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			{{Short description|Play by William Shakespeare}}
	{{About|Shakespeare's play}}
			{{About|Shakespeare's play|the historical Scottish king|Macbeth, King of Scotland|the title character of the play|Macbeth (character)|other uses}}
			{{Redirect|The Tragedy of Macbeth|the film|The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021 film){{!}}''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' (2021 film)}}
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	] 1884 American production of ''Macbeth'', starring Thomas W. Keene. Depicted, counter clockwise from top-left, are: Macbeth and Banquo meet the ]es; just after the murder of ]; Banquo's ghost; Macbeth duels Macduff; and Macbeth.]]
			| name = The Tragedie of Macbeth
			| image = First-page-first-folio-macbeth.jpg
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			| caption = Title page of the part in the ].
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			| set_in = ] and ] (Act IV, Scene III)
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			| wikisource = Macbeth (Shakespeare)
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			]. Depicted, counter-clockwise from top-left, are: Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches; just after the murder of ]; Banquo's ghost; Macbeth duels Macduff; and Macbeth.]]
			'''''The Tragedy of Macbeth''''', often shortened to '''''Macbeth''''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|k|ˈ|b|ɛ|θ}}), is a ] by ], estimated to have been first performed in ].{{efn|For the first performance in 1607, see {{harvnb|Gurr|2009|p=293}}, {{harvnb|Thomson|1992|p=64}}, and {{harvnb|Wickham|1969|p=231}}. For the date of composition, see {{harvnb|Brooke|2008|p=1}} and {{harvnb|Clark|Mason|2015|p=13}}}} It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. It was first published in the ], possibly from a ], and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=1}} Scholars believe ''Macbeth'', of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the ] of ], contains the most ]s to James, patron of Shakespeare's ].{{sfn|Wickham|1969|p=231}}
	'''''Macbeth''''' is a play written by ]. It is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfil the ambition for power.
			In the play, a brave Scottish general named ] receives a prophecy from a ] that one day he will become ]. Consumed by ambition and spurred to violence by ], Macbeth murders the king and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Then, racked with guilt and ], he commits further violent murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, soon becoming a ]. The bloodbath swiftly leads to insanity and finally death for the powerhungry couple.
	The play is believed to have been written between 1603 and 1607, and is most commonly dated 1606. The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when ] recorded seeing such a play at the ]. It was first published in the ], possibly from a ]. It was most likely written during the reign of ], who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. James was a patron of Shakespeare’s acting company, and of all the plays Shakespeare wrote during James’s reign, ''Macbeth'' most clearly reflects the playwright’s relationship with the sovereign.
			Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of ], ], and ] in '']'' (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy have been associated with the execution of ] for complicity in the ] of 1605.{{sfn|Bloom|2008|p=41}}
	''Macbeth'' is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, and tells the story of a brave Scottish general named ] who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death.
			In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "]". The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.
	Shakespeare's source for the tragedy is the account of ], Macduff, and ] in '']'' (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth.
			==Plot==
	In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed, and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "]". Over the course of many centuries, the play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television, ], novels, comic books, and other media.
			===Act I===
			]
			Amid thunder and lightning, three witches decide that their next meeting will be with Macbeth, the ] (Lord) of ]. In the following scene, soldiers report to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals Banquo and Macbeth have just defeated a rebellion allied with forces from Norway and Ireland and led by the traitorous Thane of ]. Duncan praises his kinsmen for their bravery and fighting prowess, announcing that the title of Thane of Cawdor shall be transferred to Macbeth.
	WHEN Duncan the Meek reigned king of Scotland, there lived a great thane, or lord, called Macbeth. This Macbeth was a near kinsman to the king, and in great esteem at court for his valour and conduct in the wars; an example of which he had lately given, in defeating a rebel army assisted by the troops of Norway in terrible numbers.The two Scottish generals, Macbeth and Banquo, returning victorious from this great battle, their way lay over a blasted heath, where they were stopped by the strange appearance of three figures like women, except that they had beards, and their withered skins and wild attire made them look not like any earthly creatures. Macbeth first addressed them, when they, seemingly offended, laid each one her choppy finger upon her skinny lips, in token of silence; and the first of them saluted Macbeth with the title of thane of Glamis. The general was not a little startled to find himself known by such creatures; but how much more, when the second of them followed up that salute by giving him the title of thane of Cawdor, to which honour he had no pretensions; and again the third bid him "All hail! king that shalt be hereafter!" Such a prophetic greeting might well amaze him, who knew that while the king's sons lived he could not hope to succeed to the throne. Then turning to Banquo, they pronounced him, in a sort of riddling terms, to be lesser than Macbeth and greater! not so happy, but much happier! and prophesied that though he should never reign, yet his sons after him should be kings in Scotland. They then turned into air, and vanished: by which the generals knew them to be the weird sisters, or witches.While they stood pondering on the strangeness of this adventure, there arrived certain messengers from the king, who were empowered by him to confer upon Macbeth the dignity of thane of Cawdor: an event so miraculously corresponding with the prediction of the witches astonished Macbeth, and he stood wrapped in amazement, unable to make reply to the messengers; and in that point of time swelling hopes arose in his mind that the prediction of the third witch might in like manner have its accomplishment, and that he should one day reign king in Scotland.Turning to Banquo, he said: "Do you not hope that your children shall be kings, when what the witches promised to me has so wonderfully come to pass?" "That hope," answered the general, "might enkindle you to aim at the throne; but oftentimes these ministers of darkness tell us truths in little things, to betray us into deeds of greatest consequence."But the wicked suggestions of the witches had sunk too deep into the mind of Macbeth to allow him to attend to the warnings of the good Banquo. From that time he bent all his thoughts how to compass the throne of Scotland.Macbeth had a wife, to whom he communicated the strange prediction of the weird sisters, and its partial accomplishment. She was a bad, ambitious woman, and so as her husband and herself could arrive at greatness, she cared not much by what means. She spurred on the reluctant purpose of Macbeth, who felt compunction at the thoughts of blood, and did not cease to represent the murder of the king as a step absolutely necessary to the fulfilment of the flattering prophecy.It happened at this time that the king, who out of his royal condescension would oftentimes visit his principal nobility upon gracious terms, came to Macbeth's house, attended by his two sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, and a numerous train of thanes and attendants, the more to honour Macbeth for the triumphal success of his wars.The castle of Macbeth was pleasantly situated, and the air about it was sweet and wholesome, which appeared by the nests which the martlet, or swallow, had built under all the jutting friezes and buttresses of the building, wherever it found a place of advantage; for where those birds most breed and haunt, the air is observed to be delicate. The king entered well-pleased with the place, and not less so with the attentions and respect of his honoured hostess, lady Macbeth, who had the art of covering treacherous purposes with smiles; and could look like the innocent flower, while she was indeed the serpent under it.The king being tired with his journey, went early to bed, and in his state-room two grooms of his chamber (as was the custom) slept beside him. He had been unusually pleased with his reception, and had made presents before he retired to his principal officers; and among the rest, had sent a rich diamond to lady Macbeth, greeting her by the name of his most kind hostess.Now was the middle of night, when over half the world nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse men's minds asleep, and none but the wolf and the murderer is abroad. This was the time when lady Macbeth waked to plot the murder of the king. She would not have undertaken a deed so abhorrent to her sex, but that she feared her husband's nature, that it was too full of the milk of human kindness, to do a contrived murder. She knew him to be ambitious, but withal to be scrupulous, and not yet prepared for that height of crime which commonly in the end accompanies inordinate ambition. She had won him to consent to the murder, but she doubted his resolution; and she feared that the natural tenderness of his disposition (more humane than her own) would come between, and defeat the purpose. So with her own hands armed with a dagger, she approached the king's bed; having taken care to ply the grooms of his chamber so with wine, that they slept intoxicated, and careless of their charge. There lay Duncan in a sound sleep after the fatigues of his journey, and as she viewed him earnestly, there was something in his face, as he slept, which resembled her own father; and she had not the courage to proceed.She returned to confer with her husband. His resolution had begun to stagger. He considered that there were strong reasons against the deed. In the first place, he was not only a subject, but a near kinsman to the king; and he had been his host and entertainer that day, whose duty, by the laws of hospitality, it was to shut the door against his murderers, not bear the knife himself. Then he considered how just and merciful a king this Duncan had been, how clear of offence to his subjects, how loving to his nobility, and in particular to him; that such kings are the peculiar care of Heaven, and their subjects doubly bound to revenge their deaths. Besides, by the favours of the king, Macbeth stood high in the opinion of all sorts of men, and how would those honours be stained by the reputation of so foul a murder!In these conflicts of the mind lady Macbeth found her husband inclining to the better part, and resolving to proceed no further. But she being a woman not easily shaken from her evil purpose, began to pour in at his ears words which infused a portion of her own spirit into his mind, assigning reason upon reason why he should not shrink from what he had undertaken, how easy the deed was; how soon it would be over; and how the action of one short night would give to all their nights and days to come sovereign sway and royalty! Then she threw contempt on his change of purpose, and accused him of fickleness and cowardice; and declared that she had given suck, and knew how tender it was to love the babe that milked her; but she would, while it was smiling in her face, have plucked it from her breast, and dashed its brains out, if she had so sworn to do it, as he had sworn to perform that murder. Then she added, how practicable it was to lay the guilt of the deed upon the drunken sleepy grooms. And with the valour of her tongue she so chastised his sluggish resolutions, that he once more summoned up courage to the bloody business.So, taking the dagger in his hand, he softly stole in the dark to the room where Duncan lay; and as he went, he thought he saw another dagger in the air, with the handle towards him, and on the blade and at the point of it drops of blood; but when he tried to grasp at it, it was nothing but air, a mere phantasm proceeding from his own hot and oppressed brain and the business he had in hand.Getting rid of this fear, he entered the king's room, whom he despatched with one stroke of his dagger. Just as he had done the murder, one of the grooms, who slept in the chamber, laughed in his sleep, and the other cried: "Murder," which woke them both, but they said a short prayer; one of them said: "God bless us!" and the other answered "Amen"; and addressed themselves to sleep again. Macbeth, who stood listening to them, tried to say "Amen," when the fellow said "God bless us!" but, though he had most need of a blessing, the word stuck in his throat, and he could not pronounce it.Again he thought he heard a voice which cried: "Sleep no more: Macbeth doth murder sleep, the innocent sleep, that nourishes life." Still it cried: "Sleep no more," to all the house. "Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more."With such horrible imaginations Macbeth returned to his listening wife, who began to think he had failed of his purpose, and that the deed was somehow frustrated. He came in so distracted a state, that she reproached him with his want of firmness, and sent him to wash his hands of the blood which stained them, while she took his dagger, with purpose to stain the cheeks of the grooms with blood, to make it seem their guilt.Morning came, and with it the discovery of the murder, which could not be concealed; and though Macbeth and his lady made great show of grief, and the proofs against the grooms (the dagger being produced against them and their faces smeared with blood) were sufficiently strong, yet the entire suspicion fell upon Macbeth, whose inducements to such a deed were so much more forcible than such poor silly grooms could be supposed to have; and Duncan's two sons fled. Malcolm, the eldest, sought for refuge in the English court; and the youngest, Donalbain, made his escape to Ireland.The king's sons, who should have succeeded him, having thus vacated the throne, Macbeth as next heir was crowned king, and thus the prediction of the weird sisters was literally accomplished.Though placed so high, Macbeth and his queen could not forget the prophecy of the weird sisters, that, though Macbeth should be king, yet not his children, but the children of Banquo, should be kings after him. The thought of this, and that they had defiled their hands with blood, and done so great crimes, only to place the posterity of Banquo upon the throne, so rankled within them, that they determined to put to death both Banquo and his son, to make void the predictions of the weird sisters, which in their own case had been so remarkably brought to pass.For this purpose they made a great supper, to which they invited all the chief thanes; and, among the rest, with marks of particular respect, Banquo and his son Fleance were invited. The way by which Banquo was to pass to the palace at night was beset by murderers appointed by Macbeth, who stabbed Banquo; but in the scuffle Fleance escaped. From that Fleance descended a race of monarchs who afterwards filled the Scottish throne, ending with James the Sixth of Scotland and the First of England, under whom the two crowns of England and Scotland were united.At supper, the queen, whose manners were in the highest degree affable and royal, played the hostess with a gracefulness and attention which conciliated every one present, and Macbeth discoursed freely with his thanes and nobles, saying, that all that was honourable in the country was under his roof, if he had but his good friend Banquo present, whom yet he hoped he should rather have to chide for neglect, than to lament for any mischance. Just at these words the ghost of Banquo, whom he had caused to be murdered, entered the room and placed himself on the chair which Macbeth was about to occupy. Though Macbeth was a bold man, and one that could have faced the devil without trembling, at this horrible sight his cheeks turned white with fear, and he stood quite unmanned with his eyes fixed upon the ghost. His queen and all the nobles, who saw nothing, but perceived him gazing (as they thought) upon an empty chair, took it for a fit of distraction; and she reproached him, whispering that it was but the same fancy which made him see the dagger in the air, when he was about to kill Duncan. But Macbeth continued to see the ghost, and gave no heed to all they could say, while he addressed it with distracted words, yet so significant, that his queen, fearing the dreadful secret would be disclosed, in great haste dismissed the guests, excusing the infirmity of Macbeth as a disorder he was often troubled with.To such dreadful fancies Macbeth was subject. His queen and he had their sleeps afflicted with terrible dreams, and the blood of Banquo troubled them not more than the escape of Fleance, whom now they looked upon as father to a line of kings who should keep their posterity out of the throne. With these miserable thoughts they found no peace, and Macbeth determined once more to seek out the weird sisters, and know from them the worst.He sought them in a cave upon the heath, where they, who knew by foresight of his coming, were engaged in preparing their dreadful charms, by which they conjured up infernal spirits to reveal to them futurity. Their horrid ingredients were toads, bats, and serpents, the eye of a newt, and the tongue of a dog, the leg of a lizard, and the wing of the night-owl, the scale of a dragon, the tooth of a wolf, the maw of the ravenous salt-sea shark, the mummy of a witch, the root of the poisonous hemlock (this to have effect must be digged in the dark), the gall of a goat, and the liver of a Jew, with slips of the yew tree that roots itself in graves, and the finger of a dead child: all these were set on to boil in a great kettle, or cauldron, which, as fast as it grew too hot, was cooled with a baboon's blood: to these they poured in the blood of a sow that had eaten her young, and they threw into the flame the grease that had sweaten from a murderer's gibbet. By these charms they bound the infernal spirits to answer their questions.It was demanded of Macbeth, whether he would have his doubts resolved by them, or by their masters, the spirits. He, nothing daunted by the dreadful ceremonies which he saw, boldly answered: "Where are they? let me see them." And they called the spirits, which were three. And the first arose in the likeness of an armed head, and he called Macbeth by name, and bid him beware of the thane of Fife; for which caution Macbeth thanked him; for Macbeth had entertained a jealousy of Macduff, the thane of Fife.And the second spirit arose in the likeness of a bloody child, and he called Macbeth by name, and bid him have no fear, but laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born should have power to hurt him; and he advised him to be bloody, bold, and resolute. "Then live, Macduff!" cried the king; "what need I fear of thee? but yet I will make assurance doubly sure. Thou shalt not live; that I may tell pale-hearted Fear it lies, and sleep in spite of thunder."That spirit being dismissed, a third arose in the form of a child crowned, with a tree in his hand. He called Macbeth by name, and comforted him against conspiracies, saying, that he should never be vanquished, until the wood of Birnam to Dunsinane Hill should come against him. "Sweet bodements! good!" cried Macbeth; "who can unfix the forest, and move it from its earth-bound roots? I see I shall live the usual period of man's life, and not be cut off by a violent death. But my heart throbs to know one thing. Tell me, if your art can tell so much, if Banquo's issue shall ever reign in this kingdom?" Here the cauldron sank into the ground, and a noise of music was heard, and eight shadows, like kings, passed by Macbeth, and Banquo last, who bore a glass which showed the figures of many more, and Banquo all bloody smiled upon Macbeth, and pointed to them; by which Macbeth knew that these were the posterity of Banquo, who should reign after him in Scotland; and the witches, with a sound of soft music, and with dancing, making a show of duty and welcome to Macbeth, vanished. And from this time the thoughts of Macbeth were all bloody and dreadful.The first thing he heard when he got out of the witches' cave, was that Macduff, thane of Fife, had fled to England, to join the army which was forming against him under Malcolm, the eldest son of the late king, with intent to displace Macbeth, and set Malcolm, the right heir, upon the throne. Macbeth, stung with rage, set upon the castle of Macduff, and put his wife and children, whom the thane had left behind, to the sword, and extended the slaughter to all who claimed the least relationship to Macduff.These and such-like deeds alienated the minds of all his chief nobility from him. Such as could, fled to join with Malcolm and Macduff, who were now approaching with a powerful army, which they had raised in England; and the rest secretly wished success to their arms, though for fear of Macbeth they could take no active part. His recruits went on slowly. Everybody hated the tyrant; nobody loved or honoured him; but all suspected him, and he began to envy the condition of Duncan, whom he had murdered, who slept soundly in his grave, against whom treason had done its worst: steel nor poison, domestic malice nor foreign levies, could hurt him any longer.While these things were acting, the queen, who had been the sole partner in his wickedness, in whose bosom he could sometimes seek a momentary repose from those terrible dreams which afflicted them both nightly, died, it is supposed, by her own hands, unable to bear the remorse of guilt, and public hate; by which event he was left alone, without a soul to love or care for him, or a friend to whom he could confide his wicked purposes.He grew careless of life, and wished for death, but the near approach of Malcolm's army roused in him what remained of his ancient courage, and he determined to die (as he expressed it) "with armour on his back." Besides this, the hollow promises of the witches had filled him with a false confidence, and he remembered the sayings of the spirits, that none of woman born was to hurt him, and that he was never to be vanquished till Birnam wood should come to Dunsinane, which he thought could never be. So he shut himself up in his castle, whose impregnable strength was such as defied a siege: here he sullenly waited the approach of Malcolm. When, upon a day, there came a messenger to him, pale and shaking with fear, almost unable to report that which he had seen; for he averred, that as he stood upon his watch on the hill, he looked towards Birnam, and to his thinking the wood began to move! "Liar and slave!" cried Macbeth: "if thou speakest false, thou shalt hang alive upon the next tree, till famine end thee. If thy tale be true, I care not if thou cost as much by me": for Macbeth now began to faint in resolution, and to doubt the equivocal speeches of the spirits. He was not to fear till Birnam wood should come to Dunsinane; and now a wood did move! "However," said he, "if this which he avouches be true, let us arm and out. There is no flying hence, nor staying here. I begin to be weary of the sun, and wish my life at an end." With these desperate speeches he sallied forth upon the besiegers, who had now come up to the castle.The strange appearance which had given the messenger an idea of a wood moving is easily solved. When the besieging army marched through the wood of Birnam, Malcolm, like a skilful general, instructed his soldiers to hew down every one a bough and bear it before him, by way of concealing the true numbers of his host. This marching of the soldiers with boughs had at a distance the appearance which had frightened the messenger. Thus were the words of the spirit brought to pass, in a sense different from that in which Macbeth had understood them, and one great hold of his confidence was gone.And now a severe skirmishing took place, in which Macbeth, though feebly supported by those who called themselves his friends, but in reality hated the tyrant and inclined to the party of Malcolm and Macduff, yet fought with the extreme of rage and valour, cutting to pieces all who were opposed to him, till he came to where Macduff was fighting. Seeing Macduff, and remembering the caution of the spirit who had counselled him to avoid Macduff, above all men, he would have turned, but Macduff, who had been seeking him through the whole fight, opposed his turning, and a fierce contest ensued; Macduff giving him many foul reproaches for the murder of his wife and children. Macbeth, whose soul was charged enough with blood of that family already, would still have declined the combat: but Macduff still urged him to it, calling him tyrant, murderer, hell-hound, and villain.Then Macbeth remembered the words of the spirit, how none of woman born should hurt him; and smiling confidently he said to Macduff: "Thou losest thy labour, Macduff. As easily thou mayest impress the air with thy sword, as make me vulnerable. I bear a charmed life, which must not yield to one of woman born.""Despair thy charm," said Macduff, "and let that lying spirit whom thou hast served, tell thee, that Macduff was never born of woman, never as the ordinary manner of men is to be born, but was untimely taken from his mother.""Accursed be the tongue which tells me so," said the trembling Macbeth, who felt his last hold of confidence give way; "and let never man in future believe the lying equivocations of witches and juggling spirits, who deceive us in words which have double senses, and while they keep their promise literally, disappoint our hopes with a different meaning. I will not fight with thee.""Then live!" said the scornful Macduff; "we will have a show of thee, as men show monsters, and a painted board, on which shall be written: 'Here men may see the tyrant!'""Never," said Macbeth, whose courage returned with despair; "I will not live to kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, and to be baited with the curses of the rabble. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, and thou opposed to me, who wast never born of woman, yet will I try the last." With these frantic words he threw himself upon Macduff, who, after a severe struggle, in the end overcame him, and cutting off his head, made a present of it to the young and lawful king, Malcolm; who took upon him the government which, by the machinations of the usurper, he had so long been deprived of, and ascended the throne of Duncan the Meek, amid the acclamations of the nobles and the people.
			Wandering on a ], Macbeth and Banquo are puzzled when the three witches appear, ] hailing Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis" and "Thane of Cawdor", next saying he shall "be king hereafter". When Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches respond that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. The witches vanish, and the Thane of Ross arrives, informing Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor. The witches' first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth immediately begins to harbour nervous ambitions of becoming king. King Duncan himself soon welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, declaring they will all spend the night at Macbeth's castle in ]; also, Duncan's son Malcolm is announced as his official heir. Macbeth sends a letter about the witches ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is resolute that she and her husband should murder Duncan in order to obtain the crown. When Macbeth arrives in Inverness, she persuades him to kill the king that very night. They plan to get Duncan's two chamber attendants drunk so that they will black out; thus, the next morning they can frame the attendants for the murder.
	==Characters==
			===Act II===
	{{col-begin}}
			That night, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural ]s, including a hallucination of a blood-smeared dagger,{{Efn|This scene is open to various interpretations from readers and has been interpreted differently in adaptations.}} Macbeth goes offstage and stabs the sleeping Duncan to death. Returning, he is so shaken that Lady Macbeth finds him still holding the bloody daggers, which she scolds him for, reminding him they must be left on Duncan's sleeping servants. She takes the knives and places them back in Duncan's chamber. When the couple hears knocking at the castle gate, they hurry to bed.
	{{col-2}}
	* ] – King of ]
	** ] – Duncan's elder son
	** ] – Duncan's younger son
	* ] – a general in the army of King Duncan; originally ] of ], then Thane of ], and later King of Scotland
	* ] – Macbeth's wife and later Queen of Scotland
	* ] – Macbeth's friend and a general in the army of King Duncan
	** ] – Banquo's son
	* ] – Thane of ]
	** ] – Macduff's wife
	** ]
	{{col-2}}
	* Ross, Lennox, Angus, Menteith, Caithness – Scottish Thanes
	* ] – General of the English forces
	** Young Siward – Siward's son
	* Seyton – Macbeth's servant and attendant
	* ] – Queen of the witches
	* ] – make the prediction of Macbeth becoming a King and Banquo's descendants being kings
	* Three Murderers
	* Porter – gatekeeper at Macbeth's home
	* Doctor – Lady Macbeth's doctor
	* Gentlewoman – Lady Macbeth's caretaker
	{{col-end}}
			A drunken porter opens the gate, admitting a nobleman named Lennox and Macduff, the Thane of Fife. They wish to visit the king; Macbeth, greeting them, leads them to Duncan's chamber into which Macduff exits and reenters, announcing with shock Duncan's murder. Macbeth and Lennox rush into the chamber where, offstage, Macbeth impulsively kills Duncan's servants to prevent them from professing their innocence. He reappears and confesses to the other nobles that he killed the servants, but lies that his intentions were to avenge Duncan's murder. Duncan's two sons flee the country, including Malcolm fleeing to England, fearing that they will be killed next. Macduff explains that their flight makes them the main suspects in the king's death, and Macbeth, as Duncan's next of kin, assumes the throne offstage as the new King of Scotland. Banquo remembers the witches' prophecy about how his own descendants would inherit the throne, and he is suspicious that Macbeth might be Duncan's true killer.
	==Plot==
	]
	The play opens amidst thunder and lightning, and the Three Witches decide that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. In the following scene, a wounded sergeant reports to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals{{mdash}}Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, and Banquo{{mdash}}have just defeated the allied forces of Norway and Ireland, who were led by the traitorous Macdonwald and the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth, the King's kinsman, is praised for his bravery and fighting prowess.
			===Act III===
	In the following scene, Macbeth and Banquo discuss the weather and their victory. As they wander onto a heath, the Three Witches enter and greet them with prophecies. Though Banquo challenges them first, they address Macbeth, hailing him as "Thane of Glamis," "Thane of Cawdor," and that he shall "be King hereafter." Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence. When Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches inform him that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. While the two men wonder at these pronouncements, the witches vanish, and another thane, ], arrives and informs Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor, as the previous Thane of Cawdor shall be put to death for his traitorous activities. The first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth immediately begins to harbour ambitions of becoming king.
			Despite Macbeth's success, he remains uneasy about Banquo's role in the prophecy. Inviting Banquo to a royal ], Macbeth discovers that Banquo and his young son Fleance will be riding out that night. Macbeth rapidly arranges to have Banquo and Fleance killed, hiring two men and later adding a ] to the plan. During the ambush, the murderers succeed in killing Banquo, but Fleance escapes. Macbeth is furious that an heir of Banquo remains alive.
			At the banquet, Macbeth has invited his lords and Lady Macbeth to a night of drinking and merriment, though Macduff has refused to come. Banquo's ] enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, as the ghost is visible only to him. The others panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth lies that her husband is merely afflicted with a harmless lifelong illness. The ghost departs and returns once more, causing the same riotous anger and fear in Macbeth. This time, Lady Macbeth demands that the visitors leave. Elsewhere, ], queen of witchcraft, scolds the three witches for communicating with Macbeth without consulting her. Hecate instructs the witches to next give Macbeth a false sense of safety and overconfidence about his new position.{{Efn|Some scholars believe that the Hecate scene was not part of the original Macbeth script.}} Through ], Lennox reveals to another lord his suspicions that Macbeth is a murdering tyrant and they discuss how Macduff, refusing to attend Macbeth's banquet, has gone to England to find allies who will help take back the Scottish throne.
	King Duncan welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, and declares that he will spend the night at Macbeth's castle at ]; he also names his son ] as his heir. Macbeth sends a message ahead to his wife, ], telling her about the witches' prophecies. Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty, and wishes him to murder Duncan in order to obtain kingship. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husband’s objections by challenging his manhood, and successfully persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan’s two chamberlains drunk so that they will black out; the next morning they will frame the chamberlains for the murder. They will be defenceless, as they will remember nothing.
			===Act IV===
	While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a hallucination of a bloody dagger. He is so shaken that Lady Macbeth has to take charge. In accordance with her plan, she frames Duncan's sleeping servants for the murder by placing bloody daggers on them. Early the next morning, Lennox, a Scottish nobleman, and ], the loyal ], arrive. A porter opens the gate and Macbeth leads them to the king's chamber, where Macduff discovers Duncan's body. Macbeth murders the guards to prevent them from professing their innocence, but claims he did so in a fit of anger over their misdeeds. Duncan’s sons ] and ] flee to England and Ireland, respectively, fearing that whoever killed Duncan desires their demise as well. The rightful heirs' flight makes them suspects and Macbeth assumes the throne as the new ] as a kinsman of the dead king. Banquo reveals this to the audience, and while sceptical of the new King Macbeth, remembers the witches' prophecy about how his own descendants would inherit the throne.
