Macbeth Study Guide

Characters

• First WitchShe helps summon apparitions for Macbeth and confirms the vision of kings that he takes to be Banquo's descendants.First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
• Second WitchShe helps prepare the cauldron's charm and senses the approach of someone wicked just before Macbeth enters.First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
• Third WitchShe predicts that Macbeth will be king and that Banquo will father kings without being one himself.First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
• DuncanThe king has been murdered by Macbeth while staying at Macbeth's castle.First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
• MalcolmHailed as King of Scotland after Macbeth's death, he rewards his supporters, promises to recall exiles and bring the former rulers' cruel agents forward, and invites everyone to his coronation at Scone.First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
• DDonalbainAccording to Macduff, his flight and Malcolm's have raised suspicion that they arranged their father's murder.First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
• LLennoxHe marches with Macbeth's opponents, confirms Donalbain's absence from the approaching force and calls for the march towards Birnam.First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
• SThe SergeantThe wounded soldier who fought to prevent Malcolm's capture reports Macbeth and Banquo's courage and is sent for surgical help.First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
• RossHe reports Young Siward's death to his father, praising the young man's courage and confirming that his wounds were on his front.First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
• MacbethAfter Macduff's account of his birth breaks his trust in the charm, he chooses to fight rather than yield, and Macduff later returns carrying his head.First appears: Act 1, Scene 3
• BanquoHis ghost follows a vision of eight kings, smiling at Macbeth and pointing to the kings as his descendants.First appears: Act 1, Scene 3
• AAngusNow marching to join Malcolm's force, he describes obedience to Macbeth as loveless and Macbeth's royal title as a giant's robe hanging on a dwarfish thief.First appears: Act 1, Scene 3
• Lady MacbethMalcolm says it is thought that she took her own life, presenting this as a report rather than an established fact.First appears: Act 1, Scene 5
• MThe MessengerHe tells Lady Macbeth that Duncan will arrive that night and that Macbeth is on his way.First appears: Act 1, Scene 5
• MacduffHe reveals that he was cut from his mother's womb, fights Macbeth and returns with his head before hailing Malcolm as King of Scotland.First appears: Act 1, Scene 6
• SThe SewerA household officer who crosses the stage with servants carrying dishes for the meal before Macbeth enters.First appears: Act 1, Scene 7
• FleanceBanquo's son escapes when the murderers attack them near the palace and his dying father tells him to flee.First appears: Act 2, Scene 1
• SThe ServantA torch-bearing servant who accompanies Macbeth and is sent to ask Lady Macbeth to ring a bell when his drink is ready.First appears: Act 2, Scene 1
• The PorterThe castle's gatekeeper imagines admitting sinners to hell before opening the gate to Macduff and Lennox and joking about the effects of drink.First appears: Act 2, Scene 3
• OMThe Old ManAn elderly man who describes an owl killing a falcon, connects unnatural events with Duncan's murder and offers a blessing as Ross leaves.First appears: Act 2, Scene 4
• AThe AttendantAn attendant at Macbeth's palace brings two murderers before him and is sent to wait at the door.First appears: Act 3, Scene 1
• FMFirst MurdererHe reports to Macbeth that he cut Banquo's throat but that Fleance escaped, and describes Banquo's body lying in a ditch.First appears: Act 3, Scene 1
• SMSecond MurdererHe takes part in the ambush and says that Fleance's escape has cost the murderers the better half of their task.First appears: Act 3, Scene 1
• TMThird MurdererHe says Macbeth sent him to join the other murderers, knows their instructions and Banquo's route, and notices that Fleance has escaped.First appears: Act 3, Scene 3
• HHecateCalling herself the mistress of the witches' charms, she rebukes them for excluding her and plans illusions intended to make Macbeth dangerously confident.First appears: Act 3, Scene 5
• LThe LordAn unnamed lord tells Lennox of Macduff's appeal for English help and prays for relief from Macbeth's rule.First appears: Act 3, Scene 6
• FAFirst ApparitionAn armed head summoned during Macbeth's visit to the witches warns him to beware Macduff, the thane of Fife.First appears: Act 4, Scene 1
• SASecond ApparitionA bloody child urges Macbeth to be bold and declares that none born of woman will harm him.First appears: Act 4, Scene 1
• TAThird ApparitionA crowned child holding a tree declares that Macbeth will not be defeated until Birnam wood comes against him at Dunsinane hill.First appears: Act 4, Scene 1
• EKThe Eight KingsEight kings appear in a vision with Banquo's ghost following them, and the last carries a mirror in which Macbeth sees more kings.First appears: Act 4, Scene 1
• Lady MacduffRoss reports to Macduff that she has been killed along with their children and the servants found at the castle.First appears: Act 4, Scene 2
• Macduff's SonLady Macduff's son questions her claims about his father, calls his father's accuser a liar and dies after being stabbed, urging his mother to run.First appears: Act 4, Scene 2
• MAThe Messenger at FifeA messenger unknown to Lady Macduff warns her to leave with her children because danger is near, then hurries away.First appears: Act 4, Scene 2
• MAThe Murderer at FifeHe demands Macduff's whereabouts, calls him a traitor and stabs his son after the boy calls him a liar.First appears: Act 4, Scene 2
• DThe DoctorA doctor at the English court tells Malcolm that patients beyond medical help recover when the king touches them.First appears: Act 4, Scene 3
• DAThe Doctor at DunsinaneHe tells Macbeth that the patient must treat her own troubled mind and privately wishes to leave Dunsinane for good.First appears: Act 5, Scene 1
• GThe GentlewomanLady Macbeth's attendant describes her sleepwalking but refuses to repeat her words without a witness, then watches with the Doctor as her mistress rubs her hands and speaks of blood.First appears: Act 5, Scene 1
• MMenteithMarching with the Scottish opponents of Macbeth, he reports the approach of Malcolm's force and connects Macbeth's disturbed senses with inward condemnation.First appears: Act 5, Scene 2
• CCaithnessHe reports Macbeth's fortification of Dunsinane and urges the others to join Malcolm, whom he describes as medicine for their sick country.First appears: Act 5, Scene 2
• SAThe Servant at DunsinaneHe reports ten thousand English soldiers to Macbeth, who insults his pale face and dismisses him.First appears: Act 5, Scene 3
• SSeytonHe goes to investigate the women's cries and returns to tell Macbeth that the queen is dead.First appears: Act 5, Scene 3
• SSiwardOn hearing that his son died with wounds on his front, he accepts the death as an honourable soldier's end and insists that it needs no further mourning.First appears: Act 5, Scene 4
• YSYoung SiwardHe challenges Macbeth's claim that his name should inspire fear and is killed fighting him.First appears: Act 5, Scene 4
• MAThe Messenger at DunsinaneA watcher from the hill tells Macbeth that Birnam wood appears to be moving and insists on his report despite Macbeth's anger.First appears: Act 5, Scene 5

