Macbeth – Scene summarys

                                                                                                                                                                        

Act 1, Scene 1

Location: Deserted place in Scotland.

Time: year 1040 (reign of King Duncan)

Characters: witch 1, 2, and 3,

Events: Three witches planning to meet Macbeth after the battle at the heath

Quote: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair…”

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Act 1, Scene 2

Location: a camp near forres.

Characters: Duncan, Malcolm, Captain, Lenox, Rosse, Angus, Donalbain

Events: A wounded soldier tells how Macbeth had killed the rebel Macdonwald and then, with Banquo, had fought off an attack from the Norwegians who were allied with the rebels. Rosse arrives and reports that Macbeth has a defeated the Norwegians and taken the rebel Thane of Cawdor prisoner. Duncan sentences Cawdor to death and transfers his title to Macbeth.

Quote:

  • “As two spent swimmers, that do cling together And choke their art.”
  • “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.

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Act 1, Scene 3

Location: the heath

Characters: Witch 1, 2, 3, Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, Angus

Events: three witches greet Macbeth  and banquo predicting that he will be thane if Cawdor and then king. Predict Banquo children will be king after. Rosse and Angus give Macbeth the news, that for his bravery, Macbeth is to be thane of Cawdor. Meaning witches prediction is true. This leads Macbeth to contemplate killing king Duncan, meanwhile Banquo warns that witches may be leading Macbeth to evil.

Quotes:

  • “the thane of Cawdor lives: why do you dress me in borrowed robes?”
  • ”if chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.” Macbeth is going to leave it to fate.

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Act 1, Scene 4

Location: A room in the King’s palace.

Characters: Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Lenox, Macbeth, Banquo, Rosse, Angus

Events: Duncan’s son Malcolm reports that the rebel Cawdor had faced his execution with dignity. Duncan thanks Macbeth and Banquo for defeating the rebels and announces that his eldest son Malcolm will succeed him as King. this unsettles Macbeth as he still desires to become king himself.

Quote:

  • “Stars, hide your fires! let not light see my black and deep desires;”

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Act 1, Scene 5

Location: Macbeth’s castle.

Characters: Lady Macbeth, Messenger, Macbeth

Events: Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth telling her about the witches predictions. She thinks about what Macbeth wrote and decides that she must kill the King Duncan because Macbeth is too kind. She is happy to hear that Duncan is staying in their castle this night. Lady Macbeth asks evil spirits to help her carry out this bad deed. When Macbeth arrives, she tells him to leave everything to her.

Lady Macbeth’s speech conveys that she defies the stereotype of a woman being weak and of less

Quote: “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it.”

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Act 1, Scene 6

Location: Outside Macbeth’s castle

Characters: Duncan, Banquo, Donalbain, lenox, Macduff, Rosse, Angus, Lady Macbeth,

Events: Duncan arrives admires the setting of Macbeth’s castle and is welcomed by Lady Macbeth.They go inside the castle and thanks Lady Macbeth for hosting them.

Quote:

  • “See, see, our honored hostess! The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, Which still we thank as love.”   King Duncan can see that something is troubling Lady Macbeth, but overlooks it and accepts her love.

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Act 1, Scene 7

Location: A room in Macbeth’s castle

Characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth

Events: Macbeth second guesses assassination the King. He is deeply troubled by the consequences that may arise from killing the king.

Quote: “False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”

                                                                                                                                                                        

Act 2, Scene 1

Location: A courtyard within Macbeth’s castle after midnight.

Characters: Banquo, Fleance, Macbeth, Servant.

Events: Banquo and his son Fleance are awake and having a conversation about the sky when Macbeth walks in (all are having trouble sleeping). Banquo tells Macbeth of Duncan’s gratitude for the hospitality he has received from him and they start to talk about the witches. Macbeth makes it clear to Banquo that he is loyal to Duncan then everyone apart from Macbeth go to bed. Macbeth has a vision/hallucination of a blood-stained dagger and interprets it as a sign to kill King Duncan.