			]]]
			Macbeth visits the three witches and asks them to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. They summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers further supernatural pronouncements. First, they conjure an armoured head, which tells him to beware of Macduff (IV.i.72). Second, a bloody child tells him that no one born of a woman will be able to harm him. Thirdly, a crowned child holding a tree states that Macbeth will be safe until ] comes to ]. Macbeth is relieved because he knows that all his enemies are born of women and a forest cannot possibly travel across the land. However, the witches also conjure a procession of eight crowned kings, the last carrying a mirror that reflects even more kings, and finally the ghost of Banquo pointing to the procession. Macbeth realises nervously that these are all Banquo's descendants who will acquire kingships in numerous countries.
	] (1819–1856), ''Macbeth seeing the Ghost of Banquo,'' 1854]]
	Despite his success, Macbeth, also aware of this part of the prophecy, remains uneasy. Macbeth invites Banquo to a royal ], where he discovers that Banquo and his young son, ], will be riding out that night. Macbeth hires men to kill them. The assassins succeed in killing Banquo, but Fleance escapes. Macbeth becomes furious: he fears that his power remains insecure as long as an heir of Banquo remains alive. At the banquet, Macbeth invites his lords and Lady Macbeth to a night of drinking and merriment. Banquo's ] enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, as the ghost is only visible to himself. The others panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth tells them that her husband is merely afflicted with a familiar and harmless malady. The ghost departs and returns once more, causing the same riotous anger and fear in Macbeth. This time, Lady Macbeth tells the lords to leave, and they do so.
			In light of the latest prophecies, Macbeth orders the disobedient Macduff's castle seized and sends assassins who slaughter all its inhabitants, including ] and ]. Meanwhile, Macduff himself is in England meeting with Prince Malcolm to discuss Macbeth's tyrannical regime. Malcolm, who must be cautious for any traps, confesses that he would be a terrible leader if the crown were handed to him, but this is merely a lie to see how Macduff will react. Macduff shows that he is more loyal to Scotland than any particular leader, impressing Malcolm, who now reveals the lie and says Macduff has won his trust. The Thane of Ross arrives to deliver the horrible news to Macduff that his "castle is surprised, your wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd" (IV.iii.204–205). With this news of his family's murders, Macduff is stricken with grief, but he is quickly provoked to vengeance by Malcolm who explains that he has raised an army with the help of the ]. Together, they can defeat Macbeth and take back the Scottish throne.
	].]]
	Macbeth, disturbed, visits the three witches once more and asks them to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. To answer his questions, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers predictions and further prophecies to allay Macbeth’s fears. First, they conjure an armored head, which tells him to beware of Macduff (4.1.72). Second, a bloody child tells him that no one born of a woman shall be able to harm him. Thirdly, a crowned child holding a tree states that Macbeth will be safe until ] comes to ]. Macbeth is relieved and feels secure, because he knows that all men are born of women and forests cannot move. Macbeth also asks if Banquo's sons will ever reign in Scotland: the witches conjure a procession of eight crowned kings, all similar in appearance to Banquo, and the last carrying a mirror that reflects even more kings. Macbeth realises that these are all Banquo's descendants having acquired kingship in numerous countries. After the witches perform a mad dance and leave, Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth orders Macduff's castle be seized, and, most cruelly, sends murderers to slaughter Macduff’s wife and children. Everyone in Macduff's castle is put to death, including ] and ].
			===Act V===
	]
			]]]
	Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth becomes racked with guilt from the crimes she and her husband have committed. At night, in the king’s palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth’s strange habit of sleepwalking. Suddenly, Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand. Bemoaning the murders of Duncan, Lady Macduff, and Banquo, she tries to wash off imaginary bloodstains from her hands, all the while speaking of the terrible things she knows she pressed her husband to do. She leaves, and the doctor and gentlewoman marvel at her descent into madness. Her belief that nothing can wash away the blood on her hands is an ironic reversal of her earlier claim to Macbeth that “ little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.66).
	In England, Macduff is informed by Ross that his "castle is surprised; wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd" (4.3.204-5). When this news of his family’s execution reaches him, Macduff is stricken with grief and vows revenge. Prince Malcolm, Duncan’s son, has succeeded in raising an army in England, and Macduff joins him as he rides to Scotland to challenge Macbeth’s forces. The invasion has the support of the Scottish nobles, who are appalled and frightened by Macbeth’s tyrannical and murderous behaviour. Malcolm leads an army, along with Macduff and Englishmen ] (the Elder), the ], against Dunsinane Castle. While encamped in Birnam Wood, the soldiers are ordered to cut down and carry tree limbs to camouflage their numbers.		At night, in the royal palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth's sudden frightening habit of sleepwalking. Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand, bemoaning the recent murders and trying to wash off imaginary bloodstains from her hands. Her observers marvel at her guilt-ridden confessions. Meanwhile, Prince Malcolm's allied forces plan to join up at Birnam Wood, additionally supported by Macduff and defecting Scottish thanes alarmed by Macbeth's recent barbarities. While encamped in Birnam Wood, Malcolm orders his soldiers to cut down and carry tree boughs to camouflage their numbers.
	Before Macbeth’s opponents arrive, he receives news that Lady Macbeth has killed herself, causing him to sink into a deep and pessimistic despair and deliver his "]" ] (5.5.17–28). Though he reflects on the brevity and meaninglessness of life, he nevertheless awaits the English and fortifies Dunsinane. He is certain that the witches’ prophecies guarantee his invincibility, but is struck with fear when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood, in apparent fulfillment of one of the prophecies.		As Macbeth readies for the attack, he receives news that his wife has suddenly died, causing him to deliver a despairing "]" ] (V.v.17–28). Still, he is emboldened by the witches' seeming guarantee of his invincibility against any "man of woman born", until a servant reports that Malcolm's army is advancing on Dunsinane in the form of moving trees. As the invaders take his castle, Macbeth is confronted by Macduff, whom he taunts for not being born of a woman. Macduff reveals that he was born by ] and thus did not have a natural childbirth. In the ensuing duel with Macduff, Macbeth is killed offstage. Macduff reenters with Macbeth's severed head, and Malcolm discusses how order has been restored. He implies that Lady Macbeth's death was a suicide, declares his benevolent intentions for the country, promotes his thanes to ]s, and invites all to see him crowned at ].
			==Characters==
	A battle culminates in Macduff's confrontation with Macbeth as the English forces overwhelm his army and castle. Macbeth boasts that he has no reason to fear Macduff, for he cannot be killed by any man born of woman. Macduff declares that he was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (5.8.15–16), (i.e., born by ]) and is not "of woman born" (an example of a ]), fulfilling the second prophecy. Macbeth realises too late that he has misinterpreted the witches' words. Though he realises that he is doomed, he continues to fight. Macduff kills and beheads him, thus fulfilling the remaining prophecy.
			{{div col|colwidth=20em|rules=yes}}
			* ]{{snd}}king of ]
			* ]{{snd}}Duncan's elder son
			* ]{{snd}}Duncan's younger son
			* ]{{snd}}a general in the army of King Duncan; originally ] of ], then Thane of ], and later king of Scotland
			* ]{{snd}}Macbeth's wife, and later queen of Scotland
			* ]{{snd}}Macbeth's friend and a general in the army of King Duncan
			* ]{{snd}}Banquo's son
			* ]{{snd}}Thane of ]
			* ]{{snd}}Macduff's wife
			* ]{{snd}}a young boy
			* Ross, Lennox, Angus, Menteith, Caithness{{snd}}Scottish thanes
			* ]{{snd}}general of the English forces
			* ]{{snd}}Siward's son
			* Seyton{{snd}}Macbeth's armourer and chief servant
			* ]{{snd}}queen of the witches
			* ]{{snd}}three mysterious women who approach Macbeth and prophesy his fate
			* Captain{{snd}}in the Scottish army
			* Murderers{{snd}}employed by Macbeth
			** First and Second Murderers
			** ]{{snd}}sent by Macbeth to assist the first two murderers
			* Porter{{snd}}gatekeeper at Macbeth's home
			* Doctor{{snd}}Lady Macbeth's doctor
			* Doctor{{snd}}at the English court
			* Gentlewoman{{snd}}Lady Macbeth's caretaker
			* Lord{{snd}}opposed to Macbeth
			* First Apparition{{snd}}armed head
			* Second Apparition{{snd}}bloody child
			* Third Apparition{{snd}}crowned child
			* Attendants, Messengers, Servants, Soldiers
			{{div col end}}
			== Sources for the play ==
	Macduff carries Macbeth's head onstage and Malcolm discusses how order has been restored. His last reference to Lady Macbeth, however, reveals "'tis thought, by self and violent hands / Took off her life" (5.9.71–72), but the method of her suicide is undisclosed. Malcolm, now the King of Scotland, declares his benevolent intentions for the country and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.
			]'']]
			]'s ''Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande'', printed in 1577]]
			]'' (1577){{sfn|Orgel|2002|p=33}}]]
			A principal source comes from the '']'' of King James published in 1597 which included a news pamphlet titled '']'' that detailed the famous ] of 1590.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The annotated Daemonologie : a critical edition|last=King of England|first=James I|date=2016|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|others=Warren, Brett. R|isbn=978-1-5329-6891-4|location=|pages=|oclc=1008940058}}</ref> The publication of ''Daemonologie'' came just a few years before the tragedy of ''Macbeth'' with the themes and setting in a direct and comparative contrast with King James' personal obsessions with witchcraft, which developed following his conclusion that the stormy weather that threatened his passage from Denmark to Scotland was a targeted attack. Not only did the subsequent trials take place in Scotland, the women accused were recorded, under torture, of having conducted rituals with the same mannerisms as the three witches. One of the evidenced passages is referenced when the women under trial confessed to attempt the use of witchcraft to raise a tempest and sabotage the boat King James and his queen were on board during their return trip from ]. The three witches discuss the raising of winds at sea in the opening lines of Act 1 Scene 3.{{sfn|Warren|2016|p=107}}
	Although Malcolm, and not Fleance, is placed on the throne, the witches' prophecy concerning Banquo ("Thou shalt get kings") was known to the audience of Shakespeare's time to be true: James VI of Scotland (later also ]) was supposedly a descendant of Banquo.<ref>Muir, Kenneth, ed. (1984) ''Macbeth''. The Arden Shakespeare, Second Series, 11th ed., p. xxxvi.</ref>
			''Macbeth'' has been compared to Shakespeare's ''].'' As characters, both Antony and Macbeth seek a new world, even at the cost of the old one. Both fight for a throne and have a 'nemesis' to face to achieve that throne. For Antony, the nemesis is Octavius; for Macbeth, it is Banquo. At one point Macbeth even compares himself to Antony, saying "under Banquo / My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said / Mark Antony's was by Caesar." Lastly, both plays contain powerful and manipulative female figures: Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.{{sfn|Coursen|1997|pp=11–13}}
	==Sources==
			Shakespeare borrowed the story from several tales in '']'', a popular history of the British Isles well known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In ''Chronicles'', a man named Donwald finds several of his family put to death by his king, ], for dealing with witches. After being pressured by his wife, he and four of his servants kill the king in his own house. In ''Chronicles'', Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to support the kingdom in the face of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo meet the three witches, who make exactly the same prophecies as in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot the murder of Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a long, ten-year reign before eventually being overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. The parallels between the two versions are clear. However, some scholars think that ]'s ''Rerum Scoticarum Historia'' matches Shakespeare's version more closely. Buchanan's work was available in Latin in Shakespeare's day.{{sfn|Coursen|1997|pp=15–21}}
	] (1577).<ref>Orgel (2002, 33)</ref>]]
			No medieval account of the reign of Macbeth mentions the Weird Sisters, Banquo, or Lady Macbeth, and with the exception of the latter none actually existed.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=37}} The characters of Banquo, the Weird Sisters, and Lady Macbeth were first mentioned in 1527 by a Scottish historian ] in his book '']'' (''History of the Scottish People'') who wanted to denigrate Macbeth in order to strengthen the claim of the House of Stewart to the Scottish throne.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=37}} Boece portrayed Banquo as an ancestor of the Stewart kings of Scotland, adding in a "prophecy" that the descendants of Banquo would be the rightful kings of Scotland while the Weird Sisters served to give a picture of King Macbeth as gaining the throne via dark supernatural forces.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=37}} Macbeth did have a wife, but it is not clear if she was as power-hungry and ambitious as Boece portrayed her, which served his purpose of having even Macbeth realise he lacked a proper claim to the throne, and only took it at the urging of his wife.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=37}} Holinshed accepted Boece's version of Macbeth's reign at face value and included it in his ''Chronicles''.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=37}} Shakespeare saw the dramatic possibilities in the story as related by Holinshed, and used it as the basis for the play.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=37}}
	''Macbeth'' has been compared to Shakespeare's ''].'' Both Antony and Macbeth as characters seek a new world, even at the cost of the old one. Both are fighting for a throne and have a 'nemesis' to face to achieve that throne. For Antony the nemesis is Octavius, for Macbeth it is Banquo. At one point Macbeth even compares himself to Antony, saying "under Banquo / My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said / Mark Antony's was by Caesar." Lastly, both plays contain powerful and manipulative female figures: Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.<ref>Coursen (1997, 11–13)</ref>
			No other version of the story has Macbeth kill the king in Macbeth's own castle. Scholars have seen this change of Shakespeare's as adding to the darkness of Macbeth's crime as the worst violation of hospitality. Versions of the story that were common at the time had Duncan being killed in an ambush at ], not in a castle. Shakespeare conflated the story of Donwald and King Duff in what was a significant change to the story.{{sfn|Coursen|1997|p=17}}
	Shakespeare borrowed the story from several tales in '']'', a popular history of the British Isles known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In ''Chronicles'', a man named Donwald finds several of his family put to death by his king, King Duff, for dealing with witches. After being pressured by his wife, he and four of his servants kill the King in his own house. In ''Chronicles'', Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to support the kingdom in the face of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo meet the three witches, who make exactly the same prophecies as in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot the murder of Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a long, ten-year reign before eventually being overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. The parallels between the two versions are clear. However, some scholars think that ]'s ''Rerum Scoticarum Historia'' matches Shakespeare's version more closely. Buchanan's work was available in Latin in Shakespeare's day.<ref>Coursen (1997, 15–21)</ref>
			Shakespeare made another important change. In ''Chronicles'', Banquo is an accomplice in Macbeth's murder of King Duncan, and plays an important part in ensuring that Macbeth, not Malcolm, takes the throne in the coup that follows.{{sfn|Nagarajan|1956}} In Shakespeare's day, Banquo was thought to be an ancestor of the ] King James I.{{sfn|Palmer|1886}} (In the 19th century it was established that Banquo is an unhistorical character; the Stuarts are actually descended from a Breton family which migrated to Scotland slightly later than Macbeth's time.) The Banquo portrayed in earlier sources is significantly different from the Banquo created by Shakespeare. Critics have proposed several reasons for this change. First, to portray the king's ancestor as a murderer would have been risky. Other authors of the time who wrote about Banquo, such as ] in his ''Stuartide'', also changed history by portraying Banquo as a noble man, not a murderer, probably for the same reasons.{{sfn|Maskell|1971}} Second, Shakespeare may have altered Banquo's character simply because there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to the murder; there was, however, a need to give a dramatic contrast to Macbeth—a role which many scholars argue is filled by Banquo.{{sfn|Nagarajan|1956}}
	No other version of the story has Macbeth kill the king in Macbeth's own castle. Scholars have seen this change of Shakespeare's as adding to the darkness of Macbeth's crime as the worst violation of hospitality. Versions of the story that were common at the time had Duncan being killed in an ambush at ], not in a castle. Shakespeare conflated the story of Donwald and King Duff in what was a significant change to the story.<ref>Coursen (1997, 17)</ref>
			Other scholars maintain that a strong argument can be made for associating the tragedy with the ] of 1605.{{sfn|Doran|2024|p=375}} As presented by Harold Bloom in 2008: "cholars cite the existence of several topical references in ''Macbeth'' to the events of that year, namely the execution of the Father Henry Garnet for his alleged complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, as referenced in the porter's scene."{{sfn|Bloom|2008|p=41}} Those arrested for their role in the Gunpowder Plot refused to give direct answers to the questions posed to them by their interrogators, which reflected the influence of the Jesuit practice of ].{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=42}} Shakespeare, by having Macbeth say that demons "palter...in a double sense" and "keep the promise to our ear/And break it to our hope", confirmed James's belief that equivocation was a "wicked" practice, which reflected in turn the "wickedness" of the Catholic Church.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=42}} Garnet had in his possession ''A Treatise on Equivocation'', and in the play the Weird Sisters often engage in equivocation, for instance telling Macbeth that he could never be overthrown until "Great Birnan wood to high Dunsinane hill/Shall Come".{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|pp=38–39}} Macbeth interprets the prophecy as meaning never, but in fact, the Three Sisters refer only to branches of the trees of Great Birnam coming to Dunsinane hill.{{sfn|Thrasher|2002|p=38}} The inspiration for this prophecy may have originated with the ]; both that battle and ''Macbeth'' may have, in turn, inspired ]'s tree herders, the ]s in his novels '']''.
	Shakespeare made another revealing change. In ''Chronicles'', Banquo is an accomplice in Macbeth's murder of King Duncan. He also plays an important part in ensuring that Macbeth, not Malcolm, takes the throne in the coup that follows.<ref name = note/> In Shakespeare's day, Banquo was thought to be a direct ancestor of the ] ]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Palmer |first=J. Foster |title=The Celt in Power: Tudor and Cromwell |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |year=1886 |volume=3 |pages=343–370 |doi=10.2307/3677851}}</ref> (Banquo's Stuart descent was disproven in the 19th century, when it was discovered that the Fitzalans actually descended from a Breton family). The Banquo portrayed in historical sources is significantly different from the Banquo created by Shakespeare. Critics have proposed several reasons for this change. First, to portray the king's ancestor as a murderer would have been risky. Other authors of the time who wrote about Banquo, such as ] in his '']'', also changed history by portraying Banquo as a noble man, not a murderer, probably for the same reasons.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Maskell |first=D. W. |title=The Transformation of History into Epic: The 'Stuartide' (1611) of Jean de Schelandre |journal=The Modern Language Review |year=1971 |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=53–65 |jstor=3722467 }}</ref> Second, Shakespeare may have altered Banquo's character simply because there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to the murder; there was, however, a need to give a dramatic contrast to Macbeth—a role which many scholars argue is filled by Banquo.<ref name = note>{{cite journal |last=Nagarajan |first=S. |title=A Note on Banquo |journal=Shakespeare Quarterly |year=1956 |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=371–376 |jstor=2866356 }}</ref>
	==Date and text==		==Date and text==
			]
	''Macbeth'' cannot be dated precisely, owing to significant evidence of later revisions. As the play appears to celebrate ]' ancestors and the ] accession to the throne in 1603 (James believed himself to be descended from ]),<ref>{{cite book |last=Braunmuller |title=Macbeth |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |pages=2–3 |url=http://www.cambridge.org/servlet/file/store6/item2395545/version1/item_9780521294553_excerpt.pdf |isbn=0-521-29455-X }}</ref> scholars say that the play is unlikely to have been composed earlier than 1603 and suggest that the parade of eight kings—which the witches show Macbeth in a vision in Act IV—is a compliment to ]. The vast majority of critics think the play was written in 1606 in the aftermath of the ] because of possible internal allusions to the 1605 plot and its ensuing trials.<ref>Brooke (2008, 59–64)</ref> In 1605, to commemorate King James’ escape, a medal was struck picturing a serpent hiding among lilies and roses. Shakespeare may allude to the image when Lady Macbeth says to her husband, "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" (1.5.74-5).<ref>{{cite book |first=Henry Neill |last=Paul |title= The Royal Play of Macbeth: When, Why, and How It Was Written by Shakespeare |year=1950 |location=New York |publisher= Macmillan |page=227}}</ref>
			''Macbeth'' cannot be dated precisely, but it is usually taken to be contemporaneous to the other canonical tragedies: '']'', '']'', and '']''.{{sfn|Wells|Taylor|2005|pp=909, 1153}} While some scholars have placed the original writing of the play as early as 1599,{{sfn|Bloom|2008|p=41}} most believe that the play is unlikely to have been composed earlier than 1603 as the play is widely seen to celebrate King James' ancestors and the Stuart accession to the throne in 1603 (James believed himself to be descended from ]),{{sfn|Braunmuller|1997|pp=2–3}} suggesting that the parade of eight kings—which the witches show Macbeth in a vision in Act IV—is a compliment to King James. Many scholars think the play was written in 1606 in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, citing possible internal allusions to the 1605 plot and its ensuing trials.{{sfn|Brooke|2008|pp=59–64}} In fact, there are a great number of allusions and possible pieces of evidence alluding to the Plot, and, for this reason, a great many critics agree that ''Macbeth'' was written in the year 1606.{{sfn|Wills|1996|p=7}}{{sfn|Muir|1985|p=48}}{{sfn|Taylor|Jowett|1993|p=85}} Lady Macbeth's instructions to her husband, "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" (1.5.74–75), may be an allusion to a medal that was struck in 1605 to commemorate King James' escape that depicted a serpent hiding among lilies and roses.{{sfn|Paul|1950|p=227}}
	Particularly, the Porter's speech (2.3.1–21) in which he welcomes an "equivicator", a farmer, and a tailor to hell (2.3.8-13), has been argued to be an allusion to the trial of the Jesuit ] on 28 March 1606 and his execution on 3 May 1606, with "equivocator" referring to Garnet's defence of ].<ref>{{cite book |first=Frank |last=Kermode |chapter=Macbeth |title=The Riverside Shakespeare |location=Boston |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1974 |page=1308 |isbn=0-395-04402-2 }} For details on Garnet, see {{cite journal |first=Perez |last=Zagorin |title=The Historical Significance of Lying and Dissimulation—Truth-Telling, Lying, and Self-Deception |journal=] |year=1996 |volume=63 |issue=3 |pages=863–912 }}</ref> However, equivocation was also the subject of a 1583 tract by ]'s chief councillor ], and of the 1584 Doctrine of Equivocation by the Spanish prelate ], which was disseminated across Europe and into England in the 1590s.<ref>Braunmuller (1997) pp. 5–8.</ref> But the porter says that the equivocator "committed treason enough for God's sake" (2.3.9-10), which specifically connects equivocation and treason and ties it to the Jesuit belief that equivocation was only lawful when used "for God's sake", strengthening the allusion to Garnet. The porter goes on to say that the equivocator "yet could/not equivocate to heaven" (2.3.10-11), echoing grim jokes that were current on the eve of Garnet's execution: i.e. that Garnet would be "hanged without equivocation" and at his execution he was asked "not to equivocate with his last breath."<ref>Rogers, H. L. "An English Tailor and Father Garnet's Straw". ''Review of English Studies'' '''16''': 61 (February 1965), 44-9; pp. 44-5.</ref> The porter's mention of a farmer could be another allusion to Garnet, who used "Farmer" as an alias. The "English tailor" the porter admits to hell (2.3.13), has been seen as an allusion to Hugh Griffin, a tailor who was questioned by the ] on 27 November and 3 December 1607 for the part he played in Garnet's "miraculous straw", an infamous head of straw that was stained with Garnet's blood that had congealed into a form resembling Garnet's portrait, which was hailed by Catholics as a miracle. The tailor Griffin became notorious and the subject of verses published with his portrait on the title page.<ref>Rogers (1965) pp. 45-7.</ref>
	]'', published in 1623]]Scholars also cite an entertainment seen by King James at ] in the summer of 1605 that featured three "]s" like the weird sisters; Kermode surmises that Shakespeare could have heard about this and alluded to it with the weird sisters.<ref name="Kermode, 1308">Kermode, ''Riverside Shakespeare,'' p. 1308.</ref> However, A. R. Braunmuller in the New Cambridge edition finds the 1605–6 arguments inconclusive, and argues only for an earliest date of 1603.<ref>Braunmuller (1997), pp. 5–8</ref> The play is not considered to have been written any later than 1607, since, as Kermode notes, there are "fairly clear allusions to the play in 1607."<ref name="Kermode, 1308"/>
			Particularly, the Porter's speech (2.3.1–21) in which he welcomes an "equivocator", a farmer, and a tailor to hell (2.3.8–13), has been argued to be an allusion to the 28 March 1606 trial and execution on 3 May 1606 of the Jesuit ], who used the alias "Farmer", with "equivocator" referring to Garnet's defence of ].{{sfn|Kermode|1974|p=1308}}{{sfn|Braunmuller|1997|pp=5–8}}{{efn|For details on Garnet, see Perez Zagorin's article, "The Historical Significance of Lying and Dissimulation" (1996), in '']''.{{sfn|Zagorin|1996}}}} The porter says that the equivocator "committed treason enough for God's sake" (2.3.9–10), which specifically connects equivocation and treason and ties it to the Jesuit belief that equivocation was only lawful when used "for God's sake", strengthening the allusion to Garnet. The porter goes on to say that the equivocator "yet could not equivocate to heaven" (2.3.10–11), echoing grim jokes that were current on the eve of Garnet's execution: i.e. that Garnet would be "hanged without equivocation" and at his execution he was asked "not to equivocate with his last breath".{{sfn|Rogers|1965|pp=44–45}} The "English tailor" the porter admits to hell (2.3.13), has been seen as an allusion to Hugh Griffin, a tailor who was questioned by the ] on 27 November and 3 December 1607 for the part he played in Garnet's "miraculous straw", an infamous head of straw that was stained with Garnet's blood that had congealed into a form resembling Garnet's portrait, which was hailed by Catholics as a miracle. The tailor Griffin became notorious and the subject of verses published with his portrait on the title page.{{sfn|Rogers|1965|pp=45–47}}
	In addition, one suggested allusion supporting a date in late 1606 is the first witch's dialogue about a sailor's wife: "'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries./Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the ''Tiger''" (1.6-7). This has been thought to allude to the ''Tiger'', a ship that returned to England 27 June 1606 after a disastrous voyage in which many of the crew were killed by pirates. A few lines later the witch speaks of the sailor, "He shall live a man forbid:/Weary se'nnights nine times nine" (1.21-2). The real ship was at sea 567 days, the product of 7x9x9, which has been taken as a confirmation of the allusion, which if correct, confirms that the play could not have been written any earlier than July 1606.<ref>Loomis, E.A. "The Master of the Tiger", ''Shakespeare Quarterly'', 7:4 (Winter, 1956); Brooke, Nicholas (ed.) ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 59–64</ref>
			When James ], a feeling of uncertainty settled over the nation. James was a Scottish king and the son of ], a staunch Catholic and English traitor. In the words of critic ], "''Macbeth'' was a play for a post-Elizabethan England facing up to what it might mean to have a Scottish king. England seems comparatively benign, while its northern neighbour is mired in a bloody, monarch-killing past. ... ''Macbeth'' may have been set in medieval Scotland, but it was filled with material of interest to England and England's ruler."{{sfn|Crawford|2010}} Critics argue that the content of the play is clearly a message to James, the new Scottish King of England. Likewise, the critic Andrew Hadfield noted the contrast the play draws between the saintly King Edward the Confessor of England who has the power of the royal touch to cure scrofula and whose realm is portrayed as peaceful and prosperous versus the bloody chaos of Scotland.{{sfn|Hadfield|2004|pp=84–85}} James in his 1598 book ''The Trew Law of Free Monarchies'' had asserted that kings are always right, if not just, and his subjects owe him total loyalty at all times, writing that even if a king is a tyrant, his subjects must never rebel and just endure his tyranny for their own good.{{sfn|Hadfield|2004|p=84}} James had argued that the tyranny was preferable to the problems caused by rebellion which were even worse; Shakespeare by contrast in ''Macbeth'' argued for the right of the subjects to overthrow a tyrant king, in what appeared to be an implied criticism of James's theories if applied to England.{{sfn|Hadfield|2004|p=84}} Hadfield also noted a curious aspect of the play in that it implies that primogeniture is the norm in Scotland, but Duncan has to nominate his son Malcolm to be his successor while Macbeth is accepted without protest by the Scottish lords (thanes) as their king despite being an usurper.{{sfn|Hadfield|2004|p=85}} Hadfield argued this aspect of the play with the thanes apparently choosing their king was a reference to the Stuart claim to the English throne, and the attempts of the English Parliament to block the succession of James's Catholic mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, from succeeding to the English throne.{{sfn|Hadfield|2004|p=86}} Hadfield argued that Shakespeare implied that James was indeed the rightful king of England, but owed his throne not to divine favour as James would have it, but rather due to the willingness of the English Parliament to accept the Protestant son of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, as their king.{{sfn|Hadfield|2004|p=86}}
	''Macbeth'' was first printed in the ] of 1623 and the Folio is the only source for the text. The text that survives had been plainly altered by later hands. Most notable is the inclusion of two songs from ]'s play '']'' (1615); Middleton is conjectured to have inserted an extra scene involving ] and ], for these scenes had proven highly popular with audiences. These revisions, which since the Clarendon edition of 1869 have been assumed to include all of Act III, scene v, and a portion of Act IV, scene I, are often indicated in modern texts.<ref>Brooke (2008, 57)</ref> On this basis, many scholars reject all three of the interludes with the goddess ] as inauthentic. Even with the Hecate material, the play is conspicuously short, and so the Folio text may derive from a prompt book that had been substantially cut for performance, or an adapter cut the text himself.
			Garry Wills provides further evidence that ''Macbeth'' is a Gunpowder Play (a type of play that emerged immediately following the events of the Gunpowder Plot). He points out that every Gunpowder Play contains "a necromancy scene, regicide attempted or completed, references to equivocation, scenes that test loyalty by use of deceptive language, and a character who sees through plots—along with a vocabulary similar to the Plot in its immediate aftermath (words like ''train, blow, vault'') and an ironic recoil of the Plot upon the Plotters (who fall into the pit they dug)."{{sfn|Wills|1996|p=7}}
	==Themes and motifs==
	{{pquote|'''Macbeth'''<br>The ]! That is a step<br>On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,<br>For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;<br>Let not light see my black and deep desires.<br>The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be<br>Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.|''Macbeth'', Act I, Scene IV}}
