Step inside Macbeth

The film without the cuts. And the book itself.

Three witches promise a victorious general the crown of Scotland. Before the day is out, half their prophecy has already come true.

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The Cast

Macbeth

Main · Scottish nobility

A warrior reaches for a crown while blood seems to follow his hands from room to room.

Locations

Open Place

open ground

Thunder breaks over empty ground, and strange voices speak before any king can.

Passage

Before Macbeth appears, fate is already speaking his name into darkness.

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The Author’s Pen

The Witches Meet Macbeth

Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches. FIRST WITCH. When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? SECOND WITCH. When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won. THIRD WITCH. That will be ere the set of sun. FIRST WITCH. Where the place? SECOND WITCH. Upon the heath. THIRD WITCH. There to meet with Macbeth. FIRST WITCH. I come, Graymalkin! SECOND WITCH. Paddock calls. THIRD WITCH. Anon. ALL. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Reading

Before we ever see Macbeth, we hear his name spoken by creatures arranging to meet him, so that our first sense of the man is that he is already expected somewhere he does not know about. The witches settle nothing but logistics here: a time ("ere the set of sun"), a place ("the heath"), a person. Yet their language keeps folding opposites together, "the battle's lost and won," until winning and losing stop being different things. When they close on "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," they hand us the rule the whole play will run on: in this world you cannot trust that a good thing is good.

World Index

The Plot

Fair Is FoulThe Serpent Under the FlowerThe Bell Invites MeConfusion’s MasterpieceBlood for BanquoThe Haunted FeastThe Equivocal OraclesThe Slaughter at FifeThe Mind DiseasedThe Wood Begins to MoveThe Time Is Free

The Cast

MacbethLady MacbethThe Weird SistersBanquoDuncanMacduffMalcolmFleanceLady MacduffMacduff's SonRossLennoxDonalbainHecateSiwardPorterGentlewomanScottish DoctorMurderersBanquo's GhostYoung SiwardEnglish DoctorSeytonMenteithAngusCaithnessBleeding CaptainOld ManLordMessengersAttendants and ServantsDuncan's Guards

Locations

Birnam WoodCamp near ForresColmekillCountry near DunsinaneDark CaveDuncan's ChamberDunsinane CastleEngland / Before the King's PalaceFife / Macduff's CastleForres PalaceForres Park or LawnInverness / Macbeth's CastleInverness GateOpen PlaceRoom of State / Banquet HallSconeThe Heath

Objects of Note

Banquo's Ghost ManifestationBirnam Wood BranchesBloodDuncan's DiamondLady Macbeth's TaperMacbeth's HeadMacbeth's LetterSleepThe ApparitionsThe CauldronThe CrownThe DaggerThe Guards' DaggersThe Show of KingsWater

Core Concepts

Ambition versus Moral OrderAppearance versus TruthGuilt versus ConcealmentKingship versus TyrannyMastering Time versus Losing MeaningNatural Order versus ViolationPlain Speech versus EquivocationProphecy versus ChoiceViolence versus Feeling

The Author's Pen

Brave Macbeth Carves His PassageThe Witches Hail MacbethMacbeth Tempted by the CrownHorrible ImaginingsThe Prince of CumberlandPour My Spirits In Thine EarUnsex Me HereA Pleasant SeatVaulting AmbitionScrew Your CourageMacbeth Is SettledAllegiance ClearThe Dagger of the MindMacbeth Shall Sleep No MoreA Little Water Clears UsKnocking After the DeedThe Porter of Hell GateMost Sacrilegious MurderViolent Love Outruns ReasonThe Safest Way AwayMacduff Will to FifeNews Of VictoryMacbeth Fears BanquoVaulting AmbitionBe Innocent of the KnowledgeBanquo's Murder and Fleance's EscapeMacbeth and Banquo’s GhostStepp'd In So FarA Swift BlessingThe Charmed PotNone of Woman BornBanquo Points at ThemThought and DoneFear and Natural TouchWas My Father a TraitorThe Son Is StabbedScotland Bleeds Beneath the YokeFit to Govern No Not to LiveAll My Pretty OnesOut Damned SpotWords Upon That BusinessThe Yellow LeafA Mind DiseasedBirnam Wood Before DunsinaneLife Signifying NothingBirnam Wood Comes to DunsinaneMacbeth Will Not YieldMalcolm Invites His Crowning

Plot point 01

Fair Is Foul

Three witches promise a victorious general the crown of Scotland. Before the day is out, half their prophecy has already come true.

Objects of Note

The Crown

The crown promises everything, then rests on a head too afraid to sleep.

The Cast

Lady Macbeth

Main · Macbeth household

A woman carries a little light through darkness, still trying to wash imagined blood from her hands.

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Macbeth

William Shakespeare

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

The Macbeth World, as it plays on your phone

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Walk the places. 17 places, each pictured, and what happens there.
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