Quote: “- There’s husbandry in heaven; Their candles are out. -” In this quote, Shakespeare it indicating that something is going to happen.

Soliloquy:  As Macbeth hallucinates/has a vision, on a dagger covered in blood in front on him.

Macbeth:

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s offerings, and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives.
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ th’ other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still,
And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before. There’s no such thing.
It is the bloody business which informs
Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep. Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s offerings, and withered murder,
Alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin’s ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,
Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
Thy very stones prate of my whereabout,
And take the present horror from the time,
Which now suits with it. Whiles I threat, he lives.
Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives.
I go, and it is done. The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven or to hell
 Macbeth has a mental illness

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Act 2, Scene 2

Location: A courtyard within Macbeth’s castle.

Characters: Lady Macbeth, Macbeth.

Events: Lady Macbeth has drugged the King’s bodyguards and has gotten the weapons for Macbeth to use to kill the sleeping King. Macbeth returns after killing Duncan with hands covered in blood. He feels extremely disturbed by what he has done. He hears a voice telling him that he will never sleep again. Macbeth accidently brought the daggers back with him and won’t take them back. Lady Macbeth is angry and says she will do it herself. Someone is knocking on the gates.

Quote: “Tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil”

“My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.”

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Act 2, Scene 3

Location: A courtyard within Macbeth’s castle and in king Duncan’s chambers.

Characters: Porter, Macduff, Lennox, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, Donalbain, Malcolm.

Events: The porter imagines himself being the porter of hell-gate, welcoming various types of sinner. He admits Macduff and Lennox and jokes with them about the effects of alcohol. Macbeth enters and shows Macbeth where Duncan is. Lenox describes the strange unnatural events of the previous night. Macduff enters, crying out in horror at his discovery of Duncan’s murder. As Lennox and Macbeth as go to see for themselves, Lady Macbeth comes. Macbeth acts shocked and Duncan’s sons Malcolm and Donalbain are told that their father’s murder was at the hands of the bodyguards. Macbeth explains why he killed the bodyguards and describes his vision of the murdered Duncan, Lady Macbeth faints and is carried out. Duncan’s sons worry for their own safety. Malcolm plans to go to England and Donalbain to Ireland.

Quote:

 

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Act 2, Scene 4

Location: Outside Macbeth’s castle.

Characters: Old man, Rosse, Macduff.

Events: An old man and Rosse discuss the murder and the disturbing unnatural events that happened with the murder. Macduff joins them and tells them that Duncan’s sons have been accused of bribing the bodyguards. He also reports that Macbeth has left to Scone to be crowned King. Rosse plans to attend the coronation but Macduff will home to Fife.

Quote:

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Act 3, Scene 1

Location: A room in the palace in Forres.

Characters: Banquo, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Lennox, Rosse, Attendant, 1 Murderer, 2 Murderer.

Events: Banquo fears Macbeth murdered Duncan  and wonders if the Witches prophecies to him will also come true. Macbeth asks him if he is going riding and whether he is taking his son. Banquo confirms this and Macbeth sends everyone away and considers his fears about Banquo and his torment about what he has done will benefit Banquo and his son. He persuades 2 murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance, telling them that Banquo has always been their enemy and presenting him as a threat to himself.

Quote: “There is none but he whose being I do fear; …”

“Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown, and put a barren scepter in my gripe,…”

Soliloquy: -Macbeth.