			The play utilizes a few key words that the audience at the time would recognize as allusions to the Plot. In one sermon in 1605, ] stated, regarding the failure of the Plotters on God's day, "Be they fair or foul, glad or sad (as the poet calleth Him) the great Diespiter, 'the Father of days' hath made them both."{{sfn|Harris|2007|pp=473–474}} Shakespeare begins the play by using the words "fair" and "foul" in the first speeches of the witches and Macbeth. In the words of Jonathan Gil Harris, the play expresses the "horror unleashed by a supposedly loyal subject who seeks to kill a king and the treasonous role of equivocation. The play even echoes certain keywords from the scandal—the 'vault' beneath the House of Parliament in which Guy Fawkes stored thirty kegs of gunpowder and the 'blow' about which one of the conspirators had secretly warned a relative who planned to attend the House of Parliament on 5 November...Even though the Plot is never alluded to directly, its presence is everywhere in the play, like a pervasive odor."{{sfn|Harris|2007|pp=473–474}}
	===Ambition===
	A main theme within ''Macbeth'' is the destruction that follows when ambition goes beyond moral constraints. Macbeth is a brave general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil, yet he is deeply ambitious and desires power. He murders King Duncan against his better judgement and then wallows in guilt and paranoia. Toward the play's end, he is in a kind of boastful madness. Lady Macbeth pursues her goals with greater determination, yet is less capable of dealing with the guilt from her immorality. One of Shakespeare's most forceful female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong afterward, yet is herself eventually driven to death by the effect of Macbeth's murders on her conscience. In each case, ambition, spurred by the prophecies of the witches, is what drives the couple to commit their atrocities. An issue that the play raises is that once one decides to use violence to further one's quest for power, it is difficult to stop. Macbeth finds that there are always potential threats to the throne – such as Banquo, Fleance, and Macduff – and he is tempted to use violent means to dispose of them.
			]
	===Masculinity===
	{{pquote|'''Lady Macbeth'''<br />Come, you spirits<br />That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,<br />And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full<br />Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;<br />Stop up the access and passage to remorse,<br />That no compunctious visitings of nature<br />Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between<br />The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,<br />And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,<br />Wherever in your sightless substances<br />You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,<br />And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,<br />That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,<br />Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,<br />To cry 'Hold, hold!'|''Macbeth'', Act I, Scene V}}
	Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his ], wishing herself to be “unsexed,” and does not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband on to murder, Macbeth provokes the assassins he hires to murder Banquo by questioning their manhood. Such acts show that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity with naked aggression; whenever they discuss manhood, violence follows. Their understanding of manhood allows the political order depicted in the play to descend into chaos.
			Scholars also cite an entertainment seen by King James at ] in the summer of 1605 that featured three "]s" like the weird sisters; Kermode surmises that Shakespeare could have heard about this and alluded to it with the weird sisters.{{sfn|Kermode|1974|p=1308}} However, A. R. Braunmuller in the New Cambridge edition finds the 1605–06 arguments inconclusive, and argues only for an earliest date of 1603.{{sfn|Braunmuller|1997|pp=5–8}}
	However, in "Macbeth", women are prone to contain violence and evil intentions. The witches’ prophecies spark Macbeth’s ambitions and then encourage his violent behaviour, while Lady Macbeth provides the drive and the will behind her husband’s plotting. After reading the letter her husband has sent telling of the witches' prophecies about him, Lady Macbeth believes:
			One suggested allusion supporting a date in late 1606 is the first witch's dialogue about a sailor's wife: "'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries./Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the ''Tiger''" (1.3.6–7). This has been thought to allude to the ''Tiger'', a ship that returned to England 27 June 1606 after a disastrous voyage in which many of the crew were killed by pirates. A few lines later the witch speaks of the sailor, "He shall live a man forbid:/Weary se'nnights nine times nine" (1.3.21–22). The real ship was at sea 567 days, the product of 7x9x9, which has been taken as a confirmation of the allusion, which if correct, confirms that the witch scenes were either written or amended later than July 1606.{{sfn|Loomis|1956}}{{sfn|Brooke|2008|pp=59–64}}
	{{Quote|] thou art, and ]; and shalt be<br>What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;<br><br>It is too full o' the milk of human kindness<br>To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;<br>Art not without ambition, but without<br>The illness should attend it|Lady Macbeth, ''Macbeth'', Act I, Scene V}}
			The play is not considered to have been written any later than 1607, since, as Kermode notes, there are "fairly clear allusions to the play in 1607".{{sfn|Kermode|1974|p=1308}} One notable reference is in ]'s '']'', first performed in 1607.{{sfn|Whitted|2012}}{{sfn|Smith|2012}} The following lines (Act V, Scene 1, 24–30) are, according to scholars,{{sfn|Dyce|1843|p=216}}{{sfn|Sprague|1889|p=12}} a clear allusion to the scene in which Banquo's ghost haunts Macbeth at the dinner table:
	Furthermore, the only divine being to appear is ], the goddess of witchcraft. Because "Macbeth" traces the root of chaos and evil to women, some critics argue that it is Shakespeare’s most ] play. The male characters are similarly brutal and prone to evil as the women, but the aggression of the female characters is more striking because it contradicts expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady Macbeth’s behaviour certainly shows that women can be just as ambitious and ruthless as men. Whether it is the gender constraints of her society or because she is not fearless enough to kill, Lady Macbeth relies on manipulation of her husband rather than violence to achieve her ends.
			{{blockquote|<poem>
	The play does put forth less destructive definition of manhood towards the end. When Macduff learns of the murders of his wife and child, Malcolm consoles him unsympathetically with encouragement to take the news in “manly” fashion and use it to fuel his hatred of Macbeth. Macduff tells the young heir apparent that he has a mistaken understanding of masculinity. To Malcolm’s suggestion, “Dispute it like a man,” Macduff replies, “I shall do so. But I must also feel it as a man” (4.3.221–223). After hearing the news of his son's death at the hands of Macbeth, Siward receives this fact somewhat complacently. Malcolm responds: “He’s worth more sorrow / And that I’ll spend for him” (5.11.16–17). Malcolm’s comment shows that he has learned the lesson Macduff gave him on the feeling nature of true masculinity. It also suggests that, with Malcolm’s ], order will be restored to the Kingdom of Scotland.
			When thou art at thy table with thy friends,
			Merry in heart, and filled with swelling wine,
			I'll come in midst of all thy pride and mirth,
			Invisible to all men but thyself,
			And whisper such a sad tale in thine ear
			Shall make thee let the cup fall from thy hand,
			And stand as mute and pale as death itself.{{sfn|Hattaway|1969|p=100}}</poem>}}
			''Macbeth'' was first printed in the ] of 1623 and the Folio is the only source for the text. Some scholars contend that the Folio text was abridged and rearranged from an earlier manuscript or ].{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=321}} Often cited as interpolation are stage cues for two songs, whose lyrics are not included in the Folio but are included in ]'s play '']'', which was written between the accepted date for ''Macbeth'' (1606) and the printing of the Folio.{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=325}} Many scholars believe these songs were editorially inserted into the Folio, though whether they were Middleton's songs or preexisting songs is not certain.{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|pp=326–329}} It is also widely believed that the character of ], as well as some lines of the First Witch (4.1 124–131), were not part of Shakespeare's original play but were added by the Folio editors and possibly written by Middleton,{{sfn|Brooke|2008|p=57}} though "there is no completely objective proof" of such interpolation.{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|pp=329–335}}
	==Analysis==
	{{Original research|section|date=September 2007}}
			==Themes and motifs==
	''Macbeth'' is an anomaly among Shakespeare's tragedies in certain critical ways. It is short: more than a thousand lines shorter than '']'' and '']'', and only slightly more than half as long as '']''. This brevity has suggested to many critics that the received version is based on a heavily cut source, perhaps a prompt-book for a particular performance. That brevity has also been connected to other unusual features: the fast pace of the first act, which has seemed to be "stripped for action"; the comparative flatness of the characters other than Macbeth; the oddness of Macbeth himself compared with other Shakespearean tragic heroes.
			{{quote box|width=23em|"'''Macbeth'''<br>The ]! That is a step<br>On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,<br>For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;<br>Let not light see my black and deep desires.<br>The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be<br>Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."|—''Macbeth'', Act I, Scene IV}}
			''Macbeth'' is an anomaly among Shakespeare's tragedies in certain critical ways. It is short: more than a thousand lines shorter than ''Othello'' and ''King Lear'', and only slightly more than half as long as ''Hamlet''. This brevity has suggested to many critics that the received version is based on a heavily cut source, perhaps a prompt-book for a particular performance. This would reflect other Shakespeare plays existing in both Quarto and the Folio, where the Quarto versions are usually longer than the Folio versions. ''Macbeth'' was first printed in the First Folio, but has no Quarto version&nbsp;– if there were a Quarto, it would probably be longer than the Folio version.<ref>Bradley, AC, ''Shakespearean Tragedy''</ref> That brevity has also been connected to other unusual features: the fast pace of the first act, which has seemed to be "stripped for action"; and the comparative flatness of the characters other than Macbeth.{{sfn|Stoll|1943|p=26}}<!-- Arthur Quiller-Couch, cited in Stoll, discusses this at more length. --> ], in considering this question, concluded the play "always was an extremely short one", noting the witch scenes and battle scenes would have taken up some time in performance, remarking, "I do not think that, in reading, we ''feel'' ''Macbeth'' to be short: certainly we are astonished when we hear it is about half as long as ''Hamlet''. Perhaps in the Shakespearean theatre too it seemed to occupy a longer time than the clock recorded."<ref>Bradley, AC, ''Shakespearean Tragedy''</ref>
	===As a tragedy of character===		===As a tragedy of character===
			At least since the days of ], analysis of the play has centred on the question of Macbeth's ambition, commonly seen as so dominant a trait that it defines the character.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Whalen |first=Richard F. |date=2014 |title=What Happens in Macbeth: An Originalist Reading of the Play |url=https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/Whalen.Originalist.Macbeth.pdf |journal=Brief Chronicles V |pages=61–68}}</ref> Johnson asserted that Macbeth, though esteemed for his military bravery, is wholly reviled.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sherbo |first=Arthur |date=1951 |title=Dr. Johnson on Macbeth: 1745 and 1765 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/511908 |journal=The Review of English Studies |volume=2 |issue=5 |pages=40–47 |doi=10.1093/res/II.5.40 |jstor=511908 |issn=0034-6551}}</ref>
	At least since the days of ] and ], analysis of the play has centred on the question of Macbeth's ambition, commonly seen as so dominant a trait that it defines the character. Johnson asserted that Macbeth, though esteemed for his military bravery, is wholly reviled. This opinion recurs in critical literature, and, according to Caroline Spurgeon, is supported by Shakespeare himself, who apparently intended to degrade his hero by vesting him with clothes unsuited to him and to make Macbeth look ridiculous by several ]s he applies: His garments seem either too big or too small for him&nbsp;– as his ambition is too big and his character too small for his new and unrightful role as king. When he feels as if "dressed in borrowed clothes", after his new title as Thane of Cawdor, prophesied by the witches, has been confirmed by Ross (I, 3, ll. 108–109), Banquo comments: "New honours come upon him, / Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould, / But with the aid of use" (I, 3, ll. 145–146). And, at the end, when the tyrant is at bay at Dunsinane, Caithness sees him as a man trying in vain to fasten a large garment on him with too small a belt: "He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause / Within the belt of rule" (V, 2, ll. 14–15), while Angus, in a similar nimism, sums up what everybody thinks ever since Macbeth's accession to power: "now does he feel his title / Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe / upon a dwarfish thief" (V, 2, ll. 18–20).<ref>Caroline Spurgeon, ''Shakespeare's Imagery and What It Tells Us''. In: John Wain (ed.): ''Shakespeare. Macbeth. A Casebook''. Bristol: Western Printing Services (1968), pp. 168–177</ref>
			This opinion recurs in critical literature, and, according to ], is supported by Shakespeare himself, who apparently intended to degrade his hero by vesting him with clothes unsuited to him and to make Macbeth look ridiculous by several exaggerations he applies: his garments seem either too big or too small for him&nbsp;– as his ambition is too big and his character too small for his new and unrightful role as king. After Macbeth is unexpectedly greeted with his new title as Thane of Cawdor as prophesied by the witches, Banquo comments:
	Like ], but without that character's perversely appealing exuberance, Macbeth wades through blood until his inevitable fall. As Kenneth Muir writes, "Macbeth has not a predisposition to murder; he has merely an inordinate ambition that makes murder itself seem to be a lesser evil than failure to achieve the crown." Some critics, such as E. E. Stoll, explain this characterisation as a holdover from Senecan or medieval tradition. Shakespeare's audience, in this view, expected villains to be wholly bad, and Senecan style, far from prohibiting a villainous protagonist, all but demanded it.
			{{Poem quote|New honours come upon him,
	Yet for other critics, it has not been so easy to resolve the question of Macbeth's motivation. ], for instance, perceived a paradox: a character able to express such convincing horror before Duncan's murder would likely be incapable of committing the crime. For many critics, Macbeth's motivations in the first act appear vague and insufficient. ] hypothesised that Shakespeare's original text had an extra scene or scenes where husband and wife discussed their plans. This interpretation is not fully provable; however, the motivating role of ambition for Macbeth is universally recognised. The evil actions motivated by his ambition seem to trap him in a cycle of increasing evil, as Macbeth himself recognises: "I am in blood/Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,/Returning were as tedious as go o'er."
			Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould,
			But with the aid of use|I, 3, ll. 145–146}}
			And, at the end, when the tyrant is at bay at Dunsinane, Caithness sees him as a man trying in vain to fasten a large garment on him with too small a belt:
	===As a tragedy of moral order===
	The disastrous consequences of Macbeth's ambition are not limited to him. Almost from the moment of the murder, the play depicts Scotland as a land shaken by inversions of the natural order. Shakespeare may have intended a reference to the ], although the play's images of disorder are mostly not specific enough to support detailed intellectual readings. He may also have intended an elaborate compliment to James's belief in the ], although this hypothesis, outlined at greatest length by Henry N. Paul, is not universally accepted. As in '']'', though, perturbations in the political sphere are echoed and even amplified by events in the material world. Among the most often depicted of the inversions of the natural order is sleep. Macbeth's announcement that he has "murdered sleep" is figuratively mirrored in Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking.
			{{Poem quote|He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
	Macbeth's generally accepted indebtedness to medieval tragedy is often seen as significant in the play's treatment of moral order. Glynne Wickham connects the play, through the Porter, to a ] on the ]. Howard Felperin argues that the play has a more complex attitude toward "orthodox Christian tragedy" than is often admitted; he sees a kinship between the play and the ] within the medieval liturgical drama.
			Within the belt of rule|V, 2, ll. 14–15}}
			while Angus sums up what everybody thinks ever since Macbeth's accession to power:
	The theme of androgyny is often seen as a special aspect of the theme of disorder. Inversion of normative gender roles is most famously associated with the witches and with Lady Macbeth as she appears in the first act. Whatever Shakespeare's degree of sympathy with such inversions, the play ends with a thorough return to normative gender values. Some ] ] critics, such as Janet Adelman, have connected the play's treatment of gender roles to its larger theme of inverted natural order. In this light, Macbeth is punished for his violation of the moral order by being removed from the cycles of nature (which are figured as female); nature itself (as embodied in the movement of Birnam Wood) is part of the restoration of moral order.
			{{Poem quote|now does he feel his title
	===As a poetic tragedy===
			Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
	Critics in the early twentieth century reacted against what they saw as an excessive dependence on the study of character in criticism of the play. This dependence, though most closely associated with ], is clear as early as the time of ], who offered precise, if fanciful, accounts of the predramatic lives of Shakespeare's female leads. She suggested, for instance, that the child Lady Macbeth refers to in the first act died during a foolish military action.
			upon a dwarfish thief|V, 2, ll. 18–20).{{sfn|Spurgeon|1935|pp=324–327}}}}
			Like ], but without that character's perversely appealing exuberance, Macbeth wades through blood until his inevitable fall. As Kenneth Muir writes, "Macbeth has not a predisposition to murder; he has merely an inordinate ambition that makes murder itself seem to be a lesser evil than failure to achieve the crown."{{Sfn|Muir|1984|p=xlviii}} Some critics, such as E. E. Stoll, explain this characterisation as a holdover from Senecan or medieval tradition. Shakespeare's audience, in this view, expected villains to be wholly bad, and Senecan style, far from prohibiting a villainous protagonist, all but demanded it.{{sfn|Stoll|1943|p=26}}<!-- Stoll doesn't make this connection explicit: he discusses Macbeth as a tragic hero that commits villainous acts, and discusses Aristotelan (Senecan, in practice) primacy of plot over character (Stoll is responding to psychological readings), but doesn't, here, say that Shakespeare was writing to an audience expectation of a villainous protagonist. He makes that connection elsewhere though (From Shakespeare to Joyce, Shakespeare and Other Masters). -->
	===Witchcraft and evil===
	]]]
			Yet for other critics, it has not been so easy to resolve the question of Macbeth's motivation. ], for instance, perceived a paradox: a character able to express such convincing horror before Duncan's murder would likely be incapable of committing the crime.{{sfn|Muir|1984|p=xlvi}} For many critics, Macbeth's motivations in the first act appear vague and insufficient. ] hypothesised that Shakespeare's original text had an extra scene or scenes where husband and wife discussed their plans.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} This interpretation is not fully provable; however, the motivating role of ambition for Macbeth is universally recognised. The evil actions motivated by his ambition seem to trap him in a cycle of increasing evil, as Macbeth himself recognises:
	In the play, the Three Witches represent darkness, chaos, and conflict, while their role is as agents and witnesses.<ref name="Kliman14">Kliman, 14.</ref> Their presence communicates treason and impending doom. During Shakespeare's day, witches were seen as worse than rebels, "the most notorious traytor and rebell that can be."<ref name="Perkins">{{Cite book|last=Perkins |first=William |title=A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, So Farre forth as it is revealed in the Scriptures, and manifest by true experience |publisher=Cantrell Legge, Printer to the Universitie of Cambridge |location=London |year=1618 |page=53 |url=http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=witch;idno=wit075 |accessdate=24 June 2009}}</ref> They were not only political traitors, but spiritual traitors as well. Much of the confusion that springs from them comes from their ability to straddle the play's borders between reality and the supernatural. They are so deeply entrenched in both worlds that it is unclear whether they control fate, or whether they are merely its agents. They defy logic, not being subject to the rules of the real world.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Coddon |first=Karin S. |title='Unreal Mockery': Unreason and the Problem of Spectacle in Macbeth |journal=ELH |year=1989 |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=485–501 |jstor=2873194 }}</ref> The witches' lines in the first act: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" are often said to set the tone for the rest of the play by establishing a sense of confusion. Indeed, the play is filled with situations where evil is depicted as good, while good is rendered evil. The line "Double, double toil and trouble," communicates the witches' intent clearly: they seek only trouble for the mortals around them.<ref name = tempt/>
			{{Poem quote|I am in blood
	While the witches do not tell Macbeth directly to kill King Duncan, they use a subtle form of temptation when they tell Macbeth that he is destined to be king. By placing this thought in his mind, they effectively guide him on the path to his own destruction. This follows the pattern of temptation used at the time of Shakespeare. First, they argued, a thought is put in a man's mind, then the person may either indulge in the thought or reject it. Macbeth indulges in it, while Banquo rejects.<ref name = tempt>{{cite journal |last=Frye |first=Roland Mushat |title=Launching the Tragedy of Macbeth: Temptation, Deliberation, and Consent in Act I |journal=The Huntington Library Quarterly |year=1987 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=249–261 |doi= }}</ref>
			Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
			Returning were as tedious as go o'er.|III, 4, ll. 165–167}}
			While working on Russian translations of Shakespeare's works, ] compared Macbeth to ], the protagonist of '']'' by ]. Pasternak argues that "neither Macbeth or Raskolnikov is a born criminal or a villain by nature. They are turned into criminals by faulty rationalizations, by deductions from false premises." He goes on to argue that Lady Macbeth is "feminine&nbsp;... one of those active, insistent wives" who becomes her husband's "executive, more resolute and consistent than he is himself". According to Pasternak, she is only helping Macbeth carry out his own wishes, to her own detriment.{{sfn|Pasternak|1959|pp=150–152}}
	According to J. A. Bryant Jr., Macbeth also makes use of Biblical parallels, notably between King Duncan's murder and the murder of ]:
			===As a tragedy of moral order===
	{{quote|No matter how one looks at it, whether as history or as tragedy, Macbeth is distinctively Christian. One may simply count the Biblical allusions as Richmond Noble has done; one may go further and study the parallels between Shakespeare's story and the Old Testament stories of ] and ] as Miss Jane H. Jack has done; or one may examine with W. C. Curry the progressive degeneration of Macbeth from the point of view of medieval theology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.archive.org/stream/hippolytasviewso012763mbp/hippolytasviewso012763mbp_djvu.txt |title=Full text of "Hippolyta S View Some Christian Aspects of Shakespeare S Plays" |publisher=Archive.org |date=28 August 1960 |accessdate=1 November 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.archive.org/details/hippolytasviewso012763mbp |title=Internet Archive: Free Download: Hippolyta S View Some Christian Aspects Of Shakespeare S Plays |publisher=Archive.org |accessdate=1 November 2009}}</ref>}}
			{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2018}}
			The disastrous consequences of Macbeth's ambition are not limited to him. Almost from the moment of the murder, the play depicts Scotland as a land shaken by inversions of the natural order. Shakespeare may have intended a reference to the ], although the play's images of disorder are mostly not specific enough to support detailed intellectual readings. He may also have intended an elaborate compliment to James's belief in the ],{{clarify|reason=Explanation needed. Chaos was the last thing discussed, so what's the compliment?|date=December 2024}} although this hypothesis, outlined at greatest length by Henry N. Paul, is not universally accepted. As in '']'', though, perturbations in the political sphere are echoed and even amplified by events in the material world. Among the most often depicted of the inversions of the natural order is sleep. Macbeth's announcement that he has "murdered sleep" is figuratively mirrored in Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking.
	==Superstition and "the Scottish play"==
	{{Main|The Scottish play}}
			''Macbeth''{{'}}s generally accepted indebtedness to medieval tragedy is often seen as significant in the play's treatment of moral order. Glynne Wickham connects the play, through the Porter, to a ] on the ]. Howard Felperin argues that the play has a more complex attitude toward "orthodox Christian tragedy" than is often admitted; he sees a kinship between the play and the ] within the medieval liturgical drama.
	While many today would say that any misfortune surrounding a production is mere coincidence, actors and other theatre people often consider it bad luck to mention ''Macbeth'' by name while inside a theatre, and sometimes refer to it indirectly, for example as "]",<ref name="faires">Robert Faires, "", ''Austin Chronicle,'' 13 October 2000.</ref> or "MacBee", or when referring to the character and not the play, "Mr. and Mrs. M", or "The Scottish King".
			The theme of androgyny is often seen as a special aspect of the theme of disorder. Inversion of normative gender roles is most famously associated with the witches and with Lady Macbeth as she appears in the first act. Whatever Shakespeare's degree of sympathy with such inversions, the play ends with a thorough return to normative gender values. Some ] ] critics, such as Janet Adelman, have connected the play's treatment of gender roles to its larger theme of inverted natural order. In this light, Macbeth is punished for his violation of the moral order by being removed from the cycles of nature (which are figured as female); nature itself (as embodied in the movement of Birnam Wood) is part of the restoration of moral order.
	This is because Shakespeare is said to have used the spells of real witches in his text, purportedly angering the witches and causing them to curse the play.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pretallez.com/onstage/theatre/broadway/macbeth/macbeth_curse.html |title=The Curse of 'Macbeth'. Is there an evil spell on this ill-starred play? |first=Dina |last=Tritsch |date=April 1984 |publisher=pretallez.com |accessdate=28 November 2010}}</ref> Thus, to say the name of the play inside a theatre is believed to doom the production to failure, and perhaps cause physical injury or death to cast members. There are stories of accidents, misfortunes and even deaths taking place during runs of ''Macbeth''.<ref name="faires" />
			===As a poetic tragedy===
	According to the actor Sir ], in his ] TV series '']'', "contrary to popular myth, Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is not the unluckiest play as superstition likes to portray it. Exactly the opposite! The origin of the unfortunate moniker dates back to repertory theatre days when each town and village had at least one theatre to entertain the public. If a play was not doing well, it would invariably get 'pulled' and replaced with a sure-fire audience pleaser - Macbeth guaranteed full-houses. So when the weekly theatre newspaper, '']'' was published, listing what was on in each theatre in the country, it was instantly noticed what shows had NOT worked the previous week, as they had been replaced by a definite crowd-pleaser. More actors have died during performances of Hamlet than in the "Scottish play" as the profession still calls it. It is forbidden to quote from it backstage as this could cause the current play to collapse and have to be replaced, causing possible unemployment."<ref>''Great West End Theatres'' Sky Arts. 10 August 2013</ref>
			Critics in the early twentieth century reacted against what they saw as an excessive dependence on the study of character in criticism of the play. This dependence, though most closely associated with ], is clear as early as the time of ], who offered precise, if fanciful, accounts of the predramatic lives of Shakespeare's female leads. She suggested, for instance, that the child Lady Macbeth refers to in the first act died during a foolish military action.<ref name="Byler2015">{{cite journal|author=Lauren Byler|title=Loose characters in Mary Cowden Clarke's The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines in a Series of Tales |journal=Texas Studies in Literature and Language |volume=57 |issue=3 |date=2015 |page=343 |doi=10.7560/TSLL57305 |s2cid=162081047 |issn=0040-4691}}</ref>
			===Witchcraft and evil===
	One particular incident that lent itself to the superstition was the ]. The cause of the riots was based on a conflict over two performances of ''Macbeth,'' and is usually ascribed to the curse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4222 |title=Toil and Trouble: The Curse of Macbeth |author=Dunning, Brian|date=7 September 2010 |publisher=skeptoid.com |accessdate=28 November 2010}}</ref>
			]]]
			In the play, the Three Witches represent darkness, chaos, and conflict, while their role is as agents and witnesses.{{sfn|Kliman|Santos|2005|p=14}} Their presence communicates treason and impending doom. During Shakespeare's day, witches were seen as worse than rebels, "the most notorious traytor and rebell that can be".{{sfn|Perkins|1610|p=53}} They were not only political traitors, but spiritual traitors as well. Much of the confusion that springs from them comes from their ability to straddle the play's borders between reality and the supernatural. They are so deeply entrenched in both worlds that it is unclear whether they control fate, or whether they are merely its agents. They defy logic, not being subject to the rules of the real world.{{sfn|Coddon|1989|p=491}} The witches' lines in the first act: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" are often said to set the tone for the rest of the play by establishing a sense of confusion. Indeed, the play is filled with situations where evil is depicted as good, while good is rendered evil. The line "Double, double toil and trouble," communicates the witches' intent clearly: they seek only trouble for the mortals around them.{{sfn|Frye|1987}}{{page needed|date=January 2018}} The witches' spells are remarkably similar to the spells of the witch Medusa in Anthony Munday's play '']'' published in 1584, and Shakespeare may have been influenced by these.
	Several methods exist to dispel the curse, depending on the actor. One, attributed to ], is to immediately leave the building the stage is in with the person who uttered the name, walk around it three times, spit over their left shoulders, say an obscenity then wait to be invited back into the building.<ref>''Babylon 5&nbsp;– The Scripts of J. Michael Straczynski, Volume 6'' by ], Synthetic Labs Publishing (2006).</ref> A related practice is to spin around three times as fast as possible on the spot, sometimes accompanied by spitting over their shoulder, and uttering an obscenity. Another popular "ritual" is to leave the room, knock three times, be invited in, and then quote a line from '']''. Yet another is to recite lines from '']'', thought to be a lucky play.<ref name="Garber">{{Cite book|last=Garber|first=Marjorie B.|title=Profiling Shakespeare|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|page=77|isbn=978-0-415-96446-3}}</ref>
			While the witches do not tell Macbeth directly to kill King Duncan, they use a subtle form of temptation when they tell Macbeth that he is destined to be king. By placing this thought in his mind, they effectively guide him on the path to his own destruction. This follows the pattern of temptation used at the time of Shakespeare. First, they argued, a thought is put in a man's mind, then the person may either indulge in the thought or reject it. Macbeth indulges in it, while Banquo rejects.{{sfn|Frye|1987}}{{page needed|date=January 2018}}
	==Legacy==
			According to J. A. Bryant Jr., ''Macbeth'' also makes use of Biblical parallels, notably between King Duncan's murder and the murder of ]:
	===Performance history===
			{{blockquote|No matter how one looks at it, whether as history or as tragedy, ''Macbeth'' is distinctively Christian. One may simply count the Biblical allusions as Richmond Noble has done; one may go further and study the parallels between Shakespeare's story and the Old Testament stories of ] and ] as Miss Jane H. Jack has done; or one may examine with W. C. Curry the progressive degeneration of Macbeth from the point of view of medieval theology.{{sfn|Bryant|1961|p=153}}|sign=|source=}}
	====Shakespeare's Day to the Interregnum====
	The first actor to play Macbeth would have been ], chief tragedian of Shakespeare's company, The ]. The play required an effigy of his head, for its closing scene.<ref>Brooke (2008, 6)</ref> The only eyewitness account of ''Macbeth'' in Shakespeare's lifetime was recorded by ], who saw a performance at ] in 1610 or 1611.<ref>Brooke (2008, 36)</ref> Scholars have struggled to explain the differences between his account and the play as it appears in the Folio; for example, the following does not accord with anything in the Folio text:
