Macbeth is the tale of how a little nudge can send an ambitious man on a catastrophic and murderous course. Three witches tell Macbeth, a victorious military commander, that he will be king. With this tidbit of information, the seed of ambition in Macbeth sprouts. He begins to think about what he must do to make the witches' prophecy come true. The sprout is watered and nurtured by Lady Macbeth, his wife, who encourages her husband to take an active approach.
When the king, Duncan, comes to visit to bestow an additional title on Macbeth for service well rendered, the opportunity presents itself. Macbeth kills the king, making it look like Duncan's own servants did it. From that point on the murder train starts picking up steam - though Macbeth outsources the rest of the dirty work. The murder that most devastates Macbeth is that of Banquo, who was a close friend and confidant, but whom a paranoid Macbeth felt needed to be killed. (Banquo was present when Macbeth met the witches, and thus he knew too much for his own good.) Banquo's murder triggers a nervous breakdown in Macbeth, who sees his old friend's ghost at a dinner party. The vilest of the murders that Macbeth is responsible for are those of the wife and children of Macduff. Macduff is competitor for the crown, and, while Macduff isn't home to be assassinated, all his potential heirs [and the wifely potential to make new ones] are executed.
Macbeth is joined in madness by his wife, who famously can't seem to get a spot of blood off her hands and - ultimately - commits suicide. Besides Macbeth's madness-skewed worldview, he becomes foolhardy because the witches present him with another prophesy, that no person born of a woman can defeat Macbeth. This seems pretty iron-clad. Macbeth brandishes this prophecy as a weapon along side his sword. It seems to be working out for him, too, until he tees up for battle with Macduff - the same Macduff whose wife and children Macbeth had murdered, and who - apparently - was delivered by caesarian section.
This is said to be the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies. I didn't count lines, but it certainly seems right - the play reads very quickly. Despite being short, it does include its share of great Shakespearean language. It may not be a quotable as (the much longer) "Hamlet," but it has comparable moments. Most famously in what is called the "To morrow and To morrow and To morrow" soliloquy that gives us these gems about the nature of life:
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing."I'd highly recommend this play. In fact, it's probably one of the better entry points into Shakespeare because it's short, not a complex story - though a rich one, and is one of the more familiar works. [However, chronologically, it is the sixth of Shakespeare's ten tragedies.]
View all my reviews