To be thus is nothing,
But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be feared. ‘Tis much he dares,
And to that dauntless temper of his mind
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor
To act in safety. There is none but he
Whose being I do fear, and under him
My genius is rebuked, as it is said
Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters
When first they put the name of king upon me
And bade them speak to him. Then, prophetlike,
They hailed him father to a line of kings.
Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown
And put a barren scepter in my grip,
Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand,
No son of mine succeeding. If ’t be so,
For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered;
Put rancors in the vessel of my peace
Only for them; and mine eternal jewel
Given to the common enemy of man,
To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!
Rather than so, come fate into the list,
And champion me to th’ utterance. Who’s there?
To be the king is nothing if I’m not safe as the king. I’m very afraid of Banquo. There’s something noble about him that makes me fear him. He’s willing to take risks, and his mind never stops working. He has the wisdom to act bravely but also safely. I’m not afraid of anyone but him. Around him, my guardian angel is frightened, just as Mark Antony’s angel supposedly feared Octavius Caesar. Banquo chided the witches when they first called me king, asking them to tell him his own future. Then, like prophets, they named him the father to a line of kings. They gave me a crown and a scepter that I can’t pass on. Someone outside my family will take these things away from me, since no son of mine will take my place as king. If this is true, then I’ve tortured my conscience and murdered the gracious Duncan for Banquo’s sons. I’ve ruined my own peace for their benefit. I’ve handed over my everlasting soul to the devil so that they could be kings. Banquo’s sons, kings! Instead of watching that happen, I will challenge fate to battle and fight to the death. Who’s there!

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Act 3, Scene 2

Location: A room in the Palace.

Characters: Lady Macbeth, Servant, Macbeth.

Events:

Quotes: “Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!”

Soliloquy-Macbeth:

We have scorched the snake, not killed it.
She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice
Remains in danger of her former tooth.
But let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer,
Ere we will eat our meal in fear, and sleep
In the affliction of these terrible dreams
That shake us nightly. Better be with the dead,
Whom we, to gain our peace, have sent to peace,
Than on the torture of the mind to lie
In restless ecstasy. Duncan is in his grave.
After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.
Treason has done his worst; nor steel nor poison,
Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing
Can touch him further.
We have slashed the snake but not killed it. It will heal and be as good as new, and we’ll be threatened by its fangs once again. But the universe can fall apart, and heaven and earth crumble, before I’ll eat my meals in fear and spend my nights tossing and turning with these nightmares I’ve been having. I’d rather be dead than endure this endless mental torture and harrowing sleep deprivation. We killed those men and sent them to rest in peace so that we could gain our own peace. Duncan lies in his grave, through with life’s troubles, and he’s sleeping well. We have already done the worst we can do to him with our treason. After that, nothing can hurt him further—not weapons, poison, rebellion, invasion, or anything else.

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Act 3, Scene 3

Location: A road leading to the castle.

Characters: Murderer 1,2&3, Banquo,

Events: The 3 murderers wait to ambush Banquo and Fleance.the murderers kill Bangui but Fleance manages to escape.

Quotes:

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Act 3, Scene 4

Location: A room in the palace.

Characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Lords, Murderer, Lenox, Rosse.

Events: Macbeth welcolms the thanes to the banquet. The murderer informs Macbeth privately that Banquo has been killed, but Macbeth is dismayed to hear that Fleance has escaped. Macbeth pretends to be disappointed at Banquo’s absence from the feast and then is appalled at the sight of his ghost. Lady Macbeth tries to reassure the thanes that her husband’s strange behaviour is nothing to worry about and then privately rebukes him for showing his fear. Macbeth apologises to the thanes and tries to regain his composure, but is unnerved by the reappearance of the ghost. The thanes depart in disorder, leaving Macbeth to brood upon the uncanny ways in which murders are often revealed. He wonders suspiciously why Macduff had refused to attend the feast. Macbeth determines to visit the witches early the next day to learn the worst that might happen, vowing that further bloody deeds will take place.

Quotes:

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Act 3, Scene 5

Location: A heath.

Characters: witch 1, Hecate.

Events: The witches are rebuked by the witch goddess Hecate for not involving her in their dealings with Macbeth. Hecate vows to lead Macbeth to his destruction.

Quotes:

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Act 3, Scene 6

Location: Somewhere in Scotland.

Characters: Lenox, Lord.

Events: Lenox voices his suspicions to another lord about Duncan’s and Banquo’s death. After Lenox’s ironic account of events, the Lord reports that Malcolm is with the English King, Edward the Confessor, and that Macduff has journeyed there to find support for an attack upon Macbeth. Lenox and the Lord agree that Macduff would be well advised to stay out of Macbeth’s way.