			==Superstition and "The Scottish Play"==
	<blockquote>And when MackBeth had murdred the kinge, the blod on his hands could not be washed of by Any means, nor from his wiues handes, which handled the bloddi daggers in hiding them, By which means they became moch amazed and Affronted.<ref>Orgel (2002, 32-33)</ref></blockquote>
			{{Main|The Scottish Play}}
			While many today would say that any misfortune surrounding a production is mere coincidence, actors and others in the theatre industry often consider it bad luck to mention ''Macbeth'' by name while inside a theatre, and sometimes refer to it indirectly, for example as "]",{{sfn|Faires|2000}} or "MacBee", or when referring to the characters and not the play, "Mr. and Mrs. M", or "The Scottish King".
	Conversely, he makes no mention of the apparition scene, or of Hecate, of the man not of woman born, or of Birnam Wood.<ref>Brooke (2008, 36); Orgel (2002, 33)</ref> As mentioned above, the Folio text is clearly a revision of the original play, probably adapted by ] (and unquestionably using Middleton's material), and is very short by Shakespeare's standards, suggesting abridgement. This has led to the conclusion that the play as we know it from the Folio was an adaptation for indoor performance at the ] (which was operated by the King's Men from 1608) - and even speculation that it represents a specific performance before ].<ref>Brooke (2008, 34-36); Orgel (2002, 158-161); Taylor (2002, 2)</ref> The play contains more musical ] than any other play in the canon as well as a significant use of ]s.<ref>Brooke (2008, 35-36)</ref>
			This is because Shakespeare (or the play's revisers) is said to have used the spells of real witches in his text, purportedly angering the witches and causing them to curse the play.{{sfn|Tritsch|1984}}{{better source needed|date=January 2018}} Thus, to say the name of the play inside a theatre is believed to doom the production to failure, and perhaps cause physical injury or death to cast members. There are stories of accidents, misfortunes and even deaths taking place during runs of ''Macbeth''.{{sfn|Faires|2000}}
	====Restoration and Eighteenth Century====
			According to the actor Sir ], in his ] TV series '']''
	{{pquote|The chill of the grave seemed about you when you looked on her; there was the hush and damp of the charnel house at midnight ... your flesh crept and your breathing became uneasy ... the scent of blood became palpable to you.|Sheridan Knowles on ]' sleepwalking scene.<ref>Williams (2002, 119)</ref>}}
			{{blockquote|Contrary to popular myth, Shakespeare's tragedy ''Macbeth'' is not the unluckiest play as superstition likes to portray it. Exactly the opposite! The origin of the unfortunate moniker dates back to repertory theatre days when each town and village had at least one theatre to entertain the public. If a play was not doing well, it would invariably get 'pulled' and replaced with a sure-fire audience pleaser&nbsp;– ''Macbeth'' guaranteed full-houses. So when the weekly theatre newspaper, '']'' was published, listing what was on in each theatre in the country, it was instantly noticed what shows had ''not'' worked the previous week, as they had been replaced by a definite crowd-pleaser. More actors have died during performances of ''Hamlet'' than in the "Scottish play" as the profession still calls it. It is forbidden to quote from it backstage as this could cause the current play to collapse and have to be replaced, causing possible unemployment.<ref>''Great West End Theatres'' Sky Arts. 10 August 2013</ref>}}<!-- FIXME: this quote is somewhat excessive, and Sir Donald, bless him, is not a particularly scholarly source. -->
	All theatres were closed down by the ] government on 6 September 1642. Upon the ] of the monarchy in 1660, two patent companies (the ] and the ]) were established, and the existing theatrical repertoire divided between them.<ref>Marsden (2002, 21).</ref> ], founder of the Duke's Company, adapted Shakespeare's play to the tastes of the new era, and his version would dominate on stage for around eighty years. Among the changes he made were the expansion of the role of the witches, introducing new songs, dances and 'flying', and the expansion of the role of Lady Macduff as a foil to Lady Macbeth.<ref>Tatspaugh (2003, 526-527)</ref> There were, however, performances outside the patent companies: among the evasions of the Duke's Company's monopoly was a puppet version of ''Macbeth''.<ref>Lanier (2002, 28-29)</ref>
			Several methods exist to dispel the curse, depending on the actor. One, attributed to ], is to immediately leave the building the stage is in with the person who uttered the name, walk around it three times, spit over their left shoulders, say an obscenity then wait to be invited back into the building.{{sfn|Straczynski|2006}}{{page needed|date=January 2018}} A related practice is to spin around three times as fast as possible on the spot, sometimes accompanied by spitting over their shoulder, and uttering an obscenity. Another popular "ritual" is to leave the room, knock three times, be invited in, and then quote a line from ''Hamlet''. Yet another is to recite lines from '']'', thought to be a lucky play.{{sfn|Garber|2008|p=77}}
	''Macbeth'' was a favourite of the seventeenth-century diarist ], who saw the play on 5 November 1664 ("admirably acted"), 28 December 1666 ("most excellently acted"), ten days later on 7 January 1667 ("though I saw it lately, yet appears a most excellent play in all respects"), on 19 April 1667 ("one of the best plays for a stage ... that ever I saw"), again on 16 October 1667 ("was vexed to see Young, who is but a bad actor at best, act Macbeth in the room of ], who, poor man! is sick"), and again three weeks later on 6 November 1667 (" ''Macbeth'', which we still like mightily"), yet again on 12 August 1668 ("saw ''Macbeth'', to our great content"), and finally on 21 December 1668, on which date the ] and court were also present in the audience.<ref>Orgel (2002, 155)</ref>
			Sir ], on the radio program ''Ask Me Another'', asserted "if you have played the role of the Scottish thane, then you are allowed to say the title, any time anywhere".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2015/08/20/432887463/brush-up-your-shakespeare |title=Brush Up Your Shakespeare |series=Ask Me Another |publisher=] |date=20 August 2015 |access-date=31 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-date=26 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826215404/https://www.npr.org/2015/08/20/432887463/brush-up-your-shakespeare }}</ref>
	The first professional performances of ''Macbeth'' in North America were probably those of ].<ref>Morrison (2002, 231-232)</ref>
			==Performance history==
	In 1744, ] revived the play, abandoning Davenant's version and instead advertising it "as written by Shakespeare". In fact this claim was largely false: he retained much of Davenant's more popular business for the witches, and himself wrote a lengthy death speech for Macbeth. And he cut more than 10% of Shakespeare's play, including the drunken porter, the murder of Lady Macduff's son, and Malcolm's testing of Macduff.<ref>Orgel (2002, 246)</ref> ] was his greatest stage partner, having her premiere as his Lady Macbeth in 1747. He would later drop the play from his repertoire upon her retirement from the stage.<ref>Potter (2001, 188)</ref> Mrs. Pritchard was the first actress to achieve acclaim in the role of Lady Macbeth - at least partly due to the removal of Davenant's material, which made irrelevant moral contrasts with Lady Macduff.<ref>Gay (2002, 158)</ref> Garrick's portrayal focused on the inner life of the character, endowing him with an innocence vacillating between good and evil, and betrayed by outside influences. He portrayed a man capable of observing himself, as if a part of him remained untouched by what he had done, the play moulding him into a man of sensibility, rather than him descending into a tyrant.<ref>Williams (2002, 124)</ref>
			===Shakespeare's day to the Interregnum===
			The only eyewitness account of ''Macbeth'' in Shakespeare's lifetime was recorded by ], who saw a performance at ] on 20 April 1610.{{sfn|Brooke|2008|p=36}}{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=337}} Scholars have noted discrepancies between Forman's account and the play as it appears in the Folio. For example, he makes no mention of the apparition scene, or of Hecate,{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=324}} of the man not of woman born, or of Birnam Wood.{{sfn|Orgel|2002|p=33}}{{sfn|Brooke|2008|p=36}} However, Clark{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=301}} observes that Forman's accounts were often inaccurate and incomplete (for instance omitting the statue scene from '']'') and his interest did not seem to be in "giving full accounts of the productions".{{sfn|Clark|Mason|2015|p=324}}
			As mentioned above, the Folio text is thought by some to be an alteration of the original play. This has led to the theory that the play in the Folio was an adaptation for indoor performance at the ] (which was operated by the King's Men from 1608)&nbsp;– and even speculation that it represents a specific performance before King James.{{sfn|Brooke|2008|pp=34–36}}{{sfn|Orgel|2002|pp=158–161}}{{sfn|Taylor|2002|p=2}} The play contains more musical ] than any other play in the canon as well as a significant use of ]s.{{sfn|Brooke|2008|pp=35–36}}
	] first played Macbeth in 1778.<ref name="Williams 2002, 125">Williams (2002, 125)</ref> Although usually regarded as the antithesis of Garrick, Kemble nevertheless refined aspects of Garrick's portrayal into his own.<ref>Williams (2002, 124-125)</ref> However it was the "towering and majestic" ] (Kemble's sister) who became a legend in the role of Lady Macbeth.<ref>Potter (2001, 189); Williams (2002, 125-126)</ref> In contrast to Hannah Pritchard's savage, demonic portrayal, Siddons' Lady Macbeth, while terrifying, was nevertheless - in the scenes in which she expresses her regret and remorse - tenderly human.<ref>Moody (2002, 43)</ref> And in portraying her actions as done out of love for her husband, Siddons deflected from him some of the moral responsibility for the play's carnage.<ref name="Williams 2002, 125"/> Audiences seem to have found the sleepwalking scene particularly mesmerising: ] said of it that "all her gestures were involuntary and mechanical ... She glided on and off the stage almost like an apparition."<ref name="Gay 2002, 159">Gay (2002, 159)</ref>
			===Restoration and eighteenth century===
	In 1794, Kemble dispensed with the ghost of Banquo altogether, allowing the audience to see Macbeth's reaction as his wife and guests see it, and relying upon the fact that the play was so well known that his audience would already be aware that a ghost enters at that point.<ref>McLuskie (2005, 256-257)</ref>
			{{quote box|width=23em|The chill of the grave seemed about you when you looked on her; there was the hush and damp of the charnel house at midnight ... your flesh crept and your breathing became uneasy ... the scent of blood became palpable to you.|—Sheridan Knowles on ]' sleepwalking scene{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=119}}}}
			All theatres were closed down by the ] government on 6 September 1642. Upon the ] of the monarchy in 1660, two ] (the ] and the ]) were established, and the existing theatrical repertoire divided between them.{{sfn|Marsden|2002|p=21}} ], founder of the Duke's Company, adapted Shakespeare's play to the tastes of the new era, and his version would dominate on stage for around eighty years. Among the changes he made were the expansion of the role of the witches, introducing new songs, dances and 'flying', and the expansion of the role of Lady Macduff as a foil to Lady Macbeth.{{sfn|Tatspaugh|2003|pp=526–527}} There were, however, performances outside the patent companies: among the evasions of the Duke's Company's monopoly was a puppet version of ''Macbeth''.{{sfn|Lanier|2002|pp=28–29}}
	], notable as the first German actor to present Shakespeare's tragic roles in their fullness, played Macbeth at the Berlin National Theatre from 1787. Unlike his English counterparts, he portrayed the character as achieving his stature after the murder of Duncan, growing in presence and confidence: thereby enabling stark contrasts, such as in the banquet scene, which he ended babbling like a child.<ref>Williams (2002, 126)</ref>
			''Macbeth'' was a favourite of the seventeenth-century diarist ], who saw the play on 5 November 1664 ("admirably acted"), 28 December 1666 ("most excellently acted"), ten days later on 7 January 1667 ("though I saw it lately, yet appears a most excellent play in all respects"), on 19 April 1667 ("one of the best plays for a stage ... that ever I saw"), again on 16 October 1667 ("was vexed to see Young, who is but a bad actor at best, act Macbeth in the room of ], who, poor man! is sick"), and again three weeks later on 6 November 1667 (" ''Macbeth'', which we still like mightily"), yet again on 12 August 1668 ("saw ''Macbeth'', to our great content"), and finally on 21 December 1668, on which date the ] and court were also present in the audience.{{sfn|Orgel|2002|p=155}}
	====Nineteenth Century====
			The first professional performances of ''Macbeth'' in North America were probably those of ].{{sfn|Morrison|2002|pp=231–232}}
	{{pquote|Everyone seems to think Mrs McB is a ''Monstrousness'' & ''I'' can only see she's a ''woman'' - a mistaken woman - & ''weak'' - not a Dove - of course not - ''but first of all a wife.''|]<ref>Gay (2002, 167)</ref>}}
			In 1744, ] revived the play, abandoning Davenant's version and instead advertising it "as written by Shakespeare". In fact this claim was largely false: he retained much of Davenant's more popular business for the witches, and himself wrote a lengthy death speech for Macbeth. And he cut more than 10% of Shakespeare's play, including the drunken porter, the murder of Lady Macduff's son, and Malcolm's testing of Macduff.{{sfn|Orgel|2002|p=246}} ] was his greatest stage partner, having her premiere as his Lady Macbeth in 1747. He would later drop the play from his repertoire upon her retirement from the stage.{{sfn|Potter|2001|p=188}} Mrs. Pritchard was the first actress to achieve acclaim in the role of Lady Macbeth&nbsp;– at least partly due to the removal of Davenant's material, which made irrelevant moral contrasts with Lady Macduff.{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=158}} Garrick's portrayal focused on the inner life of the character, endowing him with an innocence vacillating between good and evil, and betrayed by outside influences. He portrayed a man capable of observing himself, as if a part of him remained untouched by what he had done, the play moulding him into a man of sensibility, rather than him descending into a tyrant.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=124}}
	Performances outside the patent theatres were instrumental in bringing the monopoly to an end. ], for example, produced a popular adaptation of ''Macbeth'' in 1809 at the ] described in its publicity as "this matchless piece of pantomimic and choral performance", which circumvented the illegality of speaking Shakespeare's words through mimed action, singing, and doggerel verse written by J. C. Cross.<ref>Holland (2007, 38-39); Moody (2002, 38-39)</ref>
			] first played Macbeth in 1778.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=125}} Although usually regarded as the antithesis of Garrick, Kemble nevertheless refined aspects of Garrick's portrayal into his own.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=124–125}} However it was the "towering and majestic" ] (Kemble's sister) who became a legend in the role of Lady Macbeth.{{sfn|Potter|2001|p=189}}{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=125–126}} In contrast to Hannah Pritchard's savage, demonic portrayal, Siddons' Lady Macbeth, while terrifying, was nevertheless&nbsp;– in the scenes in which she expresses her regret and remorse&nbsp;– tenderly human.{{sfn|Moody|2002|p=43}} And in portraying her actions as done out of love for her husband, Siddons deflected from him some of the moral responsibility for the play's carnage.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=125}} Audiences seem to have found the sleepwalking scene particularly mesmerising: ] said of it that "all her gestures were involuntary and mechanical ... She glided on and off the stage almost like an apparition."{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=159}}
	] and ] as the Macbeths, in historically accurate costumes.]]
			In 1794, Kemble dispensed with the ghost of Banquo altogether, allowing the audience to see Macbeth's reaction as his wife and guests see it, and relying upon the fact that the play was so well known that his audience would already be aware that a ghost enters at that point.{{sfn|McLuskie|2005|pp=256–257}}
	In 1809, in an unsuccessful attempt to take ] upmarket, ] installed private boxes, increasing admission prices to pay for the improvements. The inaugural run at the newly renovated theatre was ''Macbeth'', which was disrupted for over two months with cries of "Old prices!" and "No private boxes!" until Kemble capitulated to the protestors' demands.<ref name="Lanier 2002, 37">Lanier (2002, 37)</ref>
			Ferdinand Fleck, notable as the first German actor to present Shakespeare's tragic roles in their fullness, played Macbeth at the Berlin National Theatre from 1787. Unlike his English counterparts, he portrayed the character as achieving his stature after the murder of Duncan, growing in presence and confidence: thereby enabling stark contrasts, such as in the banquet scene, which he ended babbling like a child.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=126}}
	] at ] gave a psychological portrayal of the central character, with a common touch, but was ultimately unsuccessful in the role. However he did pave the way for the most acclaimed performance of the nineteenth century, that of ].<ref>Williams (2002, 126-127)</ref> Macready played the role over a 30-year period, firstly at Covent Garden in 1820 and finally in his retirement performance. Although his playing evolved over the years, it was noted throughout for the tension between the idealistic aspects and the weaker, venal aspects of Macbeth's character.<ref name="Williams 2002, 127">Williams (2002, 127)</ref> His staging was full of spectacle, including several elaborate royal processions.<ref name="Williams 2002, 127"/>
			===Nineteenth century===
	In 1843 the ] finally brought the patent companies' monopoly to an end.<ref>Moody (2002, 38)</ref> From that time until the end of the ], London theatre was dominated by the ]s, and the style of presentation was "pictorial" - ] stages filled with spectacular stage-pictures, often featuring complex scenery, large casts in elaborate costumes, and frequent use of ].<ref>Schoch (2002, 58-59); Williams (2002, 128)</ref> ] (son of Edmund), at London's ] from 1850 to 1859, took an antiquarian view of Shakespeare performance, setting his ''Macbeth'' in a historically accurate eleventh-century Scotland.<ref>Schoch (2002, 61-62)</ref> His leading lady, ], created a sense of the character's inner life: ] critic saying "The countenance which she assumed ... when luring on Macbeth in his course of crime, was actually appalling in intensity, as if it denoted a hunger after guilt."<ref>'']'' 14 June 1853, cited by Gay (2002, 163-164)</ref> At the same time, special effects were becoming popular: for example in ]' ''Macbeth'' the witches performed behind green ], enabling them to appear and disappear using stage lighting.<ref>Schoch (2002, 64)</ref>
			{{quote box|width=23em|Everyone seems to think Mrs McB is a ''Monstrousness'' & ''I'' can only see she's a ''woman''&nbsp;– a mistaken woman&nbsp;– & ''weak''&nbsp;– not a Dove&nbsp;– of course not&nbsp;– ''but first of all a wife.''|—]{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=167}}}}
			Performances outside the patent theatres were instrumental in bringing the monopoly to an end. ], for example, produced a popular adaptation of ''Macbeth'' in 1809 at the ] described in its publicity as "this matchless piece of pantomimic and choral performance", which circumvented the illegality of speaking Shakespeare's words through mimed action, singing, and doggerel verse written by J. C. Cross.{{sfn|Holland|2007|pp=38–39}}{{sfn|Moody|2002|pp=38–39}}
	In 1849, rival performances of the play sparked the ] in ]. The popular American actor ], whose Macbeth was said to be like "the ferocious chief of a barbarous tribe"<ref>Morrison (2002, 237)</ref> played the central role at the Broadway Theatre to popular acclaim, while the "cerebral and patrician"<ref name="Lanier 2002, 37"/> English actor ], playing the same role at the ], suffered constant heckling. The existing enmity between the two men (Forrest had openly hissed Macready at a recent performance of '']'' in Britain) was taken up by Forrest's supporters - formed from the working class and lower middle class and anti-British agitators, keen to attack the upper-class pro-British patrons of the Opera House and the colonially-minded Macready. Nevertheless, Macready performed the role again three days later to a packed house while an angry mob gathered outside. The militia tasked with controlling the situation fired into the mob. In total, 31 rioters were killed and over 100 injured.<ref>Lanier (2002, 37); Booth (1995, 311-312); Holland (2002, 202); Morrison (2002, 238)</ref><!-- Note that these sources are in disagreement about the number of casualties: Lanier says 21. --><!-- And, yes, you do need all four of these sources to get every point made in this paragraph! -->
			] and ] as the Macbeths, in historically accurate costumes, for an 1858 production]]
	] is unique among nineteenth century interpreters of Shakespeare in achieving stardom in roles of both genders. Her New York debut was as Lady Macbeth in 1836, and she would later be admired in London in the same role in the mid-1840s.<ref>Morrison (2002, 239); Gay (2002,162)</ref> ] was considered the embodiment of early-Victorian notions of femininity. But for this reason she largely failed when she eventually played Lady Macbeth in 1864: her serious attempt to embody the coarser aspects of Lady Macbeth's character jarred harshly with her public image.<ref>Gay (2002, 161-2)</ref> ], the great Italian actress, brought her Lady Macbeth to London in 1863 in Italian, and again in 1873 in an English translation cut in such a way as to be, in effect, Lady Macbeth's tragedy.<ref>Gay (2002, 164)</ref>
			] playing Macbeth, from a mid-19th century performance]]
			In 1809, in an unsuccessful attempt to take ] upmarket, ] installed private boxes, increasing admission prices to pay for the improvements. The inaugural run at the newly renovated theatre was ''Macbeth'', which was disrupted for over two months with cries of "Old prices!" and "No private boxes!" until Kemble capitulated to the protestors' demands.{{sfn|Lanier|2002|p=37}}
	] was the most successful of the late-Victorian actor-managers, but his ''Macbeth'' failed to curry favour with audiences. His desire for psychological credibility reduced certain aspects of the role: He described Macbeth as a brave soldier but a moral coward, and played him untroubled by conscience - clearly already contemplating the murder of Duncan before his encounter with the witches.<ref>Williams (2002, 129)</ref> (Similar criticisms were made of ] in Germany, whose performances of ''Macbeth'' had many unintentional parallels with Irving's.<ref>Williams (2002, 129-130)</ref>) Irving's leading lady was ], but her Lady Macbeth was unsuccessful with the public, for whom a century of performances influenced by Sarah Siddons had created expectations at odds with Terry's conception of the role.<ref>Gay (2002, 166-167); Williams (2002, 130)</ref>
			] at ] gave a psychological portrayal of the central character, with a common touch, but was ultimately unsuccessful in the role. However he did pave the way for the most acclaimed performance of the nineteenth century, that of William Charles Macready. Macready played the role over a 30-year period, firstly at Covent Garden in 1820 and finally in his retirement performance. Although his playing evolved over the years, it was noted throughout for the tension between the idealistic aspects and the weaker, venal aspects of Macbeth's character. His staging was full of spectacle, including several elaborate royal processions.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=126–127}}
	Late nineteenth-century European Macbeths aimed for heroic stature, but at the expense of subtlety: ] in Italy and ] in Germany were said to inspire awe, but elicited little pity.<ref>Williams (2002, 130)</ref>
			In 1843 the ] finally brought the patent companies' monopoly to an end.{{sfn|Moody|2002|p=38}} From that time until the end of the ], London theatre was dominated by the ]s, and the style of presentation was "pictorial"&nbsp;– ] stages filled with spectacular stage-pictures, often featuring complex scenery, large casts in elaborate costumes, and frequent use of ].{{sfn|Schoch|2002|pp=58–59}}{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=128}} ] (son of Edmund), at London's ] from 1850 to 1859, took an antiquarian view of Shakespeare performance, setting his ''Macbeth'' in a historically accurate eleventh-century Scotland.{{sfn|Schoch|2002|pp=61–62}} His leading lady, ], created a sense of the character's inner life: '']''{{'}} critic saying "The countenance which she assumed ... when luring on Macbeth in his course of crime, was actually appalling in intensity, as if it denoted a hunger after guilt."{{sfn|Gay|2002|pp=163–164}} At the same time, special effects were becoming popular: for example in ]' ''Macbeth'' the witches performed behind green ], enabling them to appear and disappear using stage lighting.{{sfn|Schoch|2002|p=64}}
	====Twentieth Century to Present====
	{{pquote|And then Lady Macbeth says 'He that's coming / Must be provided for.' It's an amazing line. She's going to play hostess to Duncan at Dunsinane, and 'provide' is what gracious hostesses always do. It's a wonder of a line to play because the reverberations do the acting for you, make the audience go 'Aaaagh!'|]<ref>McLuskie (2005, 253)</ref>}}
			In 1849, rival performances of the play sparked the ] in ]. The popular American actor ], whose Macbeth was said to be like "the ferocious chief of a barbarous tribe"{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=237}} played the central role at the Broadway Theatre to popular acclaim, while the "cerebral and patrician"{{sfn|Lanier|2002|p=37}} English actor ], playing the same role at the ], suffered constant heckling. The existing enmity between the two men (Forrest had openly hissed Macready at a recent performance of '']'' in Britain) was taken up by Forrest's supporters&nbsp;– formed from the working class and lower middle class and anti-British agitators, keen to attack the upper-class pro-British patrons of the Opera House and the colonially-minded Macready. Nevertheless, Macready performed the role again three days later to a packed house while an angry mob gathered outside. The militia tasked with controlling the situation fired into the mob. In total, 31 rioters were killed and over 100 injured.{{sfn|Lanier|2002|p=37}}{{sfn|Booth|2001|pp=311–312}}{{sfn|Holland|2002|p=202}}{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=238}}<!-- Note that these sources are in disagreement about the number of casualties: Lanier says 21. --><!-- And, yes, you do need all four of these sources to get every point made in this paragraph! -->
	Two developments changed the nature of ''Macbeth'' performance in the twentieth century: firstly developments in the craft of acting itself, especially the ideas of ] and ], and secondly the rise of the dictator as a political icon. The latter has not always assisted the performance: it is difficult to sympathise with a Macbeth based on Hitler, Stalin or Idi Amin.<ref>Williams (2002, 130-131)</ref>
			] is unique among nineteenth century interpreters of Shakespeare in achieving stardom in roles of both genders. Her New York debut was as Lady Macbeth in 1836, and she would later be admired in London in the same role in the mid-1840s.{{sfn|Morrison|2002|p=239}}{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=162}} ] was considered the embodiment of early-Victorian notions of femininity. But for this reason she largely failed when she eventually played Lady Macbeth in 1864: her serious attempt to embody the coarser aspects of Lady Macbeth's character jarred harshly with her public image.{{sfn|Gay|2002|pp=161–162}} ], the great Italian actress, brought her Lady Macbeth to London in 1863 in Italian, and again in 1873 in an English translation cut in such a way as to be, in effect, Lady Macbeth's tragedy.{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=164}}
	], at the ] in 1923, was the first of the twentieth-century directors to costume ''Macbeth'' in ].<ref>Smallwood (2002, 102)</ref>
	]' so-called '']'']]		] as Lady Macbeth, an 1888 production]]
			] was the most successful of the late-Victorian ]s, but his ''Macbeth'' failed to curry favour with audiences. His desire for psychological credibility reduced certain aspects of the role: He described Macbeth as a brave soldier but a moral coward, and played him untroubled by conscience&nbsp;– clearly already contemplating the murder of Duncan before his encounter with the witches.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=129}}{{efn|Similar criticisms were made of {{ill|Friedrich Mitterwurzer|de}} in Germany, whose performances of ''Macbeth'' had many unintentional parallels with Irving's.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=129–130}}}} Irving's leading lady was ], but her Lady Macbeth was unsuccessful with the public, for whom a century of performances influenced by Sarah Siddons had created expectations at odds with Terry's conception of the role.{{sfn|Gay|2002|pp=166–167}}{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=130}}
	In 1936, a decade before his film adaptation of the play, ] directed ''Macbeth'' for the ] at the ] in Harlem, using black actors and setting the action in Haiti: with drums and ] rituals to establish the Witches scenes. The performance, dubbed ''The ]'', proved inflammatory in the aftermath of the ], accused of making fun of black culture and as "a campaign to burlesque negroes" until Welles persuaded crowds that his use of black actors and voodoo made important cultural statements.<ref>Forsyth (2000, 284); Hawkes (2003, 577)</ref>
			Late nineteenth-century European Macbeths aimed for heroic stature, but at the expense of subtlety: ] in Italy and Adalbert Matkowsky in Germany were said to inspire awe, but elicited little pity.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=130}}
	The 'reconstructive movement' was concerned with the recreation of Elizabethan acting conditions, and would eventually lead to the creation of ] and similar replicas. One of the movement's offshoots was in the reconstruction of Elizabethan pronunciation: for example ]' 1951 ''Macbeth'', for which linguists from ] were employed to create a transcript of the play in Elizabethan<!-- This is the term used in the source: I don't think the slight anachronism (Elizabeth died before Macbeth was written) needs any comment or correction in the body text. --> English, then an audio recording of that transcription, from which the actors, in turn, learned their lines.<ref>O'Connor (2002, 83 and 92-93)</ref>
			===20th century to present===
	The critical consensus is that there have been three great Macbeths on the English-speaking stage in the twentieth century, all of them commencing at ]: ] in 1955, ] in 1976 and ] in 1999.<ref>Williams (2002, 131)</ref> Olivier's portrayal (directed by ], with ] as lady Macbeth) was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. ] expressed the view that it succeeded because Olivier built the role to a climax at the end of the play, whereas most actors spend all they have in the first two acts.<ref>Williams (2002, 130-131); Brooke (2008, 47-48)</ref>
			{{quote box|width=23em|And then Lady Macbeth says 'He that's coming / Must be provided for.' It's an amazing line. She's going to play hostess to Duncan at Dunsinane, and 'provide' is what gracious hostesses always do. It's a wonder of a line to play because the reverberations do the acting for you, make the audience go "Aaaagh!"|—]{{sfn|McLuskie|2005|p=253}}}}
			Two developments changed the nature of ''Macbeth'' performance in the 20th century: first, developments in the craft of acting itself, especially the ideas of ] and ]; and second, the rise of the dictator as a political icon. The latter has not always assisted the performance: it is difficult to sympathise with a Macbeth based on Hitler, Stalin, or Idi Amin.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=130–131}}
	The play caused grave difficulties for the ], especially at the (then) ]. ]'s 1967 production was (in Michael Billington's words) "an acknowledged disaster" with the use of real leaves from Birnham Wood getting unsolicited first-night laughs, and ]'s 1974 production was (Billington again) "an over-elaborate religious spectacle".<ref>Billington (2003, 599)</ref> But Nunn achieved success for the RSC in his 1976 production at the intimate ], with ] and ] in the central roles.<ref>Billington (2003, 599-600)</ref> A small cast worked within a simple circle, and McKellen's Macbeth had nothing noble or likeable about him, being a manipulator in a world of manipulative characters. They were a young couple, physically passionate, "not monsters but recognisable human beings,"<ref>Michael Billington, cited by Gay (2002, 169)</ref> but their relationship atrophied as the action progressed.<ref>Williams (2002, 132-134); Gay (2002, 169)</ref>
			], at the ] in 1923, was the first of the 20th-century directors to costume ''Macbeth'' in ].{{sfn|Smallwood|2002|p=102}}
	In Soviet-controlled Prague in 1977, faced with the illegality of working in theatres, ] adapted ''Macbeth'' into a 75-minute abridgement for five actors, suitable for "bringing a show in a suitcase to people's homes."<ref>Holland (2007, 40) and see also ]'s '']''.</ref>
			] and ] in the ] production that came to be known as the '']'' (1936)]]
	Spectacle became unfashionable in Western theatre throughout the twentieth century. In East Asia, however, spectacular productions have achieved great success, including ]'s 1980 production with ] as Macbeth, set in the sixteenth century ].<ref>Williams (2002, 134-135)</ref> The same director's tour of London in 1987 was widely praised by critics, even though (like most of their audience) they were unable to understand the significance of Macbeth's gestures, the huge Buddhist altar dominating the set, or the petals falling from the cherry trees.<ref>Holland (2002, 207)</ref> ]'s 1980 ] production in Beijing made every effort to be unpolitical (necessary in the aftermath of the ]): yet audiences still perceived correspondences between the central character (who the director had actually modelled on ]) and ].<ref>Gillies (2002, 268)</ref> Shakespeare has often been adapted to indigenous theatre traditions, for example the ''] Macbeth'' of ] performed at the inaugural Chinese Shakespeare Festival of 1986.<ref>Gillies (2002, 270)</ref> Similarly, ]'s ''Barnam Vana'' of 1979 had adapted ''Macbeth'' to the ] tradition of ], India.<ref>Gillies (2002, 276-278)</ref> In 1997, ] created ''Stage of Blood'' merging a range of martial arts, dance and gymnastic styles from ], performed in Imphal and in England. The stage was literally a raft on a lake.<ref>Gillies (2002, 278-279)</ref>