Chapter summaries

1. Act 1, Scene 1

   Three witches appear in thunder and lightning and arrange their next meeting. They expect the battle to be over before sunset and name Macbeth as the person they will meet. Macbeth is spoken of but does not appear, leaving his connection to them unexplained. Their closing statement reverses the meanings of fair and foul, making ordinary judgements uncertain. The brief exchanges and shared final speech present them as a group acting together.

2. Act 1, Scene 2

   Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain and Lennox meet a bleeding sergeant at the camp. Malcolm identifies him as a soldier who fought to prevent his capture. The sergeant describes Macbeth killing Macdonwald and praises Macbeth and Banquo for meeting a fresh attack without fear. Duncan honours the sergeant's wounds and sends him for treatment. Ross then reports victory over Norway and the thane of Cawdor's support for the enemy. Duncan orders the traitor's execution and gives Macbeth his title, so Macbeth is presented through other people's accounts of his service. The praise treats extreme violence as honourable when it serves the king.

3. Act 1, Scene 3

   On the heath, the witches discuss tormenting a sailor after his wife refused the First Witch chestnuts. Macbeth and Banquo arrive, and the witches greet Macbeth with his existing title of Glamis, the title of Cawdor that he does not yet know Duncan has awarded him, and a promise of kingship. They answer Banquo with contradictory comparisons and predict that he will father kings without being one himself. The witches vanish before explaining their knowledge, then Ross and Angus arrive to announce that Duncan has made Macbeth thane of Cawdor. Banquo warns that evil powers may tell small truths to win trust before causing greater harm. In asides, Macbeth reveals both his attraction to kingship and his horror at an imagined murder, though he also considers letting chance act without him. The witches promise him kingship without instructing him to kill, making the thought of murder part of his own response.