Quotes:

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Act 4, Scene 1

Location:  a dark cave

Characters: 1,2&3 witch, Hecate, Macbeth, 1,2&3 apparition, Lenox

Events: The witches create a magic brew and prepare to meet Macbeth. Macbeth arrives and orders the witches to answer his questions. The witches master takes that form of apparitions. An armoured head warns Macbeth about Macduff but a bloody child reassured him that no one can harm him who is born from a woman. Macbeth decides to kill Macduff. Then a third apparition- a child wearing a crown and holding a tree tells him that he will not be defeated until Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane. Macbeth keeps asking whether Banquo’s descendants will ever be kings . At this, the witches show a progression of eight kings and all resembling banquo. The witches disappear and Lenox arrives to notify Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth decides to attack Macduff’s castle and kill all of his family and relatives.

Quotes:

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Act 4, Scene 2

Location: A room in Macduff’s castle

Characters : Lady Macduff, son, Rosse, Messenger, Murderers.

Events: Lady Macduff tells Rosse that her Husband’s flight to England showed little concern for his family. When Rosse leaves, Lady Macduff’s son, who didn’t believe the story that his father is dead, asks about traitors. A messenger arrives and warns Lady Macduff of approaching danger. The Murderers burst in, kill Macduff’s son and pursue his fleeing mother.

Quotes: “

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Act 4, Scene 3

Location: England. A room in the King’s Palace.

Characters: Malcolm, Macduff, Doctor, Rosse.

Events: Macduff visits Malcolm in England. At the start Malcom is wary because Macduff might betray him to Macbeth for reward. Macduff is dismayed to be suspected in this way. To test Macduff loyalty, Malcolm  pretends to be even more sinful than Macbeth. Finally, Macduff finally believes that Malcolm is as full of vice as he claims, Macduff tells him that he isn’t fit to rule Scotland ???????. This reassures Malcolm and he explains that he had lied ? to him about everything he had just said in order to test Macduff’s loyalty. They talk and Rosse arrives to report latest news from Scotland. Rosse reports that Macduff’s family is well and that good men are preparing to rebel against Macbeth’s tyranny. Malcolm’s confirms his plans to invade Scotland with the support of an English army. Rosse finally breaks the news that Macduff wife and children ? have been murdered. Malcolm tries to comfort Macduff over this loss and they leave to prepare for invasion of Scotland.

Quotes: 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Act 5, Scene 1

Location: Dunsinane – a room in the castle.

Characters: Doctor, Lady Macbeth, Gentlewoman.

Events: Lady Macbeth’s gentlewoman tells a doctor about he mistress’s behaviour while sleepwalking. Then Lady Macbeth appears, asleep and carrying a candle. In her sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth imagines she is washing blood off her hands and talks about the murders that have taken place. The doctor leaves, shocked at what he had seen and heard.

Quotes:

 

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Act 5, Scene 2

Location: The country near Dunsinane.

Characters: Menteith, Angus, Caithness, Lenox.

Events: The scottish army opposing Macbeth approaches Dunsinane and the thanes discuss Macbeth’s loss of control.

Quotes:

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Act 5, Scene 3

Location: Dunsinane – a room in the castle.

Characters: Macbeth, Servant, Seyton, Doctor.

Events: As the rebel Scots march towards Birnam to meet the English army led by Malcolm and Macduff, Macbeth receives reports of the approaching forces, but comforts himself with the witches predictions. Macbeth faces the fact that he cannot look forward to an old age of comfort and respect. The doctor reports that lady Macbeth’s sickness is of the mind. As Macbeth struggles into his armour, the doctor leaves, wishing he were well away from Dunsinane.

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Act 5, Scene 4

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Act 5, Scene 5

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Act 5, Scene 6

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Act 5, Scene 7

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Act 5, Scene 8

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Act 5, Scene 9

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