			In 1936, a decade before his film adaptation of the play, ] directed ''Macbeth'' for the ] of the ] at the ] in Harlem, using black actors and setting the action in Haiti: with drums and ] rites to establish the Witches scenes. The production, dubbed ''The ]'', proved inflammatory in the aftermath of the ], accused of making fun of black culture and as "a campaign to burlesque negroes" until Welles persuaded crowds that his use of black actors and voodoo made important cultural statements.{{sfn|Forsyth|2007|p=284}}{{sfn|Hawkes|2003|p=577}}
	The ] again achieved critical success in ]'s 1999 production at ], with ] and ] in the central roles, once again demonstrating the suitability of the play to smaller venues.<ref>Walter (2002, 1); Billington (2003, 600)</ref> Doran's witches spoke their lines to a theatre in absolute darkness and the opening visual image was the entrance of Macbeth and Banquo in the berets and fatigues of modern warfare, carried on the shoulders of triumphant troops.<ref>Billington (2003, 600)</ref> In contrast to Nunn, Doran presented a world in which king Duncan and his soldiers were ultimately benign and honest, heightening the deviance of Macbeth (who seems genuinely surprised by the witches' prophesies) and Lady Macbeth, in plotting to kill the king. The play said little about politics, instead powerfully presenting its central characters' psychological collapse.<ref>Williams (2002, 134)</ref>
			]
	===Screen===
	{{main|Macbeth on screen}}
			A performance which is frequently referenced as an example of the play's curse was the outdoor production directed by ] in 1953 in the ] of ], starring ]. Using the imposing spectacle of ] as a key element of the set, the production was plagued by a host of mishaps, including Charlton Heston being burned when his tights caught fire.{{sfn|Hardy|2014}}{{sfn|Bernews|2013}}
	====Twentieth Century====
			Some critics contend there were three great Macbeths on the English-speaking stage in the 20th century, all of them commencing at ]: ] in 1955, ] in 1976 and ] in 1999.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=131}} Olivier's portrayal (directed by ], with ] as Lady Macbeth) was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. ] said it succeeded because Olivier built the role to a climax at the end of the play, whereas most actors spend all they have in the first two acts.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=130–131}}{{sfn|Brooke|2008|pp=47–48}}
	The earliest known film ''Macbeth'' was 1905's American short ''Death Scene From Macbeth'', and short versions were produced in Italy in 1909 and France in 1910. Two notable early versions are lost: Ludwig Landmann produced a 47-minute version in Germany in 1913, and ] produced a 1916 version in America featuring the noted stage actor ].<ref>Brode (2001, 177)</ref> Tree is said to have had great difficulties adapting to the new medium, and especially in confining himself to the small number of lines in the (silent) screenplay, until an ingenious cameraman allowed him to play his entire part to an empty camera, after which a real camera shot the film.<ref>Freedman (2000, 49)</ref>
			The play caused difficulties for the ], especially at the (then) ]. ]'s 1967 production was (in Michael Billington's words) "an acknowledged disaster" with the use of real leaves from Birnham Wood getting first-night laughs, and ]'s 1974 production was (Billington again) "an over-elaborate religious spectacle".{{sfn|Billington|2003|p=599}}
	In 1947, ] produced an independent film of ''Macbeth'', intended for distribution to schools, most notable for the designer of its eighty-three costumes: the soon-to-be-famous ].<ref>Brode (2001,178-179)</ref>
			But Nunn achieved success for the RSC in his 1976 production at the intimate ], with ] and ] in the central roles.{{sfn|Billington|2003|pp=599–600}} A small cast worked within a simple circle, and McKellen's Macbeth had nothing noble or likeable about him, being a manipulator in a world of manipulative characters. They were a young couple, physically passionate, "not monsters but recognisable human beings",{{efn|Michael Billington, cited by Gay.{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=169}}}} but their relationship atrophied as the action progressed.{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=132–134}}{{sfn|Gay|2002|p=169}}
	]' 1948 '']'', in the director's words a "violently sketched charcoal drawing of a great play,"<ref>Orson Wells, cited by Rosenthal (2007, 99)</ref> was filmed in only 23 days and on a budget of just $700,000. These filming conditions allowed only a single abstract set, and eclectic costumes. Dialogue was pre-recorded, enabling the actors to perform very long individual takes, including one of over ten minutes surrounding the death of Duncan.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 98-99)</ref> Welles himself played the central character, who dominates the film, measured both by his time on screen, and by physical presence: high-angle and low-angle shots and deep-focus close-ups are used to distort his size in comparison to other characters.<ref>Guntner (2000, 124)</ref> Welles retained from his own 1936 stage production the image of a ] controlling the fate of the central character: and at the end it is the doll we see beheaded.<ref>Forsyth (2000, 284-285)</ref> The film's allegorical aspect is heightened by Welles' introduction of a non-Shakespearean character, the Holy Father (played by ]),<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 99)</ref> in opposition to the witches, speaking lines taken from Shakespeare's Ross, Angus and the Old Man.<ref>Mason (2000, 188-189)</ref> Contemporary reviews were largely negative, particularly criticising Welles' unsympathetic portrayal of the central character. ''Newsweek'' commented: "His Macbeth is a static, two-dimensional creature as capable of evil in the first scene as in the final hours of his bloody reign."<ref>Brode (2001, 183)</ref>
			The ] again achieved critical success in ]'s 1999 production at ], with ] and ] in the central roles, once again demonstrating the suitability of the play for smaller venues.{{sfn|Walter|2002|p=1}}{{sfn|Billington|2003|p=600}} Doran's witches spoke their lines to a theatre in absolute darkness, and the opening visual image was the entrance of Macbeth and Banquo in the berets and fatigues of modern warfare, carried on the shoulders of triumphant troops.{{sfn|Billington|2003|p=600}} In contrast to Nunn, Doran presented a world in which king Duncan and his soldiers were ultimately benign and honest, heightening the deviance of Macbeth (who seems genuinely surprised by the witches' prophecies) and Lady Macbeth in plotting to kill the king. The play said little about politics, instead powerfully presenting its central characters' psychological collapse.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=134}}
	'']'' (], 1955) established the tradition of resetting the ''Macbeth'' story among 20th-century gangsters.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 100-102)</ref> Others to do so include '']'' (William Reilly, 1991),<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 110-111)</ref> '']'' (], 2003)<ref name="Rosenthal 2007, 123-124">Rosenthal (2007, 123-124)</ref> and ]'s Australian 2006 '']''.<ref name="Rosenthal 2007, 127-128">Rosenthal (2007, 127-128)</ref>
			''Macbeth'' returned to the RSC in 2018, when ] played the title role, with ] as his wife, Lady Macbeth.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rsc.org.uk/macbeth/past-productions/polly-findlay-2018-production|title=Macbeth|website=RSC|access-date=21 May 2019|archive-date=13 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813084244/https://www.rsc.org.uk/macbeth/past-productions/polly-findlay-2018-production|url-status=live}}</ref> The play later transferred to the Barbican in London.
	In 1957, ] used the ''Macbeth'' story as the basis for the "universally acclaimed"<ref>Guntner (2000, 125)</ref> '']'' (in English known as ''Throne of Blood'' or (the literal translation of its title) ''Cobweb Castle'').<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 103)</ref> The film is a Japanese period-piece (]), drawing upon elements of ], especially in its depiction of the evil spirit who takes the part of Shakespeare's witches, and of Asaji, the Lady Macbeth character, played by ],<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 103-104)</ref> and upon ] in its depiction of Washizu, the Macbeth character, played by ].<ref>Howard (2003, 617)</ref> In a twist on Shakespeare's ending, the tyrant (having witnessed Cobweb Forest come to Cobweb Castle) is killed by volleys of arrows from his own archers.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 105)</ref>
			In Soviet-controlled Prague in 1977, faced with the illegality of working in theatres, ] adapted ''Macbeth'' into a 75-minute abridgement for five actors, suitable for "bringing a show in a suitcase to people's homes".{{sfn|Holland|2007|p=40}}{{efn|See also ]'s '']''.}}
	In 1960, ] directed ] and ] in a made-for-TV film which later had a limited theatrical release. (The three had also worked together on the 1954 '']'' TV version of the play.)<ref>McKernan & Terris (1994, 93)</ref> Neither of the central couple was able to adapt their stage acting style to the screen successfully, leading to their roles being described by critics as "recited" rather than "acted".<ref>Brode (2001, 185-187)</ref>
			Spectacle was unfashionable in Western theatre throughout the 20th century. In East Asia, however, spectacular productions have achieved great success, including ]'s 1980 production with ] as Macbeth, set in the 16th century ].{{sfn|Williams|2002|pp=134–135}} The same director's tour of London in 1987 was widely praised by critics, even though (like most of their audience) they were unable to understand the significance of Macbeth's gestures, the huge Buddhist altar dominating the set, or the petals falling from the cherry trees.{{sfn|Holland|2002|p=207}}
	]'s 1971 '']'' was the director's first film after the brutal murder of his wife, ], and reflected his determination to "show violence the way it is ... if you don't show it realistically then that's immoral and harmful."<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 107-108)</ref> His film showed deaths only reported in the play, including the execution of Cawdor, and Macbeth stabbing Duncan,<ref>Rosenthal (2007,108)</ref> and its violence was "intense and incessant."<ref>Brode (2001, 189)</ref> Made in the aftermath of ]'s youthful '']'', and financed by '']'' mogul ], Polanski's film featured a young sexy lead couple, played by ] (28) and by ] (25), who controversially performed the sleepwalking scene nude.<ref>Brode (2001, 187-189), Rosenthal (2007, 107-109)</ref> The unsettling film score, provided by the ], invoked "discord and dissonance."<ref>Sanders (2007, 147)</ref> While using Shakespeare's words, Polanski alters aspects of Shakespeare's story, turning the minor character Ross into a ruthless Machiavellian,<ref>Brode (2001, 191)</ref> and adding an epilogue to the play in which Donalbain (younger son of Duncan) arrives at the witches' lair, indicating that the cycle of violence will begin again.<ref>Guntner (2000, 126-127)</ref>
			Xu Xiaozhong's 1980 ] production in Beijing made every effort to be unpolitical (necessary in the aftermath of the ]): yet audiences still perceived correspondences between the central character (whom the director had actually modelled on ]) and ].{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|p=268}} Shakespeare has often been adapted to indigenous theatre traditions, for example the ''] Macbeth'' of ] performed at the inaugural Chinese Shakespeare Festival of 1986.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|p=270}} Similarly, ]'s ''Barnam Vana'' of 1979 had adapted ''Macbeth'' to the ] tradition of ], India.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=276–278}} In 1997, Lokendra Arambam created ''Stage of Blood'', merging a range of martial arts, dance and gymnastic styles from ], performed in ] and in England. The stage was literally a raft on a lake.{{sfn|Gillies|Minami|Li|Trivedi|2002|pp=278–279}}
	The Nunn/McKellen/Dench ] ] stage performance discussed above was adapted for TV and broadcast by ] (see '']'').<ref>Willems (2000, 36); McKernan & Terris (1994, 99)</ref>
			'']'' (蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jō, ''Spider Web Castle'') is a 1957 Japanese samurai film co-written and directed by ]. The film transposes ''Macbeth'' from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama. Kurosawa was a fan of the play and planned his own adaptation for several years, postponing it after learning of Orson Welles' ''Macbeth'' (1948). The film won two Mainichi Film Awards.
	William Reilly's 1991 '']'', another film to set the ''Macbeth'' story among gangsters, has been praised for its accuracy in depicting ] rituals, said to be more authentic than those in '']'' or '']''. However the film failed to please audiences or critics: Leonard Maltin found it "pretentious" and "unintentionally comic" and Daniel Rosenthal describes it as "providing the most risible chunks of modernised Shakespeare in screen history."<ref>Brode (2001, 193); Rosenthal (2007, 110)</ref> In 1992 ] produced a cel-animated ''Macbeth'' for the series '']'',<ref>Holland (2007, 43)</ref> and in 1997 Jeremy Freeston directed ] and ] in a low budget, fairly full-text, version.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 112-3)</ref>
			The play has been translated and performed in various languages in different parts of the world, and ''Media Artists'' was the first to stage its ] adaptation in ]. The adaptation by Balram and the play directed by ] have been universally acknowledged as a milestone in Punjabi theatre.{{sfn|The Tribune|2006}} The unique attempt involved trained theatre experts and the actors taken from a rural background in ]. Punjabi folk music imbued the play with the native ethos as the Scottish setting of Shakespeare's play was transposed into a Punjabi ].{{sfn|Tandon|2004}}
	In Shakespeare's script, the actor playing Banquo must enter the stage as a ghost. The major film versions have usually taken the opportunity to provide a double perspective: Banquo visible to the audience from Macbeth's perspective, but invisible from the perspective of other characters. Television versions, however, have often taken the third approach of leaving Banquo invisible to viewers, thereby portraying Banquo's ghost as merely Macbeth's delusion. This approach is taken in the 1978 ] production, ]'s 1983 version for ], and in ]'s 1997 ''Macbeth on the Estate''.<ref name="Forsyth 2000, 289-290">Forsyth (2000, 289-290)</ref> ''Macbeth on the Estate'' largely dispensed with the supernatural in favour of the drug-crime driven realism of characters living on a ] housing estate: except for the three "weird" (in the modern sense of the word) children who prophesy Macbeth's fate.<ref name="Forsyth 2000, 289-290"/> This production used Shakespeare's language, but encouraged the actors - many of whom were locals, not professionals - to speak it naturalistically.<ref>Howard (2003, 618)</ref>
			In 2021, ] starred in ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' at the ] in London.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Benedict |first1=David |title='The Tragedy of Macbeth' Review: James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan in an Over-Directed and Under-Dramatized Production |url=https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/macbeth-review-saoirse-ronan-james-mcardle-1235089573/ |access-date=19 June 2022 |work=Variety |date=14 October 2021 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619150704/https://variety.com/2021/legit/reviews/macbeth-review-saoirse-ronan-james-mcardle-1235089573/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The following year a revival production opened on Broadway with ] and ] to middling reviews.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Jesse |title=Review: In a New 'Macbeth,' Something Wonky This Way Comes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/theater/macbeth-review-broadway.html |access-date=19 June 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=19 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619051154/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/theater/macbeth-review-broadway.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
	====Twenty-first Century====
			A new production starring ] and ] ran at London's ] from 8 December 2023 to 10 February 2024. Max Webster directed the production.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gans |first=Andrew |date=8 December 2023 |title=Donmar Warehouse Macbeth, Starring Cush Jumbo and David Tennant, Begins December 8 |url=https://playbill.com/article/donmar-warehouse-macbeth-starring-cush-jumbo-and-david-tennant-begins-december-8 |access-date=25 April 2024 |website=playbill.com}}</ref> The show received 3 ] nominations, including Best Revival.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-03-12 |title=Olivier awards 2024: complete list of nominations |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/mar/12/olivier-awards-2024-complete-list-of-nominations |access-date=2024-04-25 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> It transferred to the ] in the ] from 1 October 2024 for a limited run.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-23 |title=Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo to transfer to the West End |url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/macbeth-with-david-tennant-and-cush-jumbo-to-transfer-to-the-west-end_1594569/ |access-date=2024-04-25 |language=en-US}}</ref>
	21st-century cinema has re-interpreted ''Macbeth'', relocating "Scotland" elsewhere: '']'' to Mumbai, '']'' to Pennsylvania, ]'s '']'' to Melbourne, and Allison L. LiCalsi's 2001 ''Macbeth: The Comedy'' to a location only differentiated from the reality of New Jersey, where it was filmed, through signifiers such as tartan, Scottish flags and bagpipes.<ref>Jess-Cooke (2006, 174-175)</ref> ]'s 2000 '']'' was set among, and starred, residents of ], a remote fishing community in Madagascar.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 114-117)</ref> ]' 2000 '']'' (in English: ''Bleeder'') set the story among Venezuelan bandits and presented a shockingly visualised horror version.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 118-120)</ref>
			=== Operas ===
	]'s '']'' reframes the ''Macbeth'' story as a comedy-thriller set in a 1975 fast-food restaurant, and features ] in the Macbeth role and ] as Pat, the Lady Macbeth character: "We're not bad people, Mac. We're just under-achievers who have to make up for lost time." ] plays vegetarian detective Ernie McDuff who (in the words of Daniel Rosenthal) " his uniquely offbeat menacing delivery to innocuous lines."<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 121-122)</ref> ''Scotland, PA'''s conceit of resetting the ''Macbeth'' story at a restaurant was followed in ]'s 2005 ] adaptation.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 122)</ref>
			''Macbeth'' was adapted into an Italian ] ('']'') by composer ] and librettist ] in 1847 (revised in French in 1865). An English opera adaptation of the play was created by ] in 1927.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1927-12-18 |title=An English "Macbeth." |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/12/18/archives/an-english-macbeth.html |access-date=2023-12-20 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
			Contemporary opera adaptations include Luke Styles' ''Macbeth'' (2015)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hall |first=George |date=2015-09-10 |title=Macbeth review – an audacious operatic reduction |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/10/macbeth-review-luke-styles-opera-shakespeare-linbury-studio |access-date=2023-12-20 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and ]'s ''Macbeth Underworld'' (2019).<ref>{{Cite web |title='Macbeth Underworld' de Pascal Dusapin. Psychanalyse d'un couple halluciné. Éblouissant ***. |url=https://www.rtbf.be/article/macbeth-underworld-de-pascal-dusapin-psychanalyse-d-un-couple-hallucine-eblouissant-10325447 |access-date=2023-12-20 |website=RTBF |language=fr}}</ref>
	]'s 2003 '']'', filmed in ] and ] and set in the ], was produced in the ] tradition, but heavily influenced by ''Macbeth'', by ]'s 1972 '']'' and by ]'s 1994 '']''.<ref>Jess-Cooke (2006, 177-178)</ref> It deviates from the ''Macbeth'' story in making the Macbeth character (Miyan Maqbool, played by ]) a single man, lusting after the mistress (Nimmi, played by ]) of the Duncan character (Jahangir Khan, known as Abbaji, played by ]).<ref name="Rosenthal 2007, 123-124"/> Another deviation is the comparative delay in the murder: Shakespeare's protagonists murder Duncan early in the play, but more than half of the film has passed by the time Nimmi and Miyan kill Abbaji.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 124)</ref>
			An indirect adaptation is ]'s '']'' (1934), based on ] by ].
	In 2004 an "eccentric" Swedish/Norwegian film, based on ]'s Ice Globe Theatre production of ''Macbeth'', was said by critic Daniel Rosenthal to owe "more to co-director ]'s background in natural history documentaries than to Shakespeare."<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 125-126)</ref> More conventional adaptations of 21st-century stage productions to television include ]'s ] production filmed in 2001 with ] and ] in the central roles,<ref>Walter (2002, 65)</ref> and ]'s ] '']'' televised in 2010 with ] and ] as the tragic couple. The cast of the latter felt that the history of their stage performance (moving from a ] at Chichester to a ] in London to a ] in Brooklyn) made it easier for them to "re-scale", yet again, their performances for the cameras.<ref>Interview with ] on DVD of ]</ref>
			==See also==
	In 2006, ] directed a Shakespearean-language, extremely violent '']'' set in the Melbourne underworld. ] played Macbeth. ] played Lady Macbeth and shared the screenplay credits with Wright.<ref name="Rosenthal 2007, 127-128"/> The director considered her portrayal of Lady Macbeth to be the most sympathetic he had ever seen.<ref>Interview with ] in "Making of Documentary" on DVD of ]</ref> In spite of the high level of violence and nudity (Macbeth has sex with the three naked schoolgirl witches as they prophesy his fate), intended to appeal to the young audiences that had flocked to '']'', the film flopped at the box office.<ref>Rosenthal (2007, 127)</ref>
			* ]
			==Notes and references==
	===Other Media===
			{{notelist|30em}}
	====Literature====		== References ==
			{{refbegin}}
			All references to ''Macbeth'', unless otherwise specified, are taken from the ], second series edition edited by ].{{sfn|Muir|1984}} Under their referencing system, III.I.55 means act 3, scene 1, line 55. All references to other Shakespeare plays are to ] '']'' edited by ] and ].{{sfn|Wells|Taylor|2005}}
			{{refend}}
			{{reflist|20em}}
			==Sources==
	There have been numerous literary adaptations and spin-offs from ''Macbeth''. Russian Novelist ] told a variation of the story from Lady Macbeth's point of view in '']'', which itself became a number of films<ref>Brode (2001, 192)</ref> and ] by ].<ref>Sanders (2007, 156)</ref> ]'s 1911 ''The Rehearsal'' fictionalises ]'s inept rehearsals for ''Macbeth's'' premiere.<ref>Lanier (2002, 119)</ref> Gu Wuwei's 1916 play ''The Usurper of State Power'' adapted both ''Macbeth'' and ''Hamlet'' as a parody of contemporary events in China.<ref>Gillies (2002, 267)</ref> The play has been used as a background for detective fiction (as in ]'s 1976 ''Bullets for Macbeth'')<ref>Osborne (2007, 129)</ref> but was also used as the basis of ]'s parody of the whodunit genre ''The Macbeth Murder Mystery'', in which the protagonist reads ''Macbeth'' applying the conventions of detective stories, and concludes that it must have been Macduff who murdered Duncan.<ref>Lanier (2002, 85)</ref> Comics and graphic novels have utilised the play, or have dramatised the circumstances of its inception: ] himself wrote the play for Shakespeare in the course of one night, in the 1947 ''Shakespeare's Ghost Writer''.<ref>Lanier (2002, 136-137)</ref>
			===Editions of ''Macbeth''===
			{{refbegin|30em}}
	Macbeth has been adapted into plays dealing with the political and cultural concerns of many nations. ]'s '']'' satirised ''Macbeth'' as a meaningless succession of treachery and slaughter.<ref>Hortmann (2002, 219)</ref> ]'s ''A'are Akogun'', first performed in Nigeria in 1968, mixed the English and ] languages.<ref>Banham (2002, 292)</ref> ]'s 1970 play '']'' adapts ''Macbeth'' to Zulu culture, and was said by '']'' to be "more authentic than any modern ''Macbeth''" in presenting a world in which a man's fighting ability is central to his identity.<ref>Banham (2002, 286-287), citing '']'' 8 August 1997</ref> ] adapted ''Macbeth'' as a battle to take over a powerful corporation in Ghana in his 1972 ''Mambo'' or ''Let's Play Games, My Husband''.<ref>Banham (2002, 296)</ref> ]'s ''Zeneral Macbeff'', first performed in 1982, adapted the story to the local ] and to the ] political situation.<ref>Banham (2002, 289-292)</ref> (The same author later translated ''Macbeth'' itself into Mauritian creole, as ''Trazedji Makbess''.)<ref>Banham (2002, 289)</ref> And in 2000, Chuck Mike and the Nigerian Performance Studio Workshop produced ''Mukbutu'' as a direct commentary on the fragile nature of Nigerian democracy at the time.<ref>Banham (2002, 297)</ref>
			*{{cite book
			|title = Macbeth
	====Music and Audio====
			|last = Shakespeare
			|first = William
	''Macbeth'' is, with '']'', one of the two most-performed Shakespeare plays on ], with 20 productions between 1923 and 2005.<ref>Greenhalgh (2007, 186 and footnote 39 on 197)</ref>
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
			|display-authors = 0
	The extant version of ''Macbeth'', in the ], contains dancing and music, including the song "Come Away Hecate" which exists in two collections of lute music (both c.1630) arranged by ].<ref>Brooke (2008, 225)</ref> And, from the Restoration onwards, incidental music has frequently been composed for the play: including works by ] in the eighteenth century.<ref>Sanders (2007, 32)</ref> ]'s use of dance in the witches' scenes was inherited by ], which in turn influenced ] to incorporate a ballet around the witches' cauldron into his opera '']''.<ref>Sanders (2007, 60)</ref> Verdi's first Shakespeare-influenced opera, with libretto by ], incorporated a number of striking arias for Lady Macbeth, giving her a prominence in the early part of the play which contrasts with the character's increasing isolation as the action continues: she ceases to sing duets and her sleepwalking confession is starkly contrasted with the "supported grief" of Macduff in the preceding scene.<ref>Sanders (2007, 83 & 112-116)</ref> Other music influenced by the play includes ]'s 1890 symphonic poem '']''.<ref>Sanders (2007, 16)</ref> ] and ] incorporated themes depicting the female characters from ''Macbeth'' in the 1957 Shakespearean jazz suite '']'': the weird sisters juxtaposed with Iago (from '']''), and ''Lady Mac'' represented by ragtime piano because, as Ellington put it, "we suspect there was a little ragtime in her soul".<ref>Sanders (2007, 17 & 20)</ref> Another Jazz collaboration to create hybrids of Shakespeare plays was that of ] with ], who in Laine's 1964 ''Shakespeare and All That Jazz'' juxtaposed Titania's instructions to her fairies from '']'' with the witches' chant from ''Macbeth''.<ref>''Macbeth'' 1.1.10-11; ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' 3.1.154-166); Sanders (2007, 22-23)</ref> In 2000, ] produced their heavy metal concept-album retelling '']''.<ref>Lanier (2002, 72)</ref>
			|editor1-last = Bloom
			|editor1-first = Harold
	====Visual Arts====
			|editor1-link = Harold Bloom
			|series = Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages
	The play has inspired numerous works of art. The scene in which Lady Macbeth seizes the daggers, as performed by ] and ], was a touchstone throughout ]'s career, including works in 1766, 1774 and 1812.<ref name="Orgel 2007, 74">Orgel (2007, 74)</ref> The same performance was the subject of ]'s painting of the Macbeths in 1768.<ref>Orgel (2002, 247-249)</ref> In 1786, ] announced his intention to found his ]. His chief innovation was to see the works of Shakespeare as history, rather than contemporary, so instead of including the (then fashionable) works depicting the great actors of the day on stage in modern dress, he commissioned works depicting the ''action'' of the plays.<ref>Orgel (2007, 75)</ref> However the most notable works in the collection disregard this historicising principle: such as ]'s depiction of the naked and heroic Macbeth encountering the witches.<ref name="Orgel 2007, 76">Orgel (2007, 76)</ref> ]'s paintings were also influenced by Shakespeare, including his ''Pity'', inspired by Macbeth's "Pity, like a naked new-born babe, striding the blast."<ref name="Macbeth 1 2007">''Macbeth'' 1.7.21-22; Orgel (2007, 77)</ref> ]' triumph in the role of Lady Macbeth led ] to depict her as ''The Muse of Tragedy''.<ref name="Gay 2002, 159"/>
			|publisher = Chelsea House
			|location = New York
	<gallery>
			|year = 2008
	File:Zoffany-Garrick and Pritchard in Macbeth.jpg|]'s depiction of ] and ] in ''Macbeth''.<ref>Orgel (2002, 248)</ref>
			|isbn = 978-0-7910-9842-4
	File:Fuseli Macbeth 1766.jpg|]'s 1766 depiction of ] and ], with the daggers.<ref>Orgel (2007, 74); Orgel (2002, 246-247)</ref>
			|ref = {{harvid|Bloom|2008}}
	Image:Johann Heinrich Füssli - Lady Macbeth with the Daggers - WGA8338.jpg|]'s later (1812) reworking of ] and ], with the daggers.<ref name="Orgel 2007, 74"/>
	Image:FuseliMacbethBoydell.jpg|James Caldwell's engraving, after ], of Macbeth's encounter with the witches.<ref name="Orgel 2007, 76"/>
	File:Pity by William Blake 1795.jpg|'']'' by ], based on Macbeth's "Pity, like a naked new-born babe, striding the blast."<ref name="Macbeth 1 2007"/>
	File:Mrs Siddons by Joshua Reynolds.jpg|] depicted ] as ''The Muse of Tragedy'', largely due to her triumph in the role of Lady Macbeth.<ref name="Gay 2002, 159"/>
	File:Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth.jpg|]'s painting of ] as Lady Macbeth, in a gown decorated with green beetle wings.<ref>Schoch (2002,59)</ref>
	</gallery>
	==Notes==
	===Citations===
	Unless otherwise specified, all citations of ''Macbeth'' refer to Muir (1984), and of other works of Shakespeare refer to Wells and Taylor (2005).
	{{Reflist|30em}}
	===References===
	{{Refbegin|30em}}
	*{{Cite book |title = Shakespearean Playhouses
	|last = Adams
	|first = Joseph Quincy
	|authorlink = Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr.
	|publisher = Houghton Mifflin
	|year = 1917
	|ref = harv
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	*{{Cite journal |title =
	|last = Bald		|title = Macbeth
	|first = Robert Cecil		|last = Shakespeare
			|first = William
	|journal = ]
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
			|display-authors = 0
			|editor1-last = Braunmuller
			|editor1-first = Albert R.
			|series = ]
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 1997
			|isbn = 978-0-521-29455-3
			|ref = {{harvid|Braunmuller|1997}}
			|url-access = registration
			|url = https://archive.org/details/macbeth0000shak_q6u8
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = Macbeth
			|last = Shakespeare
			|first = William
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
			|display-authors = 0
			|editor1-last = Brooke
			|editor1-first = Nicholas
			|series = ]
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
	|volume = 4		|location = Oxford
	|issue =		|year = 2008
	|year = 1928		|isbn = 978-0-19-953583-5
			|ref = {{harvid|Brooke|2008}}
	|pages = 429–31
	|doi =
	|ref = harv
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Banham, Martin; Mooneeram, Roshni and Plastow, Jane ''Shakespeare and Africa'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 284-299)
	*{{Cite book |title = Macbeth		|title = Macbeth
	|last = Barnet		|last = Shakespeare
	|first = Sylvan		|first = William
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
	|editor-last = Barnet
	|editor-first = Sylvan		|display-authors = 0
			|editor1-last = Clark
	|authorlink = Sylvan Barnet
			|editor1-first = Sandra
	|chapter = Macbeth on Stage and Screen
			|editor2-last = Mason
	|publisher = ]
			|editor2-first = Pamela
	|series = Signet Classics
			|series = ], third series
	|year = 1998
			|publisher = ]
	|pages = 186–200
	|isbn = 978-0451524447		|location = London
	|ref = harv		|year = 2015
			|isbn = 978-1-904271-40-6
			|ref = {{harvid|Clark|Mason|2015}}
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* {{Cite book|title = The Jacobean and Caroline Stage
	| last = Bentley		|title = Macbeth
	| first = Gerald Eades		|last = Shakespeare
			|first = William
	| author-link = Gerald Eades Bentley
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
	| year = 1941
	| volume = 6		|display-authors = 0
			|editor1-last = Kermode
	| publisher = ]
	| oclc =		|editor1-first = Frank
			|editor1-link = Frank Kermode
	| isbn =
			|series = ]
	| ref = harv
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Boston
			|year = 1974
			|isbn = 0-395-04402-2
			|ref = {{harvid|Kermode|1974}}
			|url = https://archive.org/details/riversideshakesp00shak
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Billington, Michael ''Shakespeare and the Modern British Theatre'' in Wells and Orlin (2003, 595-606)
			|title = Macbeth
	*{{Cite book |title = Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human
	|last = Bloom		|last = Shakespeare
	|first = Harold		|first = William
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
	|authorlink = Harold Bloom
	|publisher =		|display-authors = 0
	|year = 1999		|editor-last = Muir
			|editor-first = Kenneth
	|isbn = 1-57322-751-X
			|editor-link = Kenneth Muir (scholar)
	|ref = harv
			|edition = 11th
			|publisher = ], second series
			|year = 1984
			|orig-year = 1951
			|isbn = 978-1-903436-48-6
			|ref = {{harvid|Muir|1984}}
			|url = https://archive.org/details/macbeth00will
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Tragedie of Macbeth: A Frankly Annotated First Folio Edition
			|last = Shakespeare
			|first = William
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
			|display-authors = 0
			|editor1-last = Papadinis
			|editor1-first = Demitra
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Jefferson, North Carolina
			|year = 2012
			|isbn = 978-0-7864-6479-1
			|ref = none
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Booth, Michael R. ''Nineteenth-Century Theatre'' in Brown (1995, 299-340)
	*{{Cite book |title = Macbeth		|title = Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth
	|last = Braunmuller		|last = Shakespeare
	|first = Albert R.		|first = William
			|series = Silver series of classics
	|editor-last = Braunmuller
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
	|editor-first = Albert R.
			|display-authors = 0
	|chapter = Introduction
			|editor1-last = Sprague
	|publisher = ]
	|year = 1997		|editor1-first = Homer B.
			|editor1-link = Homer Sprague
	|pages = 1–93
			|publisher = Silver, Burdett, & Co.
	|isbn = 0-521-22340-7
			|location = New York
