hello my name is dr aidan elliott and this is the complete guide to shakespeare welcome to this visual summary of macbeth it's designed to help you memorize and easily recall the key events of the play this will be helpful in exams when you are asked to make links between themes or to discuss how the characters are presented throughout the play i've given each act a name to summarize the most important aspects namely the road to temptation to the crown to insecurity to tyranny and finally the road to death the play begins with three which is telling us that fair is foul and foul is fair which means that what appears to be good will be bad and vice versa now this is a recurring theme throughout the play often referred to as appearance versus reality and the witches say that they plan to meet macbeth after a battle now in the second scene we learn about this battle scotland is under attack from the rebel macdonald from the thane of cordo and from the norwegian army and note that macbeth is a hero at this point he beheads mcdonald and with the help of banquo defeats cordo and the norwegians and when king duncan hears this he says he will reward macbeth by making him the thane of cordell now the three witches meet macbeth and tell him three things one that he's the thane of glams which is his existing title that he's the thing of corridor which we know is now true from the previous scene but he doesn't yet know this and that he will be the king in the future shakespeare here uses dramatic irony where we know more than the characters banquo then asks about his future the wishes tell him that he won't be king but that his descendants will be macbeth overhears this when a messenger then confirms that macbeth is now also thane of corridor it leads him to think about the next prophecy being king and interestingly the thought that comes into his head is that he will need to murder the king as we will see there is a reason for this in the next scene duncan announces that his own son malcolm will become the next king and we now realize why macbeth thought of murder it's the only way that he can become king because this position is handed down from father to son meanwhile lady macbeth has heard of the witch's prophecies in a letter from macbeth when she then learns that king duncan is coming to stay at their home in venice castle she calls on evil spirits to fill her full of cruelty so that she can help murder the king she also says macbeth must deceive everyone by pretending to be friendly she says he should look like a flower nice and harmless but be the serpent under it and the very next thing that we see is duncan arriving at inverness castle saying how pleasant it is and being greeted warmly by lady macbeth little does he know she's planning to murder him another example of dramatic irony but now macbeth hesitates because he realizes that actions have consequences that can't be controlled and he worries that if he murders duncan someone might do the same to him but lady macbeth says that he's a coward and if she had made such a promise she would rather kill her own child than break the promise she finally persuades her husband by saying that she'll get duncan's guards drunk and then they can kill the king and blame it on the guards macbeth is finally convinced as act 2 opens banquo and his son flails meet macbeth this reminds us that banquo's descendants are a threat to macbeth because they might become kings in the future and when banquo and flai-ons leave macbeth sees an imaginary dagger in the air dripping with blood then he hears lady macbeth ring a bell telling him the way is clear and he leaves to commit the murder when macbeth returns he accidentally brings the murder weapons with him he's consumed by guilt and thinks blood will always be on his hands metaphorically lady macbeth takes the daggers returns them to duncan's room and when she returns she says a little water will wash the evidence away and no one will suspect them of course we'll discover later this is not true but now there is a knock at the doors of the castle this is the first appearance of mcduff who discovers that the king is dead and raises the alarm macbeth goes to sea and kills the men who were guarding duncan and blames them for the murder duncan's sons malcolm and donalbain quickly leave scotland fearing for their own lives nature now reflects the disorder in scotland with huge storms reported and we also hear that macbeth has gone to be made king mcduff at this point says he won't attend the coronation and goes home to fife at the beginning of act three macbeth is already worried about the threat from banquo's descendants which is why he orders the murder of banquo and his son flayance and in the next scene he expresses his anxiety about bangko and flyouts to lady macbeth saying oh full of scorpions is my mind dear wife these scorpions metaphorically represent the deadly threat to his security that he's thinking about and in the very next scene although the murderers kill banquo flails escapes so the threat from banquo's descendants remains meanwhile macbeth is holding a feast to celebrate becoming king but when he discovers that flowers has escaped macbeth feels like he's imprisoned then the ghost of banquo appears but only macbeth can see him so he appears to be mentally disturbed the ghost disappears macbeth recovers and drinks a toast to banquo at which point the ghost of banquo reappears but again as only macbeth can see him the guests appear to think that macbeth is talking to himself macbeth is now racked with anxiety about the security of his position and decides that the only way he can put his mind to rest is to speak to the witches again about the future and we immediately meet hecat who's the goddess who rules over the witches and she decides that they will give macbeth new prophecies that will make him think that he is safe but that will lead him on to destruction and by the end of act 3 the various characters are now openly questioning how duncan died and suspecting that magbeth was involved and we also learned that mcduff has gone to england to ask for help in overthrowing macbeth beginning of act 4 macbeth meets the witches for reassurance about his future and they tell him three things they say beware macduff they say none of woman born shall harm macbeth and thirdly that macbeth shall never be beaten until burnham wood moves towards dunsinane castle which is where macbeth has now gone to live as king now when macbeth asks whether banquo's heirs will reign in scotland the witches show him a procession of eight kings all descended from banquo macbeth then learns that mcduff has also fled to england and all of this makes macbeth even more insecure and at the very next thing we see is lady macduff talking about how her husband lacks courage for deserting her macbeth's agents arrive murder her son and then kill her as a punishment for macduff's disloyalty in going to england meanwhile in england mcduff eventually persuades malcolm the son of duncan to return to scotland to join the fight against macbeth and then be crowned king mcduff then discovers that macbeth has killed his children and his wife he refers to these deaths as all my pretty chickens and their damn he vows to avenge their deaths by now the psychological trauma of killing duncan is haunting lady macbeth she's sleepwalking and trying to get the imaginary blood off her hands meanwhile malcolm and mcduffer to meet at burnham wood near dunsinane castle and we also hear that macbeth's power is waning now does he feel his title hang loose about him like a giant robe upon a dwarfish thief macbeth tries to reassure himself that he cannot be beaten but when he says my way of life is fallen into the seer the yellow leaf like yellowing autumn leaves his hope of remaining king is gradually dying malcolm then tells his soldiers to break branches off the trees in burnham wood and to carry them as camouflage whilst they walk towards dunsinane castle at this point macbeth hears that lady macbeth is dead time itself becomes tedious this is the tomorrow and tomorrow speech his life is not glorious as he expected it to be but meaningless then a servant says burnhamwood is moving towards duncannay we know it's the camouflage soldiers but macbeth thinks that one of the prophecies has come true then macduff malcolm and the english soldiers prepare to attack dunsinane and macbeth feels like a bear chained to a post being attacked by dogs but he still thinks he can't be killed by any man of woman born and so finally macbeth comes face to face with macduff who reveals that he was not strictly born of a woman because he was born by caesarean section where the mother's stomach is cut open macbeth now realizes that the witches were equivocating they were playing with words to obscure their real meaning they fight and macbeth is killed mcduff then brings in the head of macbeth mirroring the death of mcdonald who was beheaded by macbeth if you remember at the beginning of the play magduff hails malcolm as king and this restores the natural order now lastly i'd recommend that you go back over this video again at least once before you see your exam because the more you see the map the better you will be recalling it and visualizing the events during your examinations so i hope this brief video has given you a way of memorizing the main moments in macbeth and that it will be useful to you when revising for exams or when reading and watching the play give a thumbs up if you enjoyed this video and subscribe now so that you never miss any of my future posts you