Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s darker plays, definitely not one of his comedies. It takes place in Scotland in the 11th century AD, and is actually based on a real Scottish King, though Shakespeare blurs and sums up the “history” part of it, making it much more historical fiction than history. But Shakespeare himself probably didn’t know very much about Macbeth, since he never got a proper education, and his version is a lot cooler.
The play starts out with Macbeth and his friend Banquo returning from a battle in which they defeated an attempted rebellion against the King of Scotland, Duncan. They come across three witches who hail him (call him) the the Thane of Glamis (thanes were similar to governors), the Thane of Cawdor, which was the region that had just attempted a rebellion, and as the King of Scotland. He basically told them to go be weird somewhere else, so they told Banquo that his descendants would live to reach the throne, then left. They were prepared to dismiss the witches as crazy, but then a messenger from the King arrived and told Macbeth that he was the new Thane of Cawdor, making him treat the witches much more seriously.
Macbeth then goes home to his castle in Glamis and tells his Wife about what happened. They both interpret the prophecy as meaning they should kill the king and take the throne, which I think is odd since the King liked Macbeth well enough for him to have been made heir, but they decide to invite the King to their home, to thank him for the Thane-ship of Cawdor. Macbeth then kills Duncan in his sleep, and frames his (Duncan’s) sons, Malcolm and Macduff. He almost doesn’t go through with it, but his Wife convinced him it was for the best. This is different from the historical Macbeth, who killed Duncan in a battle. Macbeth then had Banquo killed, because he was getting paranoid and didn’t want anyone else to know about the witches, and he tries to kill Banquo’s son, but fails, resulting in the rest of the prophecy, though after the play takes place.
In the play only a year passes before Malcolm and Macduff return from England and Ireland respectively to fight for their inheritance, but in history Macbeth ruled for 17 years, and was a decent king, if not a good one, whereas Shakespeare’s Macbeth was paranoid and tyrannical, seeing the ghosts of Duncan and Banquo when he was overwhelmed by guilt. Malcolm and Macduff however, manage to raise an army to fight him, and after unknowingly fulfilling a different prophecy from the witches, Macduff kills Macbeth and becomes King, which is also historically accurate
Shakespeare definitely placed a lot of importance and stress on Macbeth’s psychology, which is lost in this summary, so I do recommend reading the play.
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