4. Act 1, Scene 4

   At the palace in Forres, Malcolm passes on an eyewitness account of Cawdor's confession and death. Duncan admits that a face cannot reveal a person's mind and that he trusted Cawdor completely. When Macbeth and Banquo arrive with Ross and Angus, Duncan warmly praises their service, and Macbeth declares his loyalty. Duncan names his eldest son Malcolm Prince of Cumberland and establishes him as his successor. Macbeth offers to go ahead to tell his wife of Duncan's visit to Inverness. In an aside, he describes Malcolm as a step in his way and asks darkness to conceal his desires. Duncan's closing praise of Macbeth creates dramatic irony because the audience has just heard what the king cannot hear.

5. Act 1, Scene 5

   Alone at Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter in which Macbeth shares the witches' promises and calls her his partner in greatness. She believes he is ambitious but too kind to take the quickest route to power, and plans to influence him through speech. A messenger announces Duncan's arrival that night, turning her thoughts towards his death under her roof. She calls on spirits to remove the qualities she associates with womanhood and to block remorse, using images of blood, milk and gall to imagine deliberate cruelty. When Macbeth arrives, she tells him that Duncan must not see another morning. She urges him to hide his intentions beneath a welcoming face and let her manage the business. Macbeth says they will speak further, so the scene ends with her urging a course of action rather than his explicit agreement to a detailed plan.

6. Act 1, Scene 6

   Duncan arrives outside Macbeth's castle with Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross and Angus. He admires the setting, while Banquo takes the nesting martlets as evidence of healthy air. Lady Macbeth greets the king with elaborate assurances that her household's service cannot repay his honours. Duncan interprets Macbeth's speed in reaching home as a sign of love and asks his hostess to lead him to her husband. The audience knows Lady Macbeth's purpose from the preceding scene, making her formal welcome an act of deception. The pleasant setting and Duncan's trust therefore sit uneasily beside what the audience has heard, though no attack occurs here.

7. Act 1, Scene 7

   Servants cross the stage with dishes before Macbeth enters alone and weighs the assassination in a soliloquy. He would risk the afterlife if the murder could secure success without further consequences here, but fears earthly retribution and recognises his duties to Duncan as kinsman, subject and host. He also praises Duncan's goodness and identifies ambition as his only motive. When Lady Macbeth enters from the meal, he tells her they will go no further, citing the honours and good opinions he has recently gained. She attacks his courage and love, insists that carrying out the plan would prove his manhood, and declares that she would kill a nursing baby rather than break such a promise. She proposes making Duncan's chamberlains drunk so the unguarded king can be killed and his attendants blamed; Macbeth adds the use of their daggers and blood on their bodies. He ends resolved to act and conceal his intention behind a false face, but the murder remains a plan.

8. Act 2, Scene 1

   Banquo and Fleance enter the castle court at night, and Banquo asks for protection from troubling thoughts in sleep. Macbeth arrives with a servant, and Banquo reports Duncan's contentment and gift of a diamond for Lady Macbeth. When Banquo mentions the witches, Macbeth denies thinking of them but proposes a later conversation and offers him honour for agreeing with him. Banquo makes his willingness to listen conditional on preserving his existing honour, freedom of conscience and loyalty. After Banquo and Fleance leave, Macbeth sends the servant away and speaks alone about a dagger that he can see but cannot touch. He questions his senses and connects the vision, now marked with blood, to the murder he already intends. When the bell rings, Macbeth treats it as a death bell for Duncan and leaves to carry out the murder.

9. Act 2, Scene 2

   Lady Macbeth waits alone, explaining that she has drugged the attendants' drinks and left their daggers ready. She says she could not kill Duncan because he resembled her father as he slept. Macbeth returns after the murder with the daggers, distressed by the sleepers' prayers and his own inability to say Amen. He describes a voice that seemed to accuse him of murdering sleep, turning a source of comfort into something he believes he has destroyed. When he refuses to return to the chamber, Lady Macbeth takes the daggers to put blood on the attendants and make them appear guilty. Macbeth imagines his bloody hand colouring the seas red, while she insists that a little water will clear them of the deed. As knocking continues, Lady Macbeth urges him to retire to their chamber and put on his nightgown to hide that he has been awake; Macbeth wishes Duncan could wake.

10. Act 2, Scene 3

    The Porter delays answering the knocking by imagining himself at hell's gate, then admits Macduff and Lennox and jokes about drink. Macbeth appears and directs Macduff to Duncan's room while Lennox describes the violent weather and disturbing reports of the night. Macduff returns in horror, describes the murder as sacrilege and calls the household to witness it. Macduff assumes Lady Macbeth is too delicate to hear the news, though she helped arrange the crime; Banquo, Ross and Duncan's sons also gather, and Lennox treats the bloodstained attendants and their daggers as evidence of guilt. Macbeth admits killing the attendants, and when Macduff questions him he claims that love for Duncan overwhelmed reason. Lady Macbeth calls for help and is carried out, while Banquo proposes an investigation and the others agree to meet. In private exchanges, Malcolm and Donalbain distrust appearances of grief and decide to leave for England and Ireland, showing that the public agreement has not made them feel safe.