	|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=dvn3uent7VcC
			|year = 1889
	|accessdate = 16 August 2012
	|ref = harv		|hdl = 2027/hvd.hn3mu1
			|hdl-access = free
			|ref = {{harvid|Sprague|1889}}
	}}		}}
			{{refend}}
	*{{cite book |title = Shakespeare at the Movies: From the Silent Era to Today
	|last = Brode
			===Secondary sources===
	|first = Douglas
			{{refbegin|30em}}
	|publisher = Berkley Boulevard
			*{{cite web
			|title = 'Scottish Curse' Struck Heston in Bermuda
			|author = <!-- no byline; staff writers -->
			|website = ]
			|date = 7 April 2013
			|access-date = 30 January 2018
			|url = http://bernews.com/2013/04/scottish-curse-struck-heston-in-bermuda/
			|ref = {{harvid|Bernews|2013}}
			|archive-date = 12 November 2017
			|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171112052702/http://bernews.com/2013/04/scottish-curse-struck-heston-in-bermuda/
			|url-status = live
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre
			|editor-last = Brown
			|editor-first = John Russell
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
	|year = 2001		|year = 2001
			|isbn = 978-0-19-285442-1
			|ref = none
	}}		}}
			**{{cite book
	*{{Cite book |title = The Oxford Shakespeare: Macbeth
			|chapter = Nineteenth-Century Theatre
	|last = Brooke
			|last = Booth
	|first = Nicholas (ed.) and Shakespeare, William
			|first = Michael R.
			|pages = 299–340
			|title = The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre
			|editor-last = Brown
			|editor-first = John Russell
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
	|year = 2008		|location = Oxford
	|isbn = 978-0-19-953583-5		|year = 2001
	|ref = harv		|isbn = 978-0-19-285442-1
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	*{{cite book |title = The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre
			|title = Hippolyta's View: Some Christian Aspects of Shakespeare's Plays
	|last = Brown
	|first = John Russell (ed.)		|last = Bryant Jr.
	|publisher = Oxford University Press
	|year = 1995
	|isbn = 0-19-285442-9
	}}
	*{{Cite book |title = Shakespeare around the Globe: A Guide to Notable Postwar Revivals
	|last = Brown
	|first = Langdon
	|publisher = Greenwood Press
	|year = 1986
	|isbn =
	|ref = harv
	}}
	*{{Cite book |title = Hippolyta’s View: Some Christian Aspects of Shakespeare’s Plays
	|last = Bryant, Jr.
	|first = J. A.		|first = J. A.
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
	|year = 1961		|year = 1961
	|isbn =		|ol = OL5820486M
	|url = http://archive.org/details/hippolytasviewso012763mbp		|hdl = 2027/mdp.39015001989410
			|url = https://archive.org/details/hippolytasviewso012763mbp
			|ref = {{harvid|Bryant|1961}}
	|accessdate = 1 November 2009
	|ref = harv
	}}
	*{{cite book |title = Screening Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century
	|last = Burnett
	|first = Mark Thornton and Wray, Ramona (eds.)
	|publisher = Edinburgh University Press
	|year = 2006
	|isbn = 0 7486 2351 5
	}}
	* {{Cite book|title = The Elizabethan Stage
	| last = Chambers
	| first = E. K.
	| author-link = E. K. Chambers
	| year = 1923
	|volume=2
	| publisher = Clarendon Press
	| oclc = 336379
	| isbn = 0-19-811511-3
	| ref = harv
	}}		}}
	*{{Cite journal |title = 'Unreal Mockery': Unreason and the Problem of Spectacle in Macbeth		*{{cite journal
			|title = 'Unreal Mockery': Unreason and the Problem of Spectacle in ''Macbeth''
	|last = Coddon		|last = Coddon
	|first = Karin S.		|first = Karin S.
	|journal = ]		|journal = ]
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
			|issn = 0013-8304
			|eissn = 1080-6547
	|volume = 56		|volume = 56
	|issue = 3		|issue = 3
Line 445:		Line 550:
	|pages = 485–501		|pages = 485–501
	|doi = 10.2307/2873194		|doi = 10.2307/2873194
	|ref = harv		|jstor = 2873194
	}}		}}
	*{{Cite book |title = Macbeth: A Guide to the Play		*{{cite book
			|title = ''Macbeth'': A Guide to the Play
	|last = Coursen		|last = Coursen
	|first = Herbert R.		|first = Herbert R.
Line 453:		Line 559:
	|year = 1997		|year = 1997
	|isbn = 0-313-30047-X		|isbn = 0-313-30047-X
			|url-access = registration
	|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=OVdlAAAAMAAJ
			|url = https://archive.org/details/macbethguidetopl0000cour
	|accessdate = 15 August 2012
			}}
	|ref = harv
			*{{cite web
	}}
	*{{Cite web |title = Toil and Trouble: The Curse of Macbeth		|title = ''Macbeth, A True Story'' by Fiona Watson: The whole truth about Macbeth is not enough for Robert Crawford
	|last = Dunning		|last = Crawford
	|first = Brian		|first = Robert
			|author-link = Robert Crawford (Scottish poet)
	|url = http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4222
			|website = ]
	|publisher = Skeptoid.com
			|date = 13 March 2010
	|work = Skeptoid: Critical analysis of Pop Phenomena
	|accessdate = 28 November 2010		|access-date = 28 January 2018
			|url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/13/macbeth-true-story-fiona-watson
	|ref = harv
			|archive-date = 29 January 2018
			|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180129004538/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/13/macbeth-true-story-fiona-watson
			|url-status = live
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title =From Tudor to Stuart: the regime change from Elizabeth I to James I
			|last = Doran
			|first = Susan
			|publisher = Oxford University Press
			|year = 2024
			|isbn = 978-0-19-875464-0
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher
			|editor-last = Dyce
			|editor-first = Alexander
			|editor-link = Alexander Dyce
			|year = 1843
			|publisher = Edward Moxen
			|location = London
			|volume = 1
			|ol = 7056519M
			|hdl = 2027/osu.32435063510085
			|hdl-access = free
	}}		}}
			*{{cite web
	*{{Cite news |title = The curse of the play
			|title = The curse of the play
	|last = Faires		|last = Faires
	|first = Robert		|first = Robert
	|work = ]		|website = ]
	|issue =
	|date = 13 October 2000		|date = 13 October 2000
	|pages =
	|url = http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2000-10-13/78882/		|url = http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2000-10-13/78882/
	|accessdate = 19 August 2012		|access-date = 19 August 2012
			|archive-date = 27 February 2021
	|ref = harv
			|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210227103319/https://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2000-10-13/78882/
			|url-status = live
			}}
			*{{cite journal
			|title = Launching the Tragedy of Macbeth: Temptation, Deliberation, and Consent in Act I
			|last = Frye
			|first = Roland Mushat
			|author-link = Roland Frye
			|journal = ]
			|publisher = ]
			|issn = 0018-7895
			|eissn = 1544-399X
			|volume = 50
			|issue = 3
			|year = 1987
			|pages = 249–261
			|doi = 10.2307/3817399
			|jstor = 3817399
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Forsyth, Neil ''Shakespeare the Illusionist: Filming the Supernatural'' in Jackson (2000, 274-294)
			|title = Profiling Shakespeare
	* Freedman, Barbara ''Critical Junctures in Shakespeare Screen History: The Case of Richard III'' in Jackson (2000, 47-71)
	*{{Cite book |title = Profiling Shakespeare
	|last = Garber		|last = Garber
	|first = Marjorie B.		|first = Marjorie B.
	|publisher = Routledge		|publisher = ]
	|year = 2008		|year = 2008
	|isbn = 978-0-415-96446-3		|isbn = 978-0-415-96446-3
	|ref = harv
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Gay, Penny ''Women and Shakespearean Performance'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 155-173)
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare
	* Gillies, John; Minami, Ryuta; Li, Ruri and Trivedi, Poonam ''Shakespeare on the Stages of Asia'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 259-283)
			|editor1-last = de Grazia
	* Greenhalgh, Susanne ''Shakespeare Overheard: Performances, Adaptations and Citations on Radio'' in Shaughnessy (2007, 175-198).
			|editor1-first = Margreta
	* Guntner, J. Lawrence ''Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear on Film'' in Jackson (2000, 117-134), especially the section ''Macbeth: of Kings, Castles and Witches'' at 123-128.
			|editor2-last = Wells
	*{{Cite book |title = A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1965
	|last = Halliday		|editor2-first = Stanley
	|first = F. E.		|editor2-link = Stanley Wells
	|publisher = Penguin		|publisher = ]
	|year = 1964		|location = Cambridge
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
	|isbn =
	|url =		|year = 2001
			|isbn = 978-1-139-00010-9
	|accessdate =
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521650941
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			|archive-date = 30 September 2022
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			|url-status = live
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Shakespeare in the theatre, 1660–1900
			|last = Potter
			|first = Lois
			|pages = 183–198
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare
			|editor1-last = de Grazia
			|editor1-first = Margreta
			|editor2-last = Wells
			|editor2-first = Stanley
			|editor2-link = Stanley Wells
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|year = 2001
			|isbn = 978-1-139-00010-9
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521650941.012
			|via = ]
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Hawkes, Terence ''Shakespeare's Afterlife: Introduction'' in Welles and Orlin (2003, 571-581)
			|title = The Shakespearean Stage 1574–1642
	*{{cite book |title = A Companion to Shakespeare and Performance
	|last = Hodgdon		|last = Gurr
	|first = Barbara and Worthen, W. B. (eds.)		|first = Andrew
			|author-link = Andrew Gurr
	|publisher = Blackwell Publishing Limited
			|edition = 4th
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			|doi = 10.1017/CBO9780511819520
			|via = ]
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = Shakespeare and Renaissance Politics
			|last = Hadfield
			|first = Andrew
			|publisher = Arden Critical Companions
			|year = 2004
			|isbn = 1-903436-17-6
			}}
			*{{cite web
			|title = In Bermuda, Shakespeare in all his glory
			|last = Hardy
			|first = Jessie Moniz
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			|date = 16 October 2014
			|access-date = 30 January 2018
			|url = http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20141016/ISLAND/141019781
			}}
			*{{cite journal
			|title = The Smell of ''Macbeth''
			|last = Harris
			|first = Jonathan Gil
			|journal = ]
			|publisher = ]
			|issn = 0037-3222
			|eissn = 1538-3555
			|volume = 58
			|issue = 4
			|year = 2007
			|pages = 465–486
			|doi = 10.1353/shq.2007.0062
			|jstor = 4625011
			|s2cid = 9376451
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Knight of the Burning Pestle
			|last = Beaumont
			|first = Francis
			|author-link = Francis Beaumont
			|editor1-last = Hattaway
			|editor1-first = Michael
			|series = The New Mermaids
			|publisher = Ernest Benn
			|location = London
			|year = 1969
			|hdl = 2027/mdp.39015005314193
			|ref = {{harvid|Hattaway|1969}}
			|title-link = The Knight of the Burning Pestle
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = A Companion to Shakespeare and Performance
			|editor1-last = Hodgdon
			|editor1-first = Barbara
			|editor2-last = Worthen
			|editor2-first = W. B.
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	|year = 2005		|year = 2005
	|isbn = 978-1-4051-8821-0		|isbn = 978-1-4051-8821-0
			|ref = none
	}}		}}
			**{{cite book
	* Holland, Peter ''Touring Shakespeare'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 194-211)
			|chapter = Shakespeare Goes Slumming: Harlem '37 and Birmingham '97
	* Holland, Peter ''Shakespeare Abbreviated'' in Shaughnessy (2007, 26-45)
			|last = McLuskie
	* Hortmann, Wilhelm ''Shakespeare on the Political Stage in the Twentieth Century'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 212-229)
			|first = Kathleen
	* Howard, Tony ''Shakespeare on Film and Video'' in Wells and Orlin (2003, 607-619)
			|pages = 249–266
	*{{cite book |title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film
			|title = A Companion to Shakespeare and Performance
	|last = Jackson
			|editor1-last = Hodgdon
	|first = Russell (ed.)
			|editor1-first = Barbara
	|publisher = Cambridge University Press
	|year = 2000		|editor2-last = Worthen
	|isbn = 0 521 63975 1		|editor2-first = W. B.
			|publisher = ]
			|year = 2005
			|isbn = 978-1-4051-8821-0
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Jess-Cooke, Carolyn ''Screening the McShakespeare in Post-Millennial Shakespeare Cinema'' in Burnett and Wray (2006, 163-184).
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film
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	|title = The Riverside Shakespeare
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			|year = 2007
	|editor-first = C. Blakemore
			|edition = 2nd
	|publisher = Houghton Mifflin
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
	|year = 1974
	|pages = 1307–11		|isbn = 978-1-139-00143-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521866006
	|isbn = 0-395-04402-2
	|ref = harv		|via = ]
			|ref = none
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Shakespeare the illusionist: filming the supernatural
			|last = Forsyth
			|first = Neil
			|pages = 280–302
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film
			|editor-last = Jackson
			|editor-first = Russell
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2007
			|edition = 2nd
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|isbn = 978-1-139-00143-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521866006.017
			|via = ]
	}}		}}
	*{{Cite book |title = Latin American Shakespeares		*{{cite book
			|title = Latin American Shakespeares
	|last1 = Kliman		|last1 = Kliman
	|first1 = Bernice		|first1 = Bernice
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	|year = 2005		|year = 2005
	|isbn = 0-8386-4064-8		|isbn = 0-8386-4064-8
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	}}		}}
	*{{cite book |title = Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture		*{{cite book
			|title = Shakespeare and Modern Popular Culture
	|last = Lanier		|last = Lanier
	|first = Douglas		|first = Douglas
	|series= Oxford Shakespeare Topics		|series= Oxford Shakespeare Topics
	|publisher = Oxford University Press		|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
	|year = 2002		|year = 2002
	|isbn = 0-19-818703-3		|isbn = 978-0-19-818706-6
			}}
			*{{cite journal
			|title = Master of the Tiger
			|last = Loomis
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			|journal = ]
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			|eissn = 1538-3555
			|volume = 7
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			|year = 1956
			|pages = 457
			|doi = 10.2307/2866386
			|jstor = 2866386
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			*{{cite journal
	* Marsden, Jean I. ''Improving Shakespeare: from the Restoration to Garrick'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 21-36).
	*{{Cite journal |title = The Transformation of History into Epic: The 'Stuartide' (1611) of Jean de Schelandre		|title = The Transformation of History into Epic: The ''Stuartide'' (1611) of Jean de Schelandre
	|last = Maskell		|last = Maskell
	|first = David W.		|first = D. W.
	|journal = ]		|journal = ]
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
			|issn = 0026-7937
			|eissn = 2222-4319
	|volume = 66		|volume = 66
	|issue =		|issue = 1
	|year = 1971		|year = 1971
	|pages = 53–65		|pages = 53–65
	|doi = 10.2307/3722467		|doi = 10.2307/3722467
	|ref = harv		|jstor = 3722467
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* Mason, Pamela ''Orson Welles and Filmed Shakespeare'' in Jackson (2000, 183-198), especially the section ''Macbeth (1948)'' at 184-189.
			|title = Shakespeare: Contrasts and Controversies
	*{{cite book |title = Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive
	|last = McKernan
	|first = Luke and Terris, Olwen
	|publisher = British Film Institute
	|year = 1994
	|isbn = 0-85170-486-7
	}}
	* McLuskie, Kathleen ''Shakespeare Goes Slumming: Harlem '37 and Birmingham '97'' in Hodgdon & Worthen (2005, 249-266)
	* Moody, Jane ''Romantic Shakespeare'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 37-57).
	* Morrison, Michael A. ''Shakespeare in North America'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 230-258)
	*{{Cite book |title = Macbeth
	|last = Muir		|last = Muir
	|first = Kenneth		|first = Kenneth
	|authorlink = Kenneth Muir (scholar)		|author-link = Kenneth Muir (scholar)
			|publisher = ]
	|editor-last = Muir
	|editor-first = Kenneth		|year = 1985
			|isbn = 978-0-8061-1940-3
	|chapter = Introduction
			|url = https://archive.org/details/shakespearecontr00muir
	|edition = 11
			}}
	|publisher = ], Second Series
			*{{cite journal
	|year = 1984
			|title = A Note on Banquo
	|origyear = 1951
	|pages = xiii–lxv
	|isbn = 978-1-90-343648-6
	|ref = harv
	}}
	*{{Cite journal |title = A Note on Banquo
	|last = Nagarajan		|last = Nagarajan
	|first = S.		|first = S.
	|journal = ]		|journal = ]
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
			|issn = 0037-3222
			|eissn = 1538-3555
	|volume = 7		|volume = 7
	|issue = 4		|issue = 4
	|year = 1956		|year = 1956
	|pages = 371–6		|pages = 371–376
	|ref = harv		|doi = 10.2307/2866356
			|jstor = 2866356
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	* O'Connor, Marion ''Reconstructive Shakespeare: Reproducing Elizabethan and Jacobean Stages'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 76-97)
	*{{cite book |title = The Authentic Shakespeare		|title = The Authentic Shakespeare
	|last = Orgel		|last = Orgel
	|first = Stephen		|first = Stephen
			|author-link = Stephen Orgel
	|publisher = Routledge
			|publisher = ]
	|year = 2002		|year = 2002
	|isbn = 0-415-91213-x		|isbn = 0-415-91213-X
	}}		}}
			*{{cite journal
	* Orgel, Stephen ''Shakespeare Illustrated'' in Shaughnessy (2007, 67-92)
			|title = The Celt in Power: Tudor and Cromwell
	* Osborne, Laurie ''Narration and Staging in Hamlet and its Afternovels'' in Shaughnessy (2007, 114-133)
	*{{Cite journal |title = The Celt in Power: Tudor and Cromwell
	|last = Palmer		|last = Palmer
	|first = J. Foster		|first = J. Foster
	|journal = Transactions of the Royal Historical Society		|journal = ]
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
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			|eissn = 1474-0648
	|volume = 3		|volume = 3
	|issue =		|issue = 3
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	|pages = 343–70		|pages = 343–370
	|doi = 10.2307/3677851		|doi = 10.2307/3677851
	|ref = harv		|jstor = 3677851
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	}}
			|url = https://zenodo.org/record/1449749
	*{{Cite book |title = The Royal Play of Macbeth: When, Why, and How It Was Written by Shakespeare
			|access-date = 4 May 2020
			|archive-date = 26 July 2020
			|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200726134332/https://zenodo.org/record/1449749
			|url-status = live
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = I Remember: Sketch for an Autobiography
			|url = https://archive.org/details/iremembersketchf00past
			|url-access = registration
			|last = Pasternak
			|first = Boris
			|author-link = Boris Pasternak
			|translator1-last = Magarshack
			|translator1-first = David
			|translator2-last = Harari
			|translator2-first = Manya
			|publisher = ]
			|location = New York
			|year = 1959
			|ol = 6271434M
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Royal Play of Macbeth: When, Why, and How It Was Written by Shakespeare
	|last = Paul		|last = Paul
	|first = Henry Neill		|first = Henry Neill
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
			|location = New York
	|year = 1950		|year = 1950
	|ref = harv		|ol = 6084940M
			|oclc = 307817
			|hdl = 2027/mdp.39015012064237
			|hdl-access = free
	}}		}}
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			|title = A Discovrse of The Damned Art of Witchcraft
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	|first = William		|first = William
			|author-link = William Perkins (theologian)
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
	|year = 1618		|year = 1610
	|isbn =		|ol = 19659796M
	|url = http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=witch;idno=wit075		|url = http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A09402.0001.001
	|accessdate = 24 June 2009		|access-date = 30 January 2018
			|archive-date = 30 September 2022
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			|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220930145845/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=eebo;idno=A09402.0001.001
	}}
			|url-status = live
	* Potter, Lois ''Shakespeare in the Theatre, 1660-1900'' in Wells and de Grazia (2001, 183-198)
			}}
	*{{cite book |title = 100 Shakespeare Films
			*{{cite web
	|last = Rosenthal
			|title = Macbeth in Original Pronunciation (Shakespeare's Globe) @ Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, 2014
	|first = Daniel
			|last = Price
	|publisher = British Film Institute
			|first = Eoin
			|year = 2014
			|website = Reviewing Shakespeare
			|editor1-last = Edmondson
			|editor1-first = Paul
			|editor2-last = Prescott
			|editor2-first = Paul
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			|archive-date = 29 June 2017
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			|url-status = live
			}}
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			|year = 1965
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			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
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			|chapter = Shakespeare abbreviated
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			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture
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			*{{cite journal
	* Schoch, Richard W. ''Pictorial Shakespeare'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 58-75)
			|title = Reading Between the Acts: Satire and the Interludes in ''The Knight of the Burning Pestle''
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	|last = Shaughnessy		|last = Smith
	|first = Robert (ed.)		|first = Joshua S.
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			|volume = 109
	}}
			|issue = 4
			|pages = 474–495
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			}}
	|year = 1963
			*{{cite book
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	* Smallwood, Robert ''Twentieth-Century Performance: The Stratford and London Companies'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 98-117)
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	|title = Shakespeare: Macbeth: A Casebook
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	|series = Casebook Series, AC16
	|editor-last = Wain		|year = 1935
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	|editor-first = John
			|doi = 10.1017/CBO9780511620393
	|publisher = Macmillan
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			}}
	|pages = 168–177
			*{{cite journal
	|isbn = 0-876-95051-9
			|title = Source and Motive in Macbeth and Othello
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			|volume = 19
			|issue = 73
			|year = 1943
			|pages = 25–32
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	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
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	|last = Straczynski		|last = Straczynski
	|first = J. Michael		|first = J. Michael
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			|volume = 6
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	|year = 2006		|year = 2006
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			*{{cite web
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			|archive-date = 30 September 2022
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			|year = 1993
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	}}		}}
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			|year = 1992
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			|edition = 2nd
	* Tatspaugh, Patricia ''Performance History: Shakespeare on the Stage 1660-2001'' in Wells and Orlin (2003, 525-549)
			|isbn = 0-415-05148-7
	* Taylor, Gary ''Shakespeare Plays on Renaissance Stages'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 1-20)
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	*{{Cite journal |title = The Curse of 'Macbeth'. Is there an evil spell on this ill-starred play?
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = Understanding Macbeth
			|last = Thrasher
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			|series = Understanding Great Literature
			|publisher = Lucent Books
			|location = San Diego
			|year = 2002
			|edition = 1st
			|isbn = 1-56006-998-8
			|url = https://archive.org/details/understandingmac0000thra
			}}
			*{{cite web
			|title = Theatre workshop for children
			|author = <!-- staff writers, no byline -->
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			|date = 12 June 2006
			|access-date = 31 January 2018
			|url = http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060613/ldh2.htm
			|ref = {{harvid|The Tribune|2006}}
			|archive-date = 3 March 2016
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			|url-status = live
			}}
			*{{cite magazine
			|title = The Curse of 'Macbeth'. Is there an evil spell on this ill-starred play?
	|last = Tritsch		|last = Tritsch
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	|pages =
	|url = http://pretallez.com/onstage/theatre/broadway/macbeth/macbeth_curse.html		|url = http://pretallez.com/onstage/theatre/broadway/macbeth/macbeth_curse.html
	|accessdate = 28 November 2010		|access-date = 28 November 2010
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	}}
			|archive-date = 15 July 2011
	*{{cite book |title = Actors on Shakespeare: Macbeth
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = Actors on Shakespeare: Macbeth
	|last = Walter		|last = Walter
	|first = Harriet		|first = Harriet
	|authorlink = Harriet Walter		|author-link = Harriet Walter
	|publisher = Faber and Faber		|publisher = ]
	|year = 2002		|year = 2002
	|isbn = 978-0571214075		|isbn = 978-0-571-21407-5
	}}		}}
			*{{cite book
	*{{cite book |title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare
			|title = The Annotated ''Dæmonology'': A Critical Edition
	|last = Wells
			|author = King James VI and I
	|first = Stanley and de Grazia, Margreta (eds.)
			|author-link = James VI and I
	|publisher = Cambridge University Press
	|year = 2001		|editor-last = Warren
			|editor-first = Brett R.
	|isbn = 0 521 65881 0
			|year = 2016
			|publisher = CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
			|isbn = 978-1-5329-6891-4
			|ref = {{harvid|Warren|2016}}
	}}		}}
	*{{cite book |title = Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide		*{{cite book
			|title = Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide
	|last = Wells		|editor1-last = Wells
	|first = Stanley and Orlin, Lena Cowen (eds.)		|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
	|publisher = Oxford University Press
			|editor2-last = Orlin
			|editor2-first = Lena Cowen
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
	|year = 2003		|year = 2003
	|isbn = 0-19-924522-3		|isbn = 978-0-19-924522-2
			|ref = none
	}}		}}
			**{{cite book
	*{{cite book |title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|chapter = Shakespeare and the Modern British Theatre
	|last = Wells
			|last = Billington
	|first = Stanley and Stanton, Sarah (eds.)
			|first = Michael
	|publisher = Cambridge University Press
			|author-link = Michael Billington (critic)
			|pages = 595–606
			|title = Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Orlin
			|editor2-first = Lena Cowen
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
			|year = 2003
			|isbn = 978-0-19-924522-2
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Shakespeare's Afterlife: Introduction
			|last = Hawkes
			|first = Terence
			|pages = 571–581
			|title = Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Orlin
			|editor2-first = Lena Cowen
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
			|year = 2003
			|isbn = 978-0-19-924522-2
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Performance History: Shakespeare on the Stage 1660–2001
			|last = Tatspaugh
			|first = Patricia
			|pages = 525–549
			|title = Shakespeare: An Oxford Guide
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Orlin
			|editor2-first = Lena Cowen
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
			|year = 2003
			|isbn = 978-0-19-924522-2
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
	|year = 2002		|year = 2002
	|isbn = 0 521 79711 X		|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959
			|s2cid = 152980428
			|ref = none
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Women and Shakespearean performance
			|last = Gay
			|first = Penny
			|pages = 155–173
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.009
			|via = ]
	}}		}}
			**{{cite book
	*{{cite book |title = The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Second Edition)
			|chapter = Shakespeare on the stages of Asia
	|last = Wells
			|last1 = Gillies
	|first = Stanley and Taylor, Gary (et al.)(eds.)
			|first1 = John
	|publisher = Oxford University Press
			|last2 = Minami
			|first2 = Ryuta
			|last3 = Li
			|first3 = Ruru
			|last4 = Trivedi
			|first4 = Poonam
			|pages = 259–283
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.014
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Touring Shakespeare
			|last = Holland
			|first = Peter
			|pages = 194–211
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.011
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Improving Shakespeare: from the Restoration to Garrick
			|last = Marsden
			|first = Jean I.
			|pages = 21–36
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
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			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.002
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Romantic Shakespeare
			|last = Moody
			|first = Jane
			|pages = 37–57
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.003
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Shakespeare in North America
			|last = Morrison
			|first = Michael A.
			|pages = 230–258
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.013
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Reconstructive Shakespeare: reproducing Elizabethan and Jacobean stages
			|last = O'Connor
			|first = Marion
			|pages = 76–97
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.005
			|via = ]|ref=none
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Pictorial Shakespeare
			|last = Schoch
			|first = Richard W.
			|pages = 58–75
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.004
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Twentieth-century performance: the Stratford and London companies
			|last = Smallwood
			|first = Robert
			|pages = 98–117
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.006
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			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = Shakespeare plays on Renaissance stages
			|last = Taylor
			|first = Gary
			|author-link = Gary Taylor (scholar)
			|pages = 1–20
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.001
			|via = ]
			}}
			**{{cite book
			|chapter = The tragic actor and Shakespeare
			|last = Williams
			|first = Simon
			|pages = 118–136
			|title = The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Stanton
			|editor2-first = Sarah
			|series = Cambridge Companions to Literature
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Cambridge
			|year = 2002
			|isbn = 978-0-511-99957-4
			|doi = 10.1017/CCOL0521792959.007
			|via = ]
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = The Complete Works
			|url = https://archive.org/details/completeworks0000shak_f0m2
			|url-access = registration
			|last = Shakespeare
			|first = William
			|author-link = William Shakespeare
			|display-authors = 0
			|editor1-last = Wells
			|editor1-first = Stanley
			|editor1-link = Stanley Wells
			|editor2-last = Taylor
			|editor2-first = Gary
			|editor2-link = Gary Taylor (scholar)
			|publisher = ]
			|series = ]
			|edition = 2nd
	|year = 2005		|year = 2005
	|isbn = 978-0-19-926718-7		|isbn = 978-0-19-926718-7
			|ref = {{harvid|Wells|Taylor|2005}}
			}}
			*{{cite journal
			|title = Staging Exchange: Why ''The Knight of the Burning Pestle'' Flopped at Blackfriars in 1607
			|last = Whitted
			|first = Brent E.
			|journal = ]
			|issn = 1206-9078
			|eissn = 2293-7609
			|volume = 15
			|issue = 2
			|year = 2012
			|pages = 111–130
			|jstor = 43499628
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = Shakespeare's Dramatic Heritage: Collected Studies in Mediaeval, Tudor and Shakespearean Drama
			|last = Wickham
			|first = Glynne
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			|publisher = ]
			|year = 1969
			|ol = 22102542M
			}}
			*{{cite book
			|title = Witches and Jesuits: Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''
			|last = Wills
			|first = Garry
			|publisher = ]
			|location = Oxford
			|year = 1996
			|isbn = 978-0-19-510290-1
	}}		}}
			*{{cite journal
	* Willems, Michèle ''Video and its Paradoxes'' in Jackson (2000, 35-46)
			|title = The Historical Significance of Lying and Dissimulation
	* Williams, Simon ''The Tragic Actor and Shakespeare'' in Wells and Stanton (2002, 118-136)
	*{{Cite journal |title = The Historical Significance of Lying and Dissimulation—Truth-Telling, Lying, and Self-Deception
	|last = Zagorin		|last = Zagorin
	|first = Perez		|first = Perez
	|journal = ]		|journal = ]
	|publisher = ]		|publisher = ]
			|issn = 0037-783X
	|volume = 63		|volume = 63
	|issue = 3		|issue = 3, Truth–Telling, Lying And Self–Deception
	|year = 1996		|year = 1996
	|pages = 863–912		|pages = 863–912
	|doi =		|jstor = 40972318
	|ref = harv
	}}		}}
	{{Refend}}		{{refend}}
	==External links==		==External links==
			{{Wikisource|Macbeth (Shakespeare)}}
	{{wikibooks|Introduction to Shakespeare|The Tragedy of Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth}}
	{{Wikisource|The Tragedy of Macbeth}}
	{{Wikiquote}}		{{Wikiquote}}
	{{Commons category|Macbeth}}		{{Commons category|Macbeth}}
			{{wikibooks|Introduction to Shakespeare|The Tragedy of Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth}}
			* , eds. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. ].
	===Performances===
			* – From the Designing Shakespeare resource
	* – with informative annotations
			* {{gutenberg|no=1533|name= Macbeth}}
	* – From the Designing Shakespeare resource
			* at the British Library
	*
	*		*
	* directed by ] starring Sir ]		* directed by ] starring Sir ]
			* &nbsp;– annotated HTML version of ''Macbeth.''
			* &nbsp;– searchable, annotated HTML version of ''Macbeth.''
	===Audio recording===
			* {{librivox book | title=Macbeth | author=William Shakespeare}}
	* on ejunto.org
			*
	* at ]
	* at ]
	===Text of play===
	* -– annotated HTML version of ''Macbeth.''
	* – searchable, annotated HTML version of ''Macbeth.''
	* – Entire play in basic HTML.
	* – HTML version of Macbeth.
	* – ASCII plain-text from ]
	* – Act by Act summary of Macbeth
	* – By Sparknotes – Original Text and a Modern Translation side-by-side
	===Commentary===
	*
	*		*
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Play by William Shakespeare This article is about Shakespeare's play. For the historical Scottish king, see Macbeth, King of Scotland. For the title character of the play, see Macbeth (character). For other uses, see Macbeth (disambiguation). "The Tragedy of Macbeth" redirects here. For the film, see The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021 film).

