In a wooded park outside the grounds of the palace the two murderers who met Macbeth (and a third) wait at dusk for Banquo and Fleance. When the father and son arrive the murderers confront them and kill Banquo, who in his last moment of life urges his son to… Continue Reading →

Lady Macbeth, located somewhere else in the castle, is troubled and sends a servant to get her husband. Macbeth enters and admits he too is unsettled, as his mind is ‘full of scorpions’ as the issue of act of regicide cannot be escaped due to impending threats to his throne;… Continue Reading →

Banquo, in the royal palace in Forees, wonders about Macbeth’s impending coronation and thus the prophecies of the weird sisters; the witches said Macbeth would be king so will their second prophecy come to pass also, that Banquo’s lineage will eventually attain the kingship also? Macbeth then enters dressed as… Continue Reading →

Outside the castle Ross, a thane, walks with an old man and discusses recent events and their abnormal nature. While it is daytime it is dark outside, an owl killed a falcon last Tuesday and most recently Duncan’s usually well-behaved horses have eaten one another. Macduff arrives and tells Ross… Continue Reading →

A porter moves through the hallway, going to answer the knocking. He grumbles about the noise, mocks the person doing the knocking and, after comparing himself to a porter at the gates of hell, asks ‘Who’s there, i’ th’ name of Beelzebub?’. Macduff and Lennox are revealed as the knockers… Continue Reading →

Lady Macbeth enters as her husband departs, imagining Macbeth killing the king. She then hears her husband cry out and worries that he has awoken the chamberlains; she cannot understand how her husband could not be successful after she has prepared the daggers for the chamberlains; she then admits she… Continue Reading →

That evening Banquo and his son Fleance walk through a torch-lit hall in Inverness. Fleance remarks the time, after midnight, but Banquo responds he wishes to stay awake despite his fatigue due to his sleep in recent times, which has brought about ‘cursed thoughts’. Macbeth appears and Banquo, surprised to… Continue Reading →

While the feast is prepared Macbeth wanders anxiously throughout the castle, contemplating the thought of killing the king. He admits it would be easier were he certain that regicide would have no harmful consequences; while he is willing to risk damnation in the afterlife he is aware that on earth… Continue Reading →

Duncan and his party arrive at Macbeth’s castle and the king speaks of the castle’s pleasant surroundings while thanking Lady Macbeth for her hospitality; he then asks to see Macbeth, who he admits to loving greatly. Macbeth’s wife responds that it is her duty to be hospitable as she and… Continue Reading →