11. Act 2, Scene 4

    Ross and an old man describe a night whose disturbances exceed the old man's long experience. Ross points to darkness at a time when it should be day, and the old man compares an owl killing a falcon to the unnatural murder. Ross also confirms that he saw Duncan's horses eat one another after breaking free. Macduff enters and attributes the killing to the attendants Macbeth has slain, adding that the princes' flight has raised suspicion that they arranged it. Ross condemns the supposed ambition of the sons, although the audience has heard their reasons for leaving and knows who killed Duncan. Macduff reports that Macbeth has been named king and gone to Scone to be invested, while Duncan's body has been taken to Colmekill among his predecessors. Ross chooses to go to Scone, but Macduff heads to Fife and uses the image of old and new robes to express concern about the change of rule.

12. Act 3, Scene 1

    Alone at the palace, Banquo suspects Macbeth of foul play while taking hope from the prophecy about his own descendants. Macbeth enters as king with Lady Macbeth as queen and their company, invites Banquo to supper and questions him about his afternoon ride with Fleance. He speaks publicly of Duncan's sons as guilty of their father's murder. Once the company has left, his private speech reveals that kingship means little to him without security, and that Banquo's courage, judgement and promised descendants make him afraid. He resents having murdered Duncan only to provide a crown for Banquo's family and declares his intention to challenge fate. Meeting two murderers, he blames Banquo for their misfortunes and makes their willingness to act a test of manhood. They accept his orders to kill Banquo and Fleance away from the palace, so that Macbeth can conceal his involvement from their mutual friends.

13. Act 3, Scene 2

    Lady Macbeth sends a servant to ask Macbeth to speak with her, then admits alone that gaining the crown has brought no satisfaction. When he enters, she urges him to stop dwelling on what cannot be changed. Macbeth answers with the image of a wounded snake that remains dangerous and describes nights disturbed by terrible dreams. He envies Duncan's freedom from further harm in the grave, reversing the peace he expected murder to secure. Both agree that their welcome to the guests must disguise their feelings, while Macbeth names Banquo and Fleance as sources of torment. He announces that a dreadful deed will be done but refuses to tell his wife its details, putting the audience's knowledge of the murder plan against her unanswered question. His appeal to night to conceal violence ends with the claim that wrongdoing must be strengthened by further wrongdoing.

14. Act 3, Scene 3

    Three murderers wait in a park near the palace as daylight fades. The newcomer says Macbeth sent him, and the Second Murderer accepts him because he knows their instructions exactly. Banquo and Fleance approach with a torch, and the murderers attack. Banquo recognises the treachery and repeatedly urges Fleance to flee, holding out the possibility of revenge as he dies. The light is extinguished, and Fleance escapes, leaving the murderers to dispute what happened. Their judgement that they have lost the better half of their task shows how far the result falls short of Macbeth's order to kill both father and son.

15. Act 3, Scene 4

    Macbeth and Lady Macbeth welcome Ross, Lennox and the other guests to a banquet, but the First Murderer's report of Fleance's escape immediately renews Macbeth's fear. Banquo's ghost enters and occupies Macbeth's place, turning the absent guest into a visible stage presence that the other diners do not acknowledge. Macbeth addresses the ghost in terror, while Lady Macbeth presents his behaviour as a familiar fit and challenges his manhood. He briefly recovers and drinks to Banquo, only for the ghost to return and provoke another outburst. Ross's question about what Macbeth sees brings the gap between his experience and the guests' understanding into the open, and Lady Macbeth ends the gathering. Alone with her, Macbeth speaks of blood demanding blood, questions Macduff's absence and reveals that he pays servants in the nobles' households. He resolves to consult the witches again and pictures himself wading so far into blood that turning back seems as difficult as continuing.

16. Act 3, Scene 5

    On the heath, the three witches meet an angry Hecate, who calls herself the mistress of their charms. She rebukes them for excluding her from their dealings with Macbeth and describes him as pursuing only his own ends. She orders them to bring their spells and vessels to a meeting the next morning, saying Macbeth will come to learn his destiny. Hecate plans to use a drop gathered from the moon to produce spirits whose illusions are intended to lead him to ruin. She identifies a false sense of safety as the weakness her plan is intended to exploit. Music and an unseen song call her away, and the witches decide to hurry with their preparations; the scene reveals an intended deception rather than showing Macbeth's response to it.