The Tragedie of Macbeth

Title page of the part in the First Folio.
Author	William Shakespeare
Language	English
Genre	Shakespearean tragedy Tragedy
Set in	Scotland and England (Act IV, Scene III)
Publisher	Edward Blount and William Jaggard
Publication date	1623
Publication place	London, England
Text	The Tragedie of Macbeth at Wikisource

The Tragedy of Macbeth, often shortened to Macbeth (/məkˈbɛθ/), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. Scholars believe Macbeth, of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of King James I, contains the most allusions to James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company.

In the play, a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to violence by his wife, Macbeth murders the king and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Then, racked with guilt and paranoia, he commits further violent murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, soon becoming a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath swiftly leads to insanity and finally death for the powerhungry couple.

Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. The events of the tragedy have been associated with the execution of Henry Garnet for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "The Scottish Play". The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.

Plot

Act I

Amid thunder and lightning, three witches decide that their next meeting will be with Macbeth, the Thane (Lord) of Glamis. In the following scene, soldiers report to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals Banquo and Macbeth have just defeated a rebellion allied with forces from Norway and Ireland and led by the traitorous Thane of Cawdor. Duncan praises his kinsmen for their bravery and fighting prowess, announcing that the title of Thane of Cawdor shall be transferred to Macbeth.

Wandering on a heath, Macbeth and Banquo are puzzled when the three witches appear, prophetically hailing Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis" and "Thane of Cawdor", next saying he shall "be king hereafter". When Banquo asks of his own fortunes, the witches respond that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. The witches vanish, and the Thane of Ross arrives, informing Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor. The witches' first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth immediately begins to harbour nervous ambitions of becoming king. King Duncan himself soon welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, declaring they will all spend the night at Macbeth's castle in Inverness; also, Duncan's son Malcolm is announced as his official heir. Macbeth sends a letter about the witches ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who is resolute that she and her husband should murder Duncan in order to obtain the crown. When Macbeth arrives in Inverness, she persuades him to kill the king that very night. They plan to get Duncan's two chamber attendants drunk so that they will black out; thus, the next morning they can frame the attendants for the murder.

Act II

That night, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural omens, including a hallucination of a blood-smeared dagger, Macbeth goes offstage and stabs the sleeping Duncan to death. Returning, he is so shaken that Lady Macbeth finds him still holding the bloody daggers, which she scolds him for, reminding him they must be left on Duncan's sleeping servants. She takes the knives and places them back in Duncan's chamber. When the couple hears knocking at the castle gate, they hurry to bed.

A drunken porter opens the gate, admitting a nobleman named Lennox and Macduff, the Thane of Fife. They wish to visit the king; Macbeth, greeting them, leads them to Duncan's chamber into which Macduff exits and reenters, announcing with shock Duncan's murder. Macbeth and Lennox rush into the chamber where, offstage, Macbeth impulsively kills Duncan's servants to prevent them from professing their innocence. He reappears and confesses to the other nobles that he killed the servants, but lies that his intentions were to avenge Duncan's murder. Duncan's two sons flee the country, including Malcolm fleeing to England, fearing that they will be killed next. Macduff explains that their flight makes them the main suspects in the king's death, and Macbeth, as Duncan's next of kin, assumes the throne offstage as the new King of Scotland. Banquo remembers the witches' prophecy about how his own descendants would inherit the throne, and he is suspicious that Macbeth might be Duncan's true killer.

Act III

Despite Macbeth's success, he remains uneasy about Banquo's role in the prophecy. Inviting Banquo to a royal banquet, Macbeth discovers that Banquo and his young son Fleance will be riding out that night. Macbeth rapidly arranges to have Banquo and Fleance killed, hiring two men and later adding a third murderer to the plan. During the ambush, the murderers succeed in killing Banquo, but Fleance escapes. Macbeth is furious that an heir of Banquo remains alive.

At the banquet, Macbeth has invited his lords and Lady Macbeth to a night of drinking and merriment, though Macduff has refused to come. Banquo's ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth raves fearfully, startling his guests, as the ghost is visible only to him. The others panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth lies that her husband is merely afflicted with a harmless lifelong illness. The ghost departs and returns once more, causing the same riotous anger and fear in Macbeth. This time, Lady Macbeth demands that the visitors leave. Elsewhere, Hecate, queen of witchcraft, scolds the three witches for communicating with Macbeth without consulting her. Hecate instructs the witches to next give Macbeth a false sense of safety and overconfidence about his new position. Through verbal irony, Lennox reveals to another lord his suspicions that Macbeth is a murdering tyrant and they discuss how Macduff, refusing to attend Macbeth's banquet, has gone to England to find allies who will help take back the Scottish throne.

Act IV

Macbeth visits the three witches and asks them to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him. They summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers further supernatural pronouncements. First, they conjure an armoured head, which tells him to beware of Macduff (IV.i.72). Second, a bloody child tells him that no one born of a woman will be able to harm him. Thirdly, a crowned child holding a tree states that Macbeth will be safe until Great Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is relieved because he knows that all his enemies are born of women and a forest cannot possibly travel across the land. However, the witches also conjure a procession of eight crowned kings, the last carrying a mirror that reflects even more kings, and finally the ghost of Banquo pointing to the procession. Macbeth realises nervously that these are all Banquo's descendants who will acquire kingships in numerous countries.

In light of the latest prophecies, Macbeth orders the disobedient Macduff's castle seized and sends assassins who slaughter all its inhabitants, including Macduff's wife and young son. Meanwhile, Macduff himself is in England meeting with Prince Malcolm to discuss Macbeth's tyrannical regime. Malcolm, who must be cautious for any traps, confesses that he would be a terrible leader if the crown were handed to him, but this is merely a lie to see how Macduff will react. Macduff shows that he is more loyal to Scotland than any particular leader, impressing Malcolm, who now reveals the lie and says Macduff has won his trust. The Thane of Ross arrives to deliver the horrible news to Macduff that his "castle is surprised, your wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd" (IV.iii.204–205). With this news of his family's murders, Macduff is stricken with grief, but he is quickly provoked to vengeance by Malcolm who explains that he has raised an army with the help of the English King Edward. Together, they can defeat Macbeth and take back the Scottish throne.

Act V

At night, in the royal palace at Dunsinane, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth's sudden frightening habit of sleepwalking. Lady Macbeth enters in a trance with a candle in her hand, bemoaning the recent murders and trying to wash off imaginary bloodstains from her hands. Her observers marvel at her guilt-ridden confessions. Meanwhile, Prince Malcolm's allied forces plan to join up at Birnam Wood, additionally supported by Macduff and defecting Scottish thanes alarmed by Macbeth's recent barbarities. While encamped in Birnam Wood, Malcolm orders his soldiers to cut down and carry tree boughs to camouflage their numbers.

As Macbeth readies for the attack, he receives news that his wife has suddenly died, causing him to deliver a despairing "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow" soliloquy (V.v.17–28). Still, he is emboldened by the witches' seeming guarantee of his invincibility against any "man of woman born", until a servant reports that Malcolm's army is advancing on Dunsinane in the form of moving trees. As the invaders take his castle, Macbeth is confronted by Macduff, whom he taunts for not being born of a woman. Macduff reveals that he was born by Caesarean section and thus did not have a natural childbirth. In the ensuing duel with Macduff, Macbeth is killed offstage. Macduff reenters with Macbeth's severed head, and Malcolm discusses how order has been restored. He implies that Lady Macbeth's death was a suicide, declares his benevolent intentions for the country, promotes his thanes to earls, and invites all to see him crowned at Scone.

Characters

• Duncan – king of Scotland
• Malcolm – Duncan's elder son
• Donalbain – Duncan's younger son
• Macbeth – a general in the army of King Duncan; originally Thane of Glamis, then Thane of Cawdor, and later king of Scotland
• Lady Macbeth – Macbeth's wife, and later queen of Scotland
• Banquo – Macbeth's friend and a general in the army of King Duncan
• Fleance – Banquo's son
• Macduff – Thane of Fife
• Lady Macduff – Macduff's wife
• Macduff's son – a young boy
• Ross, Lennox, Angus, Menteith, Caithness – Scottish thanes
• Siward – general of the English forces
• Young Siward – Siward's son
• Seyton – Macbeth's armourer and chief servant
• Hecate – queen of the witches
• Three Witches – three mysterious women who approach Macbeth and prophesy his fate
• Captain – in the Scottish army
• Murderers – employed by Macbeth
  • First and Second Murderers
  • Third Murderer – sent by Macbeth to assist the first two murderers
• Porter – gatekeeper at Macbeth's home
• Doctor – Lady Macbeth's doctor
• Doctor – at the English court
• Gentlewoman – Lady Macbeth's caretaker
• Lord – opposed to Macbeth
• First Apparition – armed head
• Second Apparition – bloody child
• Third Apparition – crowned child
• Attendants, Messengers, Servants, Soldiers

Sources for the play

A principal source comes from the Daemonologie of King James published in 1597 which included a news pamphlet titled Newes from Scotland that detailed the famous North Berwick witch trials of 1590. The publication of Daemonologie came just a few years before the tragedy of Macbeth with the themes and setting in a direct and comparative contrast with King James' personal obsessions with witchcraft, which developed following his conclusion that the stormy weather that threatened his passage from Denmark to Scotland was a targeted attack. Not only did the subsequent trials take place in Scotland, the women accused were recorded, under torture, of having conducted rituals with the same mannerisms as the three witches. One of the evidenced passages is referenced when the women under trial confessed to attempt the use of witchcraft to raise a tempest and sabotage the boat King James and his queen were on board during their return trip from Denmark. The three witches discuss the raising of winds at sea in the opening lines of Act 1 Scene 3.

Macbeth has been compared to Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. As characters, both Antony and Macbeth seek a new world, even at the cost of the old one. Both fight for a throne and have a 'nemesis' to face to achieve that throne. For Antony, the nemesis is Octavius; for Macbeth, it is Banquo. At one point Macbeth even compares himself to Antony, saying "under Banquo / My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said / Mark Antony's was by Caesar." Lastly, both plays contain powerful and manipulative female figures: Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth.

Shakespeare borrowed the story from several tales in Holinshed's Chronicles, a popular history of the British Isles well known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. In Chronicles, a man named Donwald finds several of his family put to death by his king, Duff, for dealing with witches. After being pressured by his wife, he and four of his servants kill the king in his own house. In Chronicles, Macbeth is portrayed as struggling to support the kingdom in the face of King Duncan's ineptitude. He and Banquo meet the three witches, who make exactly the same prophecies as in Shakespeare's version. Macbeth and Banquo then together plot the murder of Duncan, at Lady Macbeth's urging. Macbeth has a long, ten-year reign before eventually being overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. The parallels between the two versions are clear. However, some scholars think that George Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia matches Shakespeare's version more closely. Buchanan's work was available in Latin in Shakespeare's day.

No medieval account of the reign of Macbeth mentions the Weird Sisters, Banquo, or Lady Macbeth, and with the exception of the latter none actually existed. The characters of Banquo, the Weird Sisters, and Lady Macbeth were first mentioned in 1527 by a Scottish historian Hector Boece in his book Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People) who wanted to denigrate Macbeth in order to strengthen the claim of the House of Stewart to the Scottish throne. Boece portrayed Banquo as an ancestor of the Stewart kings of Scotland, adding in a "prophecy" that the descendants of Banquo would be the rightful kings of Scotland while the Weird Sisters served to give a picture of King Macbeth as gaining the throne via dark supernatural forces. Macbeth did have a wife, but it is not clear if she was as power-hungry and ambitious as Boece portrayed her, which served his purpose of having even Macbeth realise he lacked a proper claim to the throne, and only took it at the urging of his wife. Holinshed accepted Boece's version of Macbeth's reign at face value and included it in his Chronicles. Shakespeare saw the dramatic possibilities in the story as related by Holinshed, and used it as the basis for the play.

No other version of the story has Macbeth kill the king in Macbeth's own castle. Scholars have seen this change of Shakespeare's as adding to the darkness of Macbeth's crime as the worst violation of hospitality. Versions of the story that were common at the time had Duncan being killed in an ambush at Inverness, not in a castle. Shakespeare conflated the story of Donwald and King Duff in what was a significant change to the story.

Shakespeare made another important change. In Chronicles, Banquo is an accomplice in Macbeth's murder of King Duncan, and plays an important part in ensuring that Macbeth, not Malcolm, takes the throne in the coup that follows. In Shakespeare's day, Banquo was thought to be an ancestor of the Stuart King James I. (In the 19th century it was established that Banquo is an unhistorical character; the Stuarts are actually descended from a Breton family which migrated to Scotland slightly later than Macbeth's time.) The Banquo portrayed in earlier sources is significantly different from the Banquo created by Shakespeare. Critics have proposed several reasons for this change. First, to portray the king's ancestor as a murderer would have been risky. Other authors of the time who wrote about Banquo, such as Jean de Schelandre in his Stuartide, also changed history by portraying Banquo as a noble man, not a murderer, probably for the same reasons. Second, Shakespeare may have altered Banquo's character simply because there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to the murder; there was, however, a need to give a dramatic contrast to Macbeth—a role which many scholars argue is filled by Banquo.

Other scholars maintain that a strong argument can be made for associating the tragedy with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. As presented by Harold Bloom in 2008: "cholars cite the existence of several topical references in Macbeth to the events of that year, namely the execution of the Father Henry Garnet for his alleged complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, as referenced in the porter's scene." Those arrested for their role in the Gunpowder Plot refused to give direct answers to the questions posed to them by their interrogators, which reflected the influence of the Jesuit practice of equivocation. Shakespeare, by having Macbeth say that demons "palter...in a double sense" and "keep the promise to our ear/And break it to our hope", confirmed James's belief that equivocation was a "wicked" practice, which reflected in turn the "wickedness" of the Catholic Church. Garnet had in his possession A Treatise on Equivocation, and in the play the Weird Sisters often engage in equivocation, for instance telling Macbeth that he could never be overthrown until "Great Birnan wood to high Dunsinane hill/Shall Come". Macbeth interprets the prophecy as meaning never, but in fact, the Three Sisters refer only to branches of the trees of Great Birnam coming to Dunsinane hill. The inspiration for this prophecy may have originated with the Battle of Droizy; both that battle and Macbeth may have, in turn, inspired J. R. R. Tolkien's tree herders, the Ents in his novels The Lord of the Rings.

Date and text

Macbeth cannot be dated precisely, but it is usually taken to be contemporaneous to the other canonical tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. While some scholars have placed the original writing of the play as early as 1599, most believe that the play is unlikely to have been composed earlier than 1603 as the play is widely seen to celebrate King James' ancestors and the Stuart accession to the throne in 1603 (James believed himself to be descended from Banquo), suggesting that the parade of eight kings—which the witches show Macbeth in a vision in Act IV—is a compliment to King James. Many scholars think the play was written in 1606 in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot, citing possible internal allusions to the 1605 plot and its ensuing trials. In fact, there are a great number of allusions and possible pieces of evidence alluding to the Plot, and, for this reason, a great many critics agree that Macbeth was written in the year 1606. Lady Macbeth's instructions to her husband, "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't" (1.5.74–75), may be an allusion to a medal that was struck in 1605 to commemorate King James' escape that depicted a serpent hiding among lilies and roses.

Particularly, the Porter's speech (2.3.1–21) in which he welcomes an "equivocator", a farmer, and a tailor to hell (2.3.8–13), has been argued to be an allusion to the 28 March 1606 trial and execution on 3 May 1606 of the Jesuit Henry Garnet, who used the alias "Farmer", with "equivocator" referring to Garnet's defence of "equivocation". The porter says that the equivocator "committed treason enough for God's sake" (2.3.9–10), which specifically connects equivocation and treason and ties it to the Jesuit belief that equivocation was only lawful when used "for God's sake", strengthening the allusion to Garnet. The porter goes on to say that the equivocator "yet could not equivocate to heaven" (2.3.10–11), echoing grim jokes that were current on the eve of Garnet's execution: i.e. that Garnet would be "hanged without equivocation" and at his execution he was asked "not to equivocate with his last breath". The "English tailor" the porter admits to hell (2.3.13), has been seen as an allusion to Hugh Griffin, a tailor who was questioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 27 November and 3 December 1607 for the part he played in Garnet's "miraculous straw", an infamous head of straw that was stained with Garnet's blood that had congealed into a form resembling Garnet's portrait, which was hailed by Catholics as a miracle. The tailor Griffin became notorious and the subject of verses published with his portrait on the title page.

When James became king of England, a feeling of uncertainty settled over the nation. James was a Scottish king and the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, a staunch Catholic and English traitor. In the words of critic Robert Crawford, "Macbeth was a play for a post-Elizabethan England facing up to what it might mean to have a Scottish king. England seems comparatively benign, while its northern neighbour is mired in a bloody, monarch-killing past. ... Macbeth may have been set in medieval Scotland, but it was filled with material of interest to England and England's ruler." Critics argue that the content of the play is clearly a message to James, the new Scottish King of England. Likewise, the critic Andrew Hadfield noted the contrast the play draws between the saintly King Edward the Confessor of England who has the power of the royal touch to cure scrofula and whose realm is portrayed as peaceful and prosperous versus the bloody chaos of Scotland. James in his 1598 book The Trew Law of Free Monarchies had asserted that kings are always right, if not just, and his subjects owe him total loyalty at all times, writing that even if a king is a tyrant, his subjects must never rebel and just endure his tyranny for their own good. James had argued that the tyranny was preferable to the problems caused by rebellion which were even worse; Shakespeare by contrast in Macbeth argued for the right of the subjects to overthrow a tyrant king, in what appeared to be an implied criticism of James's theories if applied to England. Hadfield also noted a curious aspect of the play in that it implies that primogeniture is the norm in Scotland, but Duncan has to nominate his son Malcolm to be his successor while Macbeth is accepted without protest by the Scottish lords (thanes) as their king despite being an usurper. Hadfield argued this aspect of the play with the thanes apparently choosing their king was a reference to the Stuart claim to the English throne, and the attempts of the English Parliament to block the succession of James's Catholic mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, from succeeding to the English throne. Hadfield argued that Shakespeare implied that James was indeed the rightful king of England, but owed his throne not to divine favour as James would have it, but rather due to the willingness of the English Parliament to accept the Protestant son of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, as their king.

Garry Wills provides further evidence that Macbeth is a Gunpowder Play (a type of play that emerged immediately following the events of the Gunpowder Plot). He points out that every Gunpowder Play contains "a necromancy scene, regicide attempted or completed, references to equivocation, scenes that test loyalty by use of deceptive language, and a character who sees through plots—along with a vocabulary similar to the Plot in its immediate aftermath (words like train, blow, vault) and an ironic recoil of the Plot upon the Plotters (who fall into the pit they dug)."

The play utilizes a few key words that the audience at the time would recognize as allusions to the Plot. In one sermon in 1605, Lancelot Andrewes stated, regarding the failure of the Plotters on God's day, "Be they fair or foul, glad or sad (as the poet calleth Him) the great Diespiter, 'the Father of days' hath made them both." Shakespeare begins the play by using the words "fair" and "foul" in the first speeches of the witches and Macbeth. In the words of Jonathan Gil Harris, the play expresses the "horror unleashed by a supposedly loyal subject who seeks to kill a king and the treasonous role of equivocation. The play even echoes certain keywords from the scandal—the 'vault' beneath the House of Parliament in which Guy Fawkes stored thirty kegs of gunpowder and the 'blow' about which one of the conspirators had secretly warned a relative who planned to attend the House of Parliament on 5 November...Even though the Plot is never alluded to directly, its presence is everywhere in the play, like a pervasive odor."

Scholars also cite an entertainment seen by King James at Oxford in the summer of 1605 that featured three "sibyls" like the weird sisters; Kermode surmises that Shakespeare could have heard about this and alluded to it with the weird sisters. However, A. R. Braunmuller in the New Cambridge edition finds the 1605–06 arguments inconclusive, and argues only for an earliest date of 1603.

One suggested allusion supporting a date in late 1606 is the first witch's dialogue about a sailor's wife: "'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries./Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger" (1.3.6–7). This has been thought to allude to the Tiger, a ship that returned to England 27 June 1606 after a disastrous voyage in which many of the crew were killed by pirates. A few lines later the witch speaks of the sailor, "He shall live a man forbid:/Weary se'nnights nine times nine" (1.3.21–22). The real ship was at sea 567 days, the product of 7x9x9, which has been taken as a confirmation of the allusion, which if correct, confirms that the witch scenes were either written or amended later than July 1606.

The play is not considered to have been written any later than 1607, since, as Kermode notes, there are "fairly clear allusions to the play in 1607". One notable reference is in Francis Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle, first performed in 1607. The following lines (Act V, Scene 1, 24–30) are, according to scholars, a clear allusion to the scene in which Banquo's ghost haunts Macbeth at the dinner table:

When thou art at thy table with thy friends,
Merry in heart, and filled with swelling wine,
I'll come in midst of all thy pride and mirth,
Invisible to all men but thyself,
And whisper such a sad tale in thine ear
Shall make thee let the cup fall from thy hand,
And stand as mute and pale as death itself.

Macbeth was first printed in the First Folio of 1623 and the Folio is the only source for the text. Some scholars contend that the Folio text was abridged and rearranged from an earlier manuscript or prompt book. Often cited as interpolation are stage cues for two songs, whose lyrics are not included in the Folio but are included in Thomas Middleton's play The Witch, which was written between the accepted date for Macbeth (1606) and the printing of the Folio. Many scholars believe these songs were editorially inserted into the Folio, though whether they were Middleton's songs or preexisting songs is not certain. It is also widely believed that the character of Hecate, as well as some lines of the First Witch (4.1 124–131), were not part of Shakespeare's original play but were added by the Folio editors and possibly written by Middleton, though "there is no completely objective proof" of such interpolation.

Themes and motifs

"Macbeth
The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o'erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see."

—Macbeth, Act I, Scene IV

Macbeth is an anomaly among Shakespeare's tragedies in certain critical ways. It is short: more than a thousand lines shorter than Othello and King Lear, and only slightly more than half as long as Hamlet. This brevity has suggested to many critics that the received version is based on a heavily cut source, perhaps a prompt-book for a particular performance. This would reflect other Shakespeare plays existing in both Quarto and the Folio, where the Quarto versions are usually longer than the Folio versions. Macbeth was first printed in the First Folio, but has no Quarto version – if there were a Quarto, it would probably be longer than the Folio version. That brevity has also been connected to other unusual features: the fast pace of the first act, which has seemed to be "stripped for action"; and the comparative flatness of the characters other than Macbeth. A. C. Bradley, in considering this question, concluded the play "always was an extremely short one", noting the witch scenes and battle scenes would have taken up some time in performance, remarking, "I do not think that, in reading, we feel Macbeth to be short: certainly we are astonished when we hear it is about half as long as Hamlet. Perhaps in the Shakespearean theatre too it seemed to occupy a longer time than the clock recorded."

As a tragedy of character

At least since the days of Samuel Johnson, analysis of the play has centred on the question of Macbeth's ambition, commonly seen as so dominant a trait that it defines the character. Johnson asserted that Macbeth, though esteemed for his military bravery, is wholly reviled.

This opinion recurs in critical literature, and, according to Caroline Spurgeon, is supported by Shakespeare himself, who apparently intended to degrade his hero by vesting him with clothes unsuited to him and to make Macbeth look ridiculous by several exaggerations he applies: his garments seem either too big or too small for him – as his ambition is too big and his character too small for his new and unrightful role as king. After Macbeth is unexpectedly greeted with his new title as Thane of Cawdor as prophesied by the witches, Banquo comments:

New honours come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould,
But with the aid of use

— I, 3, ll. 145–146

And, at the end, when the tyrant is at bay at Dunsinane, Caithness sees him as a man trying in vain to fasten a large garment on him with too small a belt:

He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
Within the belt of rule

— V, 2, ll. 14–15

while Angus sums up what everybody thinks ever since Macbeth's accession to power:

now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
upon a dwarfish thief

— V, 2, ll. 18–20).

Like Richard III, but without that character's perversely appealing exuberance, Macbeth wades through blood until his inevitable fall. As Kenneth Muir writes, "Macbeth has not a predisposition to murder; he has merely an inordinate ambition that makes murder itself seem to be a lesser evil than failure to achieve the crown." Some critics, such as E. E. Stoll, explain this characterisation as a holdover from Senecan or medieval tradition. Shakespeare's audience, in this view, expected villains to be wholly bad, and Senecan style, far from prohibiting a villainous protagonist, all but demanded it.

Yet for other critics, it has not been so easy to resolve the question of Macbeth's motivation. Robert Bridges, for instance, perceived a paradox: a character able to express such convincing horror before Duncan's murder would likely be incapable of committing the crime. For many critics, Macbeth's motivations in the first act appear vague and insufficient. John Dover Wilson hypothesised that Shakespeare's original text had an extra scene or scenes where husband and wife discussed their plans. This interpretation is not fully provable; however, the motivating role of ambition for Macbeth is universally recognised. The evil actions motivated by his ambition seem to trap him in a cycle of increasing evil, as Macbeth himself recognises:

I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

— III, 4, ll. 165–167

While working on Russian translations of Shakespeare's works, Boris Pasternak compared Macbeth to Raskolnikov, the protagonist of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Pasternak argues that "neither Macbeth or Raskolnikov is a born criminal or a villain by nature. They are turned into criminals by faulty rationalizations, by deductions from false premises." He goes on to argue that Lady Macbeth is "feminine ... one of those active, insistent wives" who becomes her husband's "executive, more resolute and consistent than he is himself". According to Pasternak, she is only helping Macbeth carry out his own wishes, to her own detriment.

As a tragedy of moral order

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The disastrous consequences of Macbeth's ambition are not limited to him. Almost from the moment of the murder, the play depicts Scotland as a land shaken by inversions of the natural order. Shakespeare may have intended a reference to the great chain of being, although the play's images of disorder are mostly not specific enough to support detailed intellectual readings. He may also have intended an elaborate compliment to James's belief in the divine right of kings, although this hypothesis, outlined at greatest length by Henry N. Paul, is not universally accepted. As in Julius Caesar, though, perturbations in the political sphere are echoed and even amplified by events in the material world. Among the most often depicted of the inversions of the natural order is sleep. Macbeth's announcement that he has "murdered sleep" is figuratively mirrored in Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking.

