2. ACT I
Act I starts with the three witches saying, “fair is foul
and foul is fair,” which is a paradox implying the
essential theme of the play.
3. ACT I
At the same time, Scotland
is fighting a war. Macbeth,
the main character of the
play, who is brave and
ambitious. Even though the
King of Norway brought
more soldiers and supplies
against Macbeth, finally the
Norwegian King surrenders.
Duncan, the king of
Scotland, decides to make
him the Thane of Cawdor.
4. ACT I
The three witches meets
Macbeth and Banquo.
The witches’ prophecies for
Macbeth are about how he
will become the Thane of
Cawdor and later become the
King of Scotland.
This foreshadows what will
happen later on and how
these fortunes will affect
Macbeth.
5. ACT I
Macbeth is shocked about
the predictions.
In contrast to
Macbeth, Banquo seems not
to care about the
predictions and he is happy
for Macbeth’s success.
Later, Macbeth receives the
Thane of Cawdor and he
tells his wife, Lady
Macbeth, about the
prophecies that the witches
had told him.
6. ACT I
Duncan is going to stay at Macbeth’s house for a
night. Lady Macbeth comes up with a plan to kill
King Duncan and encourage Macbeth to follow her
plan.
7. ACT II
Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s own vision pushes
Macbeth to act, he eventually kills Duncan. At this
time, he still feels regret because he should be
loyal to his noble King, Duncan. However, Lady
Macbeth does not want the plan to be a failure, so
she finishes the rest by herself.
8. ACT II
The next morning,
Macduff finds Duncan’s
body. Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth act very shocked
to defer suspicion that
they behind the murders.
The guards are falsely
accused of being the
primary suspects and
Macbeth kills them.
9. ACT II
Duncan’s sons, Malcolm and
Donalbain feel that their
lives might well be
threatened so they quickly
flee the castle, leaving no
heir to Duncan. So it’s
obvious that Macbeth is the
next king.
10. ACT III
Banquo thinks that
Macbeth is the one
who killed Duncan, so
Macbeth sends out
hired killers to kill
Banquo and his son,
Fleance. In the end,
Banquo is killed but
Fleance manages to
escape.
11. ACT III
Macbeth organizes a
banquet and invites many
lords. At the
Banquet, Macbeth sees
Banquo’s ghost and reacts
very strangely. Lady
Macbeth tries to cover up
for Macbeth, but the
guests obviously feels the
unease.
12. ACT III
Finally, we know that
Macduff is not at the
Banquet. This is because he
thinks it is Macbeth, the
one who killed Duncan as
well, and he goes to
England to get help.