17. Act 3, Scene 6

    At the palace, Lennox speaks with an unnamed lord about the deaths of Duncan and Banquo. His exaggerated praise of Macbeth and his suggestion that Fleance killed Banquo because he fled expose his distrust of the explanations being offered. He notes that killing Duncan's attendants conveniently prevented them from denying guilt, then describes Macduff as disgraced for speaking freely and missing Macbeth's feast. The Lord reports that Duncan's son is honourably received at Edward's English court and that Macduff has gone there to ask Edward to call on Northumberland and Siward for military support. He hopes their help will restore ordinary food, sleep, safe feasts and loyal service, presenting Scotland's suffering through the daily comforts it lacks. He also reports Macbeth's preparations for war and Macduff's refusal to obey his summons. Both speakers pray for relief, making their opposition to the ruler they call a tyrant explicit.

18. Act 4, Scene 1

    The three witches prepare a cauldron in a cavern, and Hecate praises their work before Macbeth arrives demanding answers regardless of the destruction they may cause. An armed head warns him against Macduff, but a bloody child says that none born of woman will harm him, and a crowned child makes his defeat depend on Birnam wood coming to Dunsinane. Macbeth treats the moving forest as impossible and expects to live out his natural life, though he has already decided to kill Macduff despite the second apparition's assurance. Still troubled about Banquo's descendants, he demands another answer and sees eight kings followed by Banquo's ghost, with a mirror showing yet more kings. The First Witch confirms the vision, and the witches dance and vanish with Hecate. Lennox enters with news that Macduff has fled to England, and Macbeth resolves to turn his first impulses into deeds by attacking Macduff's castle and killing his wife, children and family line.

19. Act 4, Scene 2

    At Macduff's castle in Fife, Lady Macduff tells Ross that her husband's flight shows fear rather than love because he has left his family exposed. Ross defends Macduff's judgement, describes a world ruled by fear and rumour, and leaves rather than show his distress. Mother and son then exchange jokes and questions about the absent father, with the boy challenging both her claim that he is dead and the idea that honest men can always punish traitors. A messenger enters to warn Lady Macduff to escape with her children, but dares stay no longer. She recognises that her innocence offers little protection in a world where goodness can be dangerous, while the audience already knows Macbeth's intention to attack the family. Murderers enter, and one stabs the boy when he defends his father against the charge of treachery. The boy dies urging his mother to run, and she leaves crying murder with the killers following her; her death is not shown in this scene.

20. Act 4, Scene 3

    Outside the English king's palace, Macduff urges resistance to Macbeth, but Malcolm suspects that he may have come to betray him and questions his departure from his family. Malcolm claims boundless lust and greed, which Macduff tries to accommodate, before declaring that he lacks every virtue needed by a king. When Macduff rejects such a ruler and despairs for Scotland, Malcolm reveals that these claims were a test, retracts them and accepts him as an ally with English military support already arranged. A doctor reports the English king's healing touch, and Malcolm describes the cures he has witnessed, setting restorative kingship beside their accounts of Scotland's wounds. Ross arrives, describes the country's suffering and at first gives reassuring answers about Macduff's family before revealing that his wife, children and the servants found at the castle have been slaughtered. Macduff repeatedly questions the news, blames himself for their deaths and insists that being a man requires feeling the loss as well as confronting it. Malcolm urges him to turn grief into revenge, Macduff asks to meet Macbeth face to face, and they leave to see the king before their forces depart.

21. Act 5, Scene 1

    At Dunsinane, a doctor questions a gentlewoman about Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, but she refuses to repeat her mistress's words without a witness. Lady Macbeth enters carrying a light, with open eyes that do not register what is around her. She rubs her hands as if washing them and speaks in broken recollections of blood, commands to her husband, Banquo and the thane of Fife's wife. Her conviction that the smell cannot be removed reverses her earlier confidence that water could clear away the deed. The watching pair hear secrets that she cannot control in sleep, making concealment fail through her own speech. The Doctor says she needs spiritual help more than a physician and orders care for her safety rather than offering a cure.

22. Act 5, Scene 2

    Four Scottish nobles march with soldiers near Dunsinane and discuss joining the English force led by Malcolm, Siward and Macduff. Lennox confirms that Donalbain is absent and notes the young men setting out to prove their manhood. Caithness reports that Macbeth is fortifying Dunsinane, while disputing accounts call his state either madness or courage. Angus describes a ruler whose murders cling to his hands and whose subjects obey commands without love. His image of a royal robe too large for a thief separates Macbeth's title from his fitness to hold it. The nobles turn to images of medicine, purging and growth to present their march as service to a country damaged by its ruler.

23. Act 5, Scene 3

    With the Doctor and attendants at Dunsinane, Macbeth asserts that Birnam wood and the promise about birth protect him from fear. He insults a servant reporting ten thousand English soldiers, then admits that his life has reached a barren stage without the affection and honour old age should bring. Seyton confirms the reports, and Macbeth insists on putting on armour before it is needed. He orders patrols and the hanging of those who talk of fear, showing how his proclaimed courage depends on silencing others. When the Doctor describes Lady Macbeth's disturbed thoughts, Macbeth asks for a treatment that would erase painful memory, but the Doctor says the patient must treat herself. Macbeth extends the language of disease to Scotland and imagines a drug expelling the English, while the Doctor's aside reveals his own desire to leave Dunsinane.

24. Act 5, Scene 4

    Malcolm, Siward and his son, Macduff and the Scottish nobles march with soldiers near Birnam wood. Malcolm hopes their campaign will make private rooms safe again, defining its aim through ordinary security. He orders each soldier to cut and carry a branch so that observers will misjudge the army's size. The order gives the audience a practical way to understand the moving wood on which Macbeth has made his safety depend. Siward reports Macbeth's intention to withstand a siege, and Malcolm describes the defections and unwilling service weakening him. Macduff and Siward insist that disciplined fighting and the actual outcome must settle their hopes, placing action ahead of confident speculation.

25. Act 5, Scene 5

    Macbeth expects the castle to withstand a siege, but a cry of women interrupts his orders. After Seyton leaves, Macbeth says that repeated horrors have dulled his response to fear, and Seyton returns with news of the queen's death without explaining its cause. Macbeth's response expands into a speech in which repeated tomorrows lead only to death and human life becomes a candle, a shadow, an actor and a meaningless tale. A messenger interrupts this reflection with a report that Birnam wood appears to be moving. The audience has heard Malcolm's order about the branches, but Macbeth first calls the messenger a liar before recognising that the promise may deceive through truthful wording. His confidence falters, and he orders the alarm and an armed advance, declaring that they can at least die wearing armour.

26. Act 5, Scene 6

    Malcolm, Siward and Macduff arrive before Dunsinane with the army carrying branches. Malcolm decides they are close enough to discard the screens and reveal themselves. He gives Siward and his son command of the first division and assigns the rest to himself and Macduff. The short exchanges move directly from concealment to a planned attack. Macduff calls the trumpets heralds of blood and death, making the violence of the coming engagement explicit within the army's confident advance.

27. Act 5, Scene 7

    On the battlefield, Macbeth compares himself to a tethered bear that must fight and repeats his reliance on the promise about birth. Young Siward challenges him, rejects the claim that Macbeth's name should frighten him and dies in their fight. Macbeth treats the killing as confirmation that ordinary weapons cannot threaten him when wielded by a man born of woman. After he leaves, Macduff enters searching specifically for him and imagines his family's ghosts haunting him if another man kills Macbeth. Macduff refuses to spend his sword on hired soldiers, tying his purpose to personal grief and revenge. Siward then leads Malcolm towards the readily surrendered castle, reporting that Macbeth's people fight on both sides and that little remains to win the day.

28. Act 5, Scene 8

    Macbeth rejects death by his own sword, then faces Macduff and admits that he already bears responsibility for blood from Macduff's family. They begin fighting, but when Macbeth claims a charmed life, Macduff says he was cut from his mother's womb, exposing a meaning in the promise that Macbeth had not allowed for. Macbeth condemns the fiends' double meanings and refuses to continue fighting, but Macduff's threatened public humiliation makes him choose combat over surrender. After they leave fighting, Ross reports Young Siward's death, and Siward accepts his son's front-facing wounds as evidence of an honourable end while Malcolm promises to mourn him further. Macduff returns carrying Macbeth's head and leads the acclamation of Malcolm as King of Scotland. Malcolm makes his thanes earls, promises to recall exiles and bring the former rulers' cruel agents forward, reports the belief that Lady Macbeth killed herself and invites the company to his coronation at Scone. The ending replaces Macbeth's rule with public recognition and promised acts of government, while the displayed head keeps violence visible in the celebration.

Key quotes