Macbeth's generally accepted indebtedness to medieval tragedy is often seen as significant in the play's treatment of moral order. Glynne Wickham connects the play, through the Porter, to a mystery play on the harrowing of hell. Howard Felperin argues that the play has a more complex attitude toward "orthodox Christian tragedy" than is often admitted; he sees a kinship between the play and the tyrant plays within the medieval liturgical drama.

The theme of androgyny is often seen as a special aspect of the theme of disorder. Inversion of normative gender roles is most famously associated with the witches and with Lady Macbeth as she appears in the first act. Whatever Shakespeare's degree of sympathy with such inversions, the play ends with a thorough return to normative gender values. Some feminist psychoanalytic critics, such as Janet Adelman, have connected the play's treatment of gender roles to its larger theme of inverted natural order. In this light, Macbeth is punished for his violation of the moral order by being removed from the cycles of nature (which are figured as female); nature itself (as embodied in the movement of Birnam Wood) is part of the restoration of moral order.

As a poetic tragedy

Critics in the early twentieth century reacted against what they saw as an excessive dependence on the study of character in criticism of the play. This dependence, though most closely associated with A. C. Bradley, is clear as early as the time of Mary Cowden Clarke, who offered precise, if fanciful, accounts of the predramatic lives of Shakespeare's female leads. She suggested, for instance, that the child Lady Macbeth refers to in the first act died during a foolish military action.

Witchcraft and evil

In the play, the Three Witches represent darkness, chaos, and conflict, while their role is as agents and witnesses. Their presence communicates treason and impending doom. During Shakespeare's day, witches were seen as worse than rebels, "the most notorious traytor and rebell that can be". They were not only political traitors, but spiritual traitors as well. Much of the confusion that springs from them comes from their ability to straddle the play's borders between reality and the supernatural. They are so deeply entrenched in both worlds that it is unclear whether they control fate, or whether they are merely its agents. They defy logic, not being subject to the rules of the real world. The witches' lines in the first act: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" are often said to set the tone for the rest of the play by establishing a sense of confusion. Indeed, the play is filled with situations where evil is depicted as good, while good is rendered evil. The line "Double, double toil and trouble," communicates the witches' intent clearly: they seek only trouble for the mortals around them. The witches' spells are remarkably similar to the spells of the witch Medusa in Anthony Munday's play Fidele and Fortunio published in 1584, and Shakespeare may have been influenced by these.

While the witches do not tell Macbeth directly to kill King Duncan, they use a subtle form of temptation when they tell Macbeth that he is destined to be king. By placing this thought in his mind, they effectively guide him on the path to his own destruction. This follows the pattern of temptation used at the time of Shakespeare. First, they argued, a thought is put in a man's mind, then the person may either indulge in the thought or reject it. Macbeth indulges in it, while Banquo rejects.

According to J. A. Bryant Jr., Macbeth also makes use of Biblical parallels, notably between King Duncan's murder and the murder of Christ:

No matter how one looks at it, whether as history or as tragedy, Macbeth is distinctively Christian. One may simply count the Biblical allusions as Richmond Noble has done; one may go further and study the parallels between Shakespeare's story and the Old Testament stories of Saul and Jezebel as Miss Jane H. Jack has done; or one may examine with W. C. Curry the progressive degeneration of Macbeth from the point of view of medieval theology.

Superstition and "The Scottish Play"

Main article: The Scottish Play

While many today would say that any misfortune surrounding a production is mere coincidence, actors and others in the theatre industry often consider it bad luck to mention Macbeth by name while inside a theatre, and sometimes refer to it indirectly, for example as "The Scottish Play", or "MacBee", or when referring to the characters and not the play, "Mr. and Mrs. M", or "The Scottish King".

This is because Shakespeare (or the play's revisers) is said to have used the spells of real witches in his text, purportedly angering the witches and causing them to curse the play. Thus, to say the name of the play inside a theatre is believed to doom the production to failure, and perhaps cause physical injury or death to cast members. There are stories of accidents, misfortunes and even deaths taking place during runs of Macbeth.

According to the actor Sir Donald Sinden, in his Sky Arts TV series Great West End Theatres

Contrary to popular myth, Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is not the unluckiest play as superstition likes to portray it. Exactly the opposite! The origin of the unfortunate moniker dates back to repertory theatre days when each town and village had at least one theatre to entertain the public. If a play was not doing well, it would invariably get 'pulled' and replaced with a sure-fire audience pleaser – Macbeth guaranteed full-houses. So when the weekly theatre newspaper, The Stage was published, listing what was on in each theatre in the country, it was instantly noticed what shows had not worked the previous week, as they had been replaced by a definite crowd-pleaser. More actors have died during performances of Hamlet than in the "Scottish play" as the profession still calls it. It is forbidden to quote from it backstage as this could cause the current play to collapse and have to be replaced, causing possible unemployment.

Several methods exist to dispel the curse, depending on the actor. One, attributed to Michael York, is to immediately leave the building the stage is in with the person who uttered the name, walk around it three times, spit over their left shoulders, say an obscenity then wait to be invited back into the building. A related practice is to spin around three times as fast as possible on the spot, sometimes accompanied by spitting over their shoulder, and uttering an obscenity. Another popular "ritual" is to leave the room, knock three times, be invited in, and then quote a line from Hamlet. Yet another is to recite lines from The Merchant of Venice, thought to be a lucky play.

Sir Patrick Stewart, on the radio program Ask Me Another, asserted "if you have played the role of the Scottish thane, then you are allowed to say the title, any time anywhere".

Performance history

Shakespeare's day to the Interregnum

The only eyewitness account of Macbeth in Shakespeare's lifetime was recorded by Simon Forman, who saw a performance at the Globe on 20 April 1610. Scholars have noted discrepancies between Forman's account and the play as it appears in the Folio. For example, he makes no mention of the apparition scene, or of Hecate, of the man not of woman born, or of Birnam Wood. However, Clark observes that Forman's accounts were often inaccurate and incomplete (for instance omitting the statue scene from The Winter's Tale) and his interest did not seem to be in "giving full accounts of the productions".

As mentioned above, the Folio text is thought by some to be an alteration of the original play. This has led to the theory that the play in the Folio was an adaptation for indoor performance at the Blackfriars Theatre (which was operated by the King's Men from 1608) – and even speculation that it represents a specific performance before King James. The play contains more musical cues than any other play in the canon as well as a significant use of sound effects.

Restoration and eighteenth century

The chill of the grave seemed about you when you looked on her; there was the hush and damp of the charnel house at midnight ... your flesh crept and your breathing became uneasy ... the scent of blood became palpable to you.

—Sheridan Knowles on Sarah Siddons' sleepwalking scene

All theatres were closed down by the Puritan government on 6 September 1642. Upon the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, two patent companies (the King's Company and the Duke's Company) were established, and the existing theatrical repertoire divided between them. Sir William Davenant, founder of the Duke's Company, adapted Shakespeare's play to the tastes of the new era, and his version would dominate on stage for around eighty years. Among the changes he made were the expansion of the role of the witches, introducing new songs, dances and 'flying', and the expansion of the role of Lady Macduff as a foil to Lady Macbeth. There were, however, performances outside the patent companies: among the evasions of the Duke's Company's monopoly was a puppet version of Macbeth.

Macbeth was a favourite of the seventeenth-century diarist Samuel Pepys, who saw the play on 5 November 1664 ("admirably acted"), 28 December 1666 ("most excellently acted"), ten days later on 7 January 1667 ("though I saw it lately, yet appears a most excellent play in all respects"), on 19 April 1667 ("one of the best plays for a stage ... that ever I saw"), again on 16 October 1667 ("was vexed to see Young, who is but a bad actor at best, act Macbeth in the room of Betterton, who, poor man! is sick"), and again three weeks later on 6 November 1667 (" Macbeth, which we still like mightily"), yet again on 12 August 1668 ("saw Macbeth, to our great content"), and finally on 21 December 1668, on which date the king and court were also present in the audience.

The first professional performances of Macbeth in North America were probably those of The Hallam Company.

In 1744, David Garrick revived the play, abandoning Davenant's version and instead advertising it "as written by Shakespeare". In fact this claim was largely false: he retained much of Davenant's more popular business for the witches, and himself wrote a lengthy death speech for Macbeth. And he cut more than 10% of Shakespeare's play, including the drunken porter, the murder of Lady Macduff's son, and Malcolm's testing of Macduff. Hannah Pritchard was his greatest stage partner, having her premiere as his Lady Macbeth in 1747. He would later drop the play from his repertoire upon her retirement from the stage. Mrs. Pritchard was the first actress to achieve acclaim in the role of Lady Macbeth – at least partly due to the removal of Davenant's material, which made irrelevant moral contrasts with Lady Macduff. Garrick's portrayal focused on the inner life of the character, endowing him with an innocence vacillating between good and evil, and betrayed by outside influences. He portrayed a man capable of observing himself, as if a part of him remained untouched by what he had done, the play moulding him into a man of sensibility, rather than him descending into a tyrant.

John Philip Kemble first played Macbeth in 1778. Although usually regarded as the antithesis of Garrick, Kemble nevertheless refined aspects of Garrick's portrayal into his own. However it was the "towering and majestic" Sarah Siddons (Kemble's sister) who became a legend in the role of Lady Macbeth. In contrast to Hannah Pritchard's savage, demonic portrayal, Siddons' Lady Macbeth, while terrifying, was nevertheless – in the scenes in which she expresses her regret and remorse – tenderly human. And in portraying her actions as done out of love for her husband, Siddons deflected from him some of the moral responsibility for the play's carnage. Audiences seem to have found the sleepwalking scene particularly mesmerising: Hazlitt said of it that "all her gestures were involuntary and mechanical ... She glided on and off the stage almost like an apparition."

In 1794, Kemble dispensed with the ghost of Banquo altogether, allowing the audience to see Macbeth's reaction as his wife and guests see it, and relying upon the fact that the play was so well known that his audience would already be aware that a ghost enters at that point.

Ferdinand Fleck, notable as the first German actor to present Shakespeare's tragic roles in their fullness, played Macbeth at the Berlin National Theatre from 1787. Unlike his English counterparts, he portrayed the character as achieving his stature after the murder of Duncan, growing in presence and confidence: thereby enabling stark contrasts, such as in the banquet scene, which he ended babbling like a child.

Nineteenth century

Everyone seems to think Mrs McB is a Monstrousness & I can only see she's a woman – a mistaken woman – & weak – not a Dove – of course not – but first of all a wife.

—Ellen Terry

Performances outside the patent theatres were instrumental in bringing the monopoly to an end. Robert Elliston, for example, produced a popular adaptation of Macbeth in 1809 at the Royal Circus described in its publicity as "this matchless piece of pantomimic and choral performance", which circumvented the illegality of speaking Shakespeare's words through mimed action, singing, and doggerel verse written by J. C. Cross.

In 1809, in an unsuccessful attempt to take Covent Garden upmarket, Kemble installed private boxes, increasing admission prices to pay for the improvements. The inaugural run at the newly renovated theatre was Macbeth, which was disrupted for over two months with cries of "Old prices!" and "No private boxes!" until Kemble capitulated to the protestors' demands.

Edmund Kean at Drury Lane gave a psychological portrayal of the central character, with a common touch, but was ultimately unsuccessful in the role. However he did pave the way for the most acclaimed performance of the nineteenth century, that of William Charles Macready. Macready played the role over a 30-year period, firstly at Covent Garden in 1820 and finally in his retirement performance. Although his playing evolved over the years, it was noted throughout for the tension between the idealistic aspects and the weaker, venal aspects of Macbeth's character. His staging was full of spectacle, including several elaborate royal processions.

In 1843 the Theatres Regulation Act finally brought the patent companies' monopoly to an end. From that time until the end of the Victorian era, London theatre was dominated by the actor-managers, and the style of presentation was "pictorial" – proscenium stages filled with spectacular stage-pictures, often featuring complex scenery, large casts in elaborate costumes, and frequent use of tableaux vivant. Charles Kean (son of Edmund), at London's Princess's Theatre from 1850 to 1859, took an antiquarian view of Shakespeare performance, setting his Macbeth in a historically accurate eleventh-century Scotland. His leading lady, Ellen Tree, created a sense of the character's inner life: The Times' critic saying "The countenance which she assumed ... when luring on Macbeth in his course of crime, was actually appalling in intensity, as if it denoted a hunger after guilt." At the same time, special effects were becoming popular: for example in Samuel Phelps' Macbeth the witches performed behind green gauze, enabling them to appear and disappear using stage lighting.

In 1849, rival performances of the play sparked the Astor Place riot in Manhattan. The popular American actor Edwin Forrest, whose Macbeth was said to be like "the ferocious chief of a barbarous tribe" played the central role at the Broadway Theatre to popular acclaim, while the "cerebral and patrician" English actor Macready, playing the same role at the Astor Place Opera House, suffered constant heckling. The existing enmity between the two men (Forrest had openly hissed Macready at a recent performance of Hamlet in Britain) was taken up by Forrest's supporters – formed from the working class and lower middle class and anti-British agitators, keen to attack the upper-class pro-British patrons of the Opera House and the colonially-minded Macready. Nevertheless, Macready performed the role again three days later to a packed house while an angry mob gathered outside. The militia tasked with controlling the situation fired into the mob. In total, 31 rioters were killed and over 100 injured.

Charlotte Cushman is unique among nineteenth century interpreters of Shakespeare in achieving stardom in roles of both genders. Her New York debut was as Lady Macbeth in 1836, and she would later be admired in London in the same role in the mid-1840s. Helen Faucit was considered the embodiment of early-Victorian notions of femininity. But for this reason she largely failed when she eventually played Lady Macbeth in 1864: her serious attempt to embody the coarser aspects of Lady Macbeth's character jarred harshly with her public image. Adelaide Ristori, the great Italian actress, brought her Lady Macbeth to London in 1863 in Italian, and again in 1873 in an English translation cut in such a way as to be, in effect, Lady Macbeth's tragedy.

Henry Irving was the most successful of the late-Victorian actor-managers, but his Macbeth failed to curry favour with audiences. His desire for psychological credibility reduced certain aspects of the role: He described Macbeth as a brave soldier but a moral coward, and played him untroubled by conscience – clearly already contemplating the murder of Duncan before his encounter with the witches. Irving's leading lady was Ellen Terry, but her Lady Macbeth was unsuccessful with the public, for whom a century of performances influenced by Sarah Siddons had created expectations at odds with Terry's conception of the role.

Late nineteenth-century European Macbeths aimed for heroic stature, but at the expense of subtlety: Tommaso Salvini in Italy and Adalbert Matkowsky in Germany were said to inspire awe, but elicited little pity.

20th century to present

And then Lady Macbeth says 'He that's coming / Must be provided for.' It's an amazing line. She's going to play hostess to Duncan at Dunsinane, and 'provide' is what gracious hostesses always do. It's a wonder of a line to play because the reverberations do the acting for you, make the audience go "Aaaagh!"

—Sinéad Cusack

Two developments changed the nature of Macbeth performance in the 20th century: first, developments in the craft of acting itself, especially the ideas of Stanislavski and Brecht; and second, the rise of the dictator as a political icon. The latter has not always assisted the performance: it is difficult to sympathise with a Macbeth based on Hitler, Stalin, or Idi Amin.

Barry Jackson, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1923, was the first of the 20th-century directors to costume Macbeth in modern dress.

In 1936, a decade before his film adaptation of the play, Orson Welles directed Macbeth for the Negro Theatre Unit of the Federal Theatre Project at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem, using black actors and setting the action in Haiti: with drums and Voodoo rites to establish the Witches scenes. The production, dubbed The Voodoo Macbeth, proved inflammatory in the aftermath of the Harlem riots, accused of making fun of black culture and as "a campaign to burlesque negroes" until Welles persuaded crowds that his use of black actors and voodoo made important cultural statements.

A performance which is frequently referenced as an example of the play's curse was the outdoor production directed by Burgess Meredith in 1953 in the British colony of Bermuda, starring Charlton Heston. Using the imposing spectacle of Fort St. Catherine as a key element of the set, the production was plagued by a host of mishaps, including Charlton Heston being burned when his tights caught fire.

Some critics contend there were three great Macbeths on the English-speaking stage in the 20th century, all of them commencing at Stratford-upon-Avon: Laurence Olivier in 1955, Ian McKellen in 1976 and Antony Sher in 1999. Olivier's portrayal (directed by Glen Byam Shaw, with Vivien Leigh as Lady Macbeth) was immediately hailed as a masterpiece. Kenneth Tynan said it succeeded because Olivier built the role to a climax at the end of the play, whereas most actors spend all they have in the first two acts.

The play caused difficulties for the Royal Shakespeare Company, especially at the (then) Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Peter Hall's 1967 production was (in Michael Billington's words) "an acknowledged disaster" with the use of real leaves from Birnham Wood getting first-night laughs, and Trevor Nunn's 1974 production was (Billington again) "an over-elaborate religious spectacle".

But Nunn achieved success for the RSC in his 1976 production at the intimate Other Place, with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the central roles. A small cast worked within a simple circle, and McKellen's Macbeth had nothing noble or likeable about him, being a manipulator in a world of manipulative characters. They were a young couple, physically passionate, "not monsters but recognisable human beings", but their relationship atrophied as the action progressed.

The RSC again achieved critical success in Gregory Doran's 1999 production at The Swan, with Antony Sher and Harriet Walter in the central roles, once again demonstrating the suitability of the play for smaller venues. Doran's witches spoke their lines to a theatre in absolute darkness, and the opening visual image was the entrance of Macbeth and Banquo in the berets and fatigues of modern warfare, carried on the shoulders of triumphant troops. In contrast to Nunn, Doran presented a world in which king Duncan and his soldiers were ultimately benign and honest, heightening the deviance of Macbeth (who seems genuinely surprised by the witches' prophecies) and Lady Macbeth in plotting to kill the king. The play said little about politics, instead powerfully presenting its central characters' psychological collapse.

Macbeth returned to the RSC in 2018, when Christopher Eccleston played the title role, with Niamh Cusack as his wife, Lady Macbeth. The play later transferred to the Barbican in London.

In Soviet-controlled Prague in 1977, faced with the illegality of working in theatres, Pavel Kohout adapted Macbeth into a 75-minute abridgement for five actors, suitable for "bringing a show in a suitcase to people's homes".

Spectacle was unfashionable in Western theatre throughout the 20th century. In East Asia, however, spectacular productions have achieved great success, including Yukio Ninagawa's 1980 production with Masane Tsukayama as Macbeth, set in the 16th century Japanese Civil War. The same director's tour of London in 1987 was widely praised by critics, even though (like most of their audience) they were unable to understand the significance of Macbeth's gestures, the huge Buddhist altar dominating the set, or the petals falling from the cherry trees.

Xu Xiaozhong's 1980 Central Academy of Drama production in Beijing made every effort to be unpolitical (necessary in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution): yet audiences still perceived correspondences between the central character (whom the director had actually modelled on Louis Napoleon) and Mao Zedong. Shakespeare has often been adapted to indigenous theatre traditions, for example the Kunju Macbeth of Huang Zuolin performed at the inaugural Chinese Shakespeare Festival of 1986. Similarly, B. V. Karanth's Barnam Vana of 1979 had adapted Macbeth to the Yakshagana tradition of Karnataka, India. In 1997, Lokendra Arambam created Stage of Blood, merging a range of martial arts, dance and gymnastic styles from Manipur, performed in Imphal and in England. The stage was literally a raft on a lake.

Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jō, Spider Web Castle) is a 1957 Japanese samurai film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film transposes Macbeth from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama. Kurosawa was a fan of the play and planned his own adaptation for several years, postponing it after learning of Orson Welles' Macbeth (1948). The film won two Mainichi Film Awards.

The play has been translated and performed in various languages in different parts of the world, and Media Artists was the first to stage its Punjabi adaptation in India. The adaptation by Balram and the play directed by Samuel John have been universally acknowledged as a milestone in Punjabi theatre. The unique attempt involved trained theatre experts and the actors taken from a rural background in Punjab. Punjabi folk music imbued the play with the native ethos as the Scottish setting of Shakespeare's play was transposed into a Punjabi milieu.

In 2021, Saoirse Ronan starred in The Tragedy of Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre in London. The following year a revival production opened on Broadway with Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga to middling reviews.

A new production starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo ran at London's Donmar Warehouse from 8 December 2023 to 10 February 2024. Max Webster directed the production. The show received 3 Laurence Olivier Award nominations, including Best Revival. It transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End from 1 October 2024 for a limited run.

Operas

Macbeth was adapted into an Italian opera (Macbeth) by composer Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave in 1847 (revised in French in 1865). An English opera adaptation of the play was created by Lawrance Collingwood in 1927.

Contemporary opera adaptations include Luke Styles' Macbeth (2015) and Pascal Dusapin's Macbeth Underworld (2019).

An indirect adaptation is Dmitri Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1934), based on the novella of the same name by Nikolai Leskov.

See also

• Cultural references to Macbeth

Notes and references

1. For the first performance in 1607, see Gurr 2009, p. 293, Thomson 1992, p. 64, and Wickham 1969, p. 231. For the date of composition, see Brooke 2008, p. 1 and Clark & Mason 2015, p. 13
2. This scene is open to various interpretations from readers and has been interpreted differently in adaptations.
3. Some scholars believe that the Hecate scene was not part of the original Macbeth script.
4. For details on Garnet, see Perez Zagorin's article, "The Historical Significance of Lying and Dissimulation" (1996), in Social Research.
5. Similar criticisms were made of Friedrich Mitterwurzer [de] in Germany, whose performances of Macbeth had many unintentional parallels with Irving's.
6. Michael Billington, cited by Gay.
7. See also Tom Stoppard's Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth.

References

All references to Macbeth, unless otherwise specified, are taken from the Arden Shakespeare, second series edition edited by Kenneth Muir. Under their referencing system, III.I.55 means act 3, scene 1, line 55. All references to other Shakespeare plays are to The Oxford Shakespeare Complete Works of Shakespeare edited by Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor.

1. Clark & Mason 2015, p. 1.
2. Wickham 1969, p. 231.
3. ^ Bloom 2008, p. 41.
4. ^ Orgel 2002, p. 33.
5. King of England, James I (2016). The annotated Daemonologie : a critical edition. Warren, Brett. R. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1-5329-6891-4. OCLC 1008940058.
6. Warren 2016, p. 107.
7. Coursen 1997, pp. 11–13.
8. Coursen 1997, pp. 15–21.
9. ^ Thrasher 2002, p. 37.
10. Coursen 1997, p. 17.
11. ^ Nagarajan 1956.
12. Palmer 1886.
13. Maskell 1971.
14. Doran 2024, p. 375.
15. ^ Thrasher 2002, p. 42.
16. Thrasher 2002, pp. 38–39.
17. Thrasher 2002, p. 38.
18. Wells & Taylor 2005, pp. 909, 1153.
19. Braunmuller 1997, pp. 2–3.
20. ^ Brooke 2008, pp. 59–64.
21. ^ Wills 1996, p. 7.
22. Muir 1985, p. 48.
23. Taylor & Jowett 1993, p. 85.
24. Paul 1950, p. 227.
25. ^ Kermode 1974, p. 1308.
26. ^ Braunmuller 1997, pp. 5–8.
27. Zagorin 1996.
28. Rogers 1965, pp. 44–45.
29. Rogers 1965, pp. 45–47.
30. Crawford 2010.
31. Hadfield 2004, pp. 84–85.
32. ^ Hadfield 2004, p. 84.
33. Hadfield 2004, p. 85.
34. ^ Hadfield 2004, p. 86.
35. ^ Harris 2007, pp. 473–474.
36. Loomis 1956.
37. Whitted 2012.
38. Smith 2012.
39. Dyce 1843, p. 216.
40. Sprague 1889, p. 12.
41. Hattaway 1969, p. 100.
42. Clark & Mason 2015, p. 321.
43. Clark & Mason 2015, p. 325.
44. Clark & Mason 2015, pp. 326–329.
45. Brooke 2008, p. 57.
46. Clark & Mason 2015, pp. 329–335.
47. Bradley, AC, Shakespearean Tragedy
48. ^ Stoll 1943, p. 26.
49. Bradley, AC, Shakespearean Tragedy
50. Whalen, Richard F. (2014). "What Happens in Macbeth: An Originalist Reading of the Play" (PDF). Brief Chronicles V: 61–68.
51. Sherbo, Arthur (1951). "Dr. Johnson on Macbeth: 1745 and 1765". The Review of English Studies. 2 (5): 40–47. doi:10.1093/res/II.5.40. ISSN 0034-6551. JSTOR 511908.
52. Spurgeon 1935, pp. 324–327.
53. Muir 1984, p. xlviii.
54. Muir 1984, p. xlvi.
55. Pasternak 1959, pp. 150–152.
56. Lauren Byler (2015). "Loose characters in Mary Cowden Clarke's The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines in a Series of Tales". Texas Studies in Literature and Language. 57 (3): 343. doi:10.7560/TSLL57305. ISSN 0040-4691. S2CID 162081047.
57. Kliman & Santos 2005, p. 14.
58. Perkins 1610, p. 53.
59. Coddon 1989, p. 491.
60. ^ Frye 1987.
61. Bryant 1961, p. 153.
62. ^ Faires 2000.
63. Tritsch 1984.
64. Great West End Theatres Sky Arts. 10 August 2013
65. Straczynski 2006.
66. Garber 2008, p. 77.
67. "Brush Up Your Shakespeare". Ask Me Another. NPR. 20 August 2015. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
68. ^ Brooke 2008, p. 36.
69. Clark & Mason 2015, p. 337.
70. ^ Clark & Mason 2015, p. 324.
71. Clark & Mason 2015, p. 301.
72. Brooke 2008, pp. 34–36.
73. Orgel 2002, pp. 158–161.
74. Taylor 2002, p. 2.
75. Brooke 2008, pp. 35–36.
76. Williams 2002, p. 119.
77. Marsden 2002, p. 21.
78. Tatspaugh 2003, pp. 526–527.
79. Lanier 2002, pp. 28–29.
80. Orgel 2002, p. 155.
81. Morrison 2002, pp. 231–232.
82. Orgel 2002, p. 246.
83. Potter 2001, p. 188.
84. Gay 2002, p. 158.
85. Williams 2002, p. 124.
86. ^ Williams 2002, p. 125.
87. Williams 2002, pp. 124–125.
88. Potter 2001, p. 189.
89. Williams 2002, pp. 125–126.
90. Moody 2002, p. 43.
91. Gay 2002, p. 159.
92. McLuskie 2005, pp. 256–257.
93. Williams 2002, p. 126.
94. Gay 2002, p. 167.
95. Holland 2007, pp. 38–39.
96. Moody 2002, pp. 38–39.
97. ^ Lanier 2002, p. 37.
98. Williams 2002, pp. 126–127.
99. Moody 2002, p. 38.
100. Schoch 2002, pp. 58–59.
101. Williams 2002, p. 128.
102. Schoch 2002, pp. 61–62.
103. Gay 2002, pp. 163–164.
104. Schoch 2002, p. 64.
105. Morrison 2002, p. 237.
106. Booth 2001, pp. 311–312.
107. Holland 2002, p. 202.
108. Morrison 2002, p. 238.
109. Morrison 2002, p. 239.
110. Gay 2002, p. 162.
111. Gay 2002, pp. 161–162.
112. Gay 2002, p. 164.
113. Williams 2002, p. 129.
114. Williams 2002, pp. 129–130.
115. Gay 2002, pp. 166–167.
116. ^ Williams 2002, p. 130.
117. McLuskie 2005, p. 253.
118. ^ Williams 2002, pp. 130–131.
119. Smallwood 2002, p. 102.
120. Forsyth 2007, p. 284.
121. Hawkes 2003, p. 577.
122. Hardy 2014.
123. Bernews 2013.
124. Williams 2002, p. 131.
125. Brooke 2008, pp. 47–48.
126. Billington 2003, p. 599.
127. Billington 2003, pp. 599–600.
128. ^ Gay 2002, p. 169.
129. Williams 2002, pp. 132–134.
130. Walter 2002, p. 1.
131. ^ Billington 2003, p. 600.
132. Williams 2002, p. 134.
133. "Macbeth". RSC. Archived from the original on 13 August 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
134. Holland 2007, p. 40.
135. Williams 2002, pp. 134–135.
136. Holland 2002, p. 207.
137. Gillies et al. 2002, p. 268.
138. Gillies et al. 2002, p. 270.
139. Gillies et al. 2002, pp. 276–278.
140. Gillies et al. 2002, pp. 278–279.
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142. Tandon 2004.
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Sources

Editions of Macbeth

• Bloom, Harold, ed. (2008). Macbeth. Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages. New York: Chelsea House. ISBN 978-0-7910-9842-4.
• Braunmuller, Albert R., ed. (1997). Macbeth. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29455-3.
• Brooke, Nicholas, ed. (2008). Macbeth. The Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-953583-5.
• Clark, Sandra; Mason, Pamela, eds. (2015). Macbeth. The Arden Shakespeare, third series. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-904271-40-6.
• Kermode, Frank, ed. (1974). Macbeth. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-04402-2.
• Muir, Kenneth, ed. (1984) . Macbeth (11th ed.). The Arden Shakespeare, second series. ISBN 978-1-903436-48-6.
• Papadinis, Demitra, ed. (2012). The Tragedie of Macbeth: A Frankly Annotated First Folio Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6479-1.
• Sprague, Homer B., ed. (1889). Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth. Silver series of classics. New York: Silver, Burdett, & Co. hdl:2027/hvd.hn3mu1.

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External links

• Macbeth, eds. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library.
• Performances and Photographs from London and Stratford performances of Macbeth 1960–2000 – From the Designing Shakespeare resource
• Macbeth at Project Gutenberg
• Macbeth at the British Library
• Macbeth on Film
• PBS Video directed by Rupert Goold starring Sir Patrick Stewart
• Annotated Text at The Shakespeare Project – annotated HTML version of Macbeth.
• Macbeth Navigator – searchable, annotated HTML version of Macbeth.
• Macbeth public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• Macbeth Analysis and Textual Notes
• Annotated Bibliography of Macbeth Criticism
• Shