,/And we'll not fail.'

Macbeth now gives way to her completely. It seems as if he has decided that she has courage and ruthlessness enough for both of them.

Opens with Banquo and Fleance on the battlements. The atmosphere is suitably brooding and sinister and Banquo's mood of uneasiness foreshadows what is to come. It is interesting that Banquo too is up late. In the exchange between Banquo and Macbeth over the witches Macbeth lies, of course, but seems to be trying to sound out whether Banquo might be a potential enemy whose future allegiance can be bought. This is the first of many occasions in the play where speech is vague and guarded - people not quite saying what they mean, and leaving it up to others to get the hint. This guarded use of language is very characteristic of life in Scotland under Macbeth's tyrrany - you're never sure if your friend is your enemy.

It is ironical that Macbeth has to use it himself - before he has even seized power. Perhaps it foreshadows the fact that he will never get to enjoy real power; he will have the unenviable choice of having to bargain and negotiate and manipulate, or else resort to brute violence, to get what he wants. In this sense, his fate is already sealed and he is already acting out his future role.

The next great soliloquoy of Macbeth ('Is this a dagger which I see before me') reinforces, in case we had missed it, the fact that Macbeth has a very powerful visual imagination. It is almost as though he thinks in vivid pictures. He is so appalled by what he is about to do that it becomes hard, for a moment, to explain how he could have gone ahead and done it...he knows both the future consequences, and the present reality, of the murder. They're both very strong in his mind. How is it psychologically possible for him to go ahead? The last thing he seems to be thinking of, now, is his ambition to be King. He's not even thinking of how Lady Macbeth poured scorn on his manhood. It's as if the very horror of the thought of the murder itself is what forces him to do it - he's acting as though there were a gun at his head - and that gun is the image of the murder itself. It's as if he just has to do it, whether he likes it or not, simply because it is so horrible. As he proceeds to Duncan's chamber he is plainly terrified of the sound of his own footsteps.

The murder takes place offstage - as dramatist Shakespeare is far more interested in the character, behaviour and conflict between the murderers than in any scene of blood and gore - besides, the language provides enough of that. In a superb piece of stagecraft, Shakespeare has Lady Macbeth waiting, in tension and suspense, for Macbeth to return - in a strange hint of the breakdown that is to come for her she says: 'Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I ha' done it...' (This shows that LM has a conscience - albeit one operating at a fairly primitive level).

Macbeth returns, already reliving the nightmare - as he had anticipated it on hearing from the witches in Act One. It's as if he knew exactly, then, where he would be, now. LM has to take charge - which keeps the action of the scene going - while Macbeth wallows in the guilt and horror of it. The fact that he murdered Duncan in his sleep makes Macbeth imagine a suitable punishment for himself - that he will be deprived forever of sleep. There is evidence later in the play that this is indeed what happens, and like much else in Macbeth, this is psychologically very plausible.

As the scene ends, Macbeth seems to have been, psychologically, totally destroyed by the murder. It is only Lady Macbeth's presence of mind which saves them from discovery. This makes what is to come in the aftermath of the murder, all the more surprising - to Lady Macbeth as well as the audience, for, in Scene 3, Macbeth appears to have completely recovered. After making what is probably the great masterpiece of all Scottish understatements: ''Twas a rough night', on the discovery of the murder he kills the grooms without a second thought, makes a plausible speech to all justifying his actions, (which is too much for LM - she faints), and takes charge of the situation ('Let's briefly put on manly readiness/ And meet in the hall together'). Of those there, Donaldbain and Malcolm, at least, suspect what has happened - they know they're in danger and flee.

This scene shows that Macbeth has moved very quickly to secure the throne and cover up the murder. The action up until the end of Act 2 Scene 3 has occupied at the most three days - day one: the battle; day two: Duncan's arrival; day three: the discovery of the murder. This scene cannot be more than a couple of days later - and may even be on day 4. Rosse's role is contrasted here with Macduff's - Rosse intends to go to Macbeth's coronation but Macduff does not - he does not give his reasons but says quite sarcastically to Rosse: 'Well, may you see things well done there...'. Macduff detects quite clearly that Rosse is a time-server; someone who is hoping to protect himself by getting into favour. He is also scathing about the 'current theory' of who the murderers are - yet he conceals his suspicions beneath his irony and sarcasm. Macduff cannot speak plainly - even though he will act honestly. The regime of the tyrant has already begun.

This scene opens with a curious speech from Banquo. He strongly suspects Macbeth of the murder of Duncan - yet is still himself on the scene, and speculating about whether what the witches prophesied for him will come true. He also intends to come to the supper. The remainder of this scene shows Macbeth, predictably, not at all secure in his power. It simply hasn't turned out the way he wanted. He has no reason to suspect Banquo of plotting against him - no evidence - yet Banquo's mere existence is enough to make Macbeth feel vulnerable. He has decided to kill him. In the meantime Macbeth is employing that other device known to help consolidate power - public relations. He is holding a 'solemn supper' a sort of State Dinner - to which all the powerful people in the kingdom are invited. This will enable him to spread rewards and favours, and perhaps, find out who his other enemies are (he does: Macduff refuses to come). In addition, ceremonial occasions which symbolise power are useful ways of reinforcing it - Macbeth wants legitimacy - to be recognised as King, and it's plain that this is not happening.

The moral of the scene where Macbeth interviews the assassins is seen in the extent to which Macbeth has to keep dirtying his hands. This is hardly the sort of 'greatness' that was 'promised' to him by the witches - where his power depends upon common murderers and ruffians, where he cannot act openly and directly but must resort to lies and manipulation. Nevertheless he does it coldy, ruthlessly and skilfully, and with a kind of cruel violence in his language which we haven't seen before.

It's plain, from Scene 2,that the situation is weighing upon LM as well: 'Nought's had, all's spent/Where our desire is got without content.' As well, she is worried about Macbeth's state of mind: '...why do you keep alone,/Of sorriest fancies your companions making,/Using those thoughts, which should indeed have died/With them they think on?'

Macbeth reveals that he has indeed 'murdered sleep' - he has recurrent nightmares over the murder. He has perhaps become so insecure that he only hints to his wife of the forthcoming murder of Banquo ('Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck/Till thou applaud the deed'). But in this scene we can see Macbeth committing himself ever more deeply to the evil course necessary to retain his power: 'Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.'

A third murderer? This shows that Macbeth is suspicious even of those he has enlisted to do his dirty work - the BBC Production's angle of having the third murderer murder the first two is thus quite plausible.

Macbeth's attempt to cement his authority through a state occasion turns to disaster. It will be obvious to all that Macbeth has had Banquo murdered - as there is enough in his reaction to the ghost to identify the victim. The question of whether this is really a ghost or not is irrelevant. But LM is surely right about Macbeth's state of mind- 'This is the very painting of your fear:/This is the air-drawn dagger, which, you said,/Led you to Duncan.'

From now on he can only hope to rule by terror - as all pretence of legitimacy for his reign has collapsed. His attempt to safeguard his position has failed and he realises that there is only one way he can go - the dilemma which faces all tyrants confronts him:'...For mine own goodAll causes shall give way: I am in blood/Stepped in so far, that. should I wade no more/Returning were as tedious as go o'er.'

The dialogue between these two very minor characters serves to illustrate the nature of the Macbeth regime - both characters seem to know the reality behind what has happened but still speak ironically to each other - only gradually do they realise that they are both enemies of Macbeth and can speak more openly. This scene informs the audience also that some foreign help can be expected to restore the peace and legitimacy of the kingdom. Macbeth's terror is causing the inevitable reaction - as he knew in the beginning it would.

This scene is famous for the gruesome concoction of the witches' brew - it also shows the extent to which Macbeth is tormented; the evil is within, and has poisoned him completely. Despite the good news of his supposed invincibility (that he can't be slain by any man 'of woman born', nor vanquished 'till Birnam wood shall come to Dunsinane'), he can't cope with the prospect of Banquo's descendants being legitimate Kings - that is, the one thing he can never be. Power is never real or secure unless it is based on a legal right - something that is even recognised by dictators who nearly always try to give themselves a veneer of legality.

Just as the witches vanish into air, Macbeth's power has no substance. It can only sustain itself by a kind of furious violent energy - hence his impulsive decision to commit the atrocity on Macduff's household.

This scene shows the full horror of Scotland's slide into terror and anarchy. Macbeth has earlier revealed that he has a network of spies ('There's not a one of them/But in his house I keep a servant, fee'd'); here it is evident that he has a ready supply of cutthroats and villains. The comments of Lady Macduff, and the boy, show the terror of their isolation in a world where there is no hope of justice, and where innocence is the very quality that will get you killed. The onstage murder of the child is intended to shock. Once again, notice the presence of Rosse - and notice that though he certainly knows what is about to happen, he warns them too late for them to escape, and makes his own exit before it happens. (Some productions have Rosse returning as one of the murderers).

Shifts to England, where Macduff has fled, to meet up with Malcolm and the English forces. Malcolm, however, is suspicious of Macduff's having left his wife and children behind, fearing that he may be in league with Macbeth. In a long scene, we learn of the sufferings of the nation, but the most important element is Malcolm's test of Macduff's trustworthiness. Is Macduff truly loyal to Scotland, or is his loyalty just to whomever happens to be in the more powerful position at the time? When Macduff reacts with despair to Malcolm's tale of his own depravity, Malcolm realises that Macduff's patriotism is genuine, and promptly withdraws his 'detraction'.

As well as indicating what the Kingly 'virtues' are, Malcolm here displays some of the cunning that Duncan lacked - a cunning that is necessary for the good to make use of if they are to resist evil effectively. But it is a cunning which can easily seduce the user into evil themselves.

This is all taking place with the audience's knowledge of what has happened to Macduff's wife and children. The scene is set for Rosse (inevitably - he must have decided to 'get with the strength�'and change sides again) to reveal the truth. Macduff's reaction is one of the most powerful and moving moments in the play. One line of his perhaps sums up one of the major dilemmas of human existence: the incomprehensibility of injustice and suffering ('Did heaven look on, And would not take their part?').

The sleepwalking scene: this is extraordinary for its psychological insight, but more for the sense that one can feel pity for Lady Macbeth's suffering, despite our knowledge of what she has done. She has not changed in character or moral awareness - there's no sign of any guilt or remorse, but we can see from this scene what it ,must be like for her, just as we can with Macbeth throughout the play.

I think that's the essence of the tragedy of the play - no matter what these people have done they never become one-dimensional villains - we always know what it is like for them to be in the situation. Despite ourselves, we are forced into a kind of empathy with their point of view. The 'audience' in this scene - the Doctor and the Nurse, help to carry this empathy from the theatre audience to the character - they speak our thoughts , and their combination of pity and fear echoes and stimulates our own. Through their observations, there is no doubt of Lady Macbeth's terrible suffering. Her language is very plain and simple - yet conveys the horror of the act ('But who would have thought the old man/To have had so much blood in him') LM's obsession with her hands recalls Macbeth's in the murder scene - when she has to forcefully persuade him to wash his hands. The physical reality of course can be disposed of - bodies can be buried or dissolved - but the psychological reality cannot be. In the light of this scene her comments to Macbeth earlier ('What's done/Cannot be undone') are a terrible irony.

Macbeth's desperation and determination together give him a kind of flawed magnificence in the final scene. As he faces his end he begins to realise, not just the inevitability of defeat, but the true nature of his life up until now. He faces death knowing exactly the position he is in - stripped of all illusions, and knowing exactly how he has been deceived, and how he has deceived himself. He knows that his whole reign, even if he survives, will be a mockery. You can argue that his two great speeches here ('I have lived long enough' & 'Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow') are great universal statements about the human condition, or else evidence of Macbeth's own despair and nihilism (philosophically - a nihilist is someone who believes in nothing -a fairly depresssing life-position). I'd say that, as with most Shakespeare, you can only generalise from the particular - that is, these speeches really get it right in terms of what it would be like for a man in Macbeth's position. It's not that life as such is meaningless, rather that for anyone in that position life is going to seem that way - that will be your reality. This is why you can empathise. You know this is what you'd be thinking if you were Macbeth.

His final decision to face Macduff, even though he knows the outcome is certain death for him, is something we can empathise with because it reflects the human condition... we are in his position too because we too know that we are going to die...we can no more avoid this than Macbeth can. What's more, we know as Macbeth does, that we have to take full responsibility for our actions. Macbeth is not trying to avoid responsibiliy. He knows precisely what he's done ('My soul is too much charged with blood of thine/Already').

The final scene of the play is often done, in modern productions, in a way that suggests the cycle of evil may return. The BBC Production has Donaldbain in close-up, looking anything but happy with his brother's rise to the throne. In Polanski's film Malcolm goes off to see the witches. For modern audiences, the way the play deals with the realities of political power make this an effective way to end.

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