Synopsis

The play opens in a powerful surge of sorcery with the Three Weird Sisters, in which they decide where they shall meet with our tragic hero; Macbeth. Travelling with his trusted friend Banquo, Macbeth receives several surprising prophecies from the witches, most prominently the promise that he shall soon be King.

Macbeth is then greeted by a messenger from Queen Duncan (in the original play it is King Duncan) who tells him of his new title, Thane of Cawdor. Upon this news, Macbeth writes to his wife telling her of the events. When she receives this letter, she also receives news that the Queen will be staying the night in Macbeth's castle. Lady Macbeth begins to hatch a plan to murder the queen, and convinces Macbeth that this is the perfect opportunity. In an intense moral struggle, Macbeth does the deed, while Lady Macbeth ensures the guards can be blamed for her husband's crime. When Macduff arrives the next morning and discovers the murder of the Queen, he is immediately suspicious of Macbeth, although when Duncan's sons flee the country in fear; suspicion briefly turns onto them. Upon the flight of the heirs, Macbeth claims the throne, fulfilling the last of the witches several prophecies.

An uneasy and disturbed Macbeth returns to the witches for more information and they tell him to beware Macduff, but also that ‘none of woman born can harm him.' Macbeth finds solace in this, and believes he is invincible. But now driven by relentless desire for power, he arranges to murder Macduff's entire family. As Macbeth's feelings of guilt ease, Lady Macbeth slowly becomes insane with grief, and in the play's most famous scene, psychotically scrubs invisible blood from her hands. An invasion is planned by Malcolm, son of Duncan, and Macduff, who announces to Macbeth in the heat of battle that he was ripped from his mother's womb. This is the equivalent to today's caesarean section, which means that technically Macduff was not born of a woman. Does this mean he will be the one to defeat the power hungry tyrant, in accordance with the witches' prophecy? You'll have to come to the show to see how it all end!

For a FREE and printable scene by scene breakdown of the play, visit http://www.gradesaver.com/etext/titles/macbeth/.  This site also offers a free Study Guide for the play and many other useful resources.

Class Activity

Discussion

How has changing the setting and interpretation of the play changed the themes?

There are many examples of modern productions of Macbeth. Students may choose to use these examples as stimulus for this activity.

http://www.open2.net/shakespeareretold/

Try an find as many varied examples of the stage play as you can, for example, the following is the very first production of Macbeth by an all-African-Amercian cast (directed by Orson Welles) which opened in Harlem, New York on 14 April 1936.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/ftplays.html

Also take a look at the vast number of film versions of the play.

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=Macbeth

Look at the 2006, 2005 and 1971 productions – how are they different?

As you can see, directors will often take an exciting new direction with classical plays, just as Scott Alderdice has done with Macbeth. Divide your class up into groups and have them explore the different interpretive possibilities and ask them to form a short proposal for a new interpretation of Macbeth. Have them include rough sketches of costume and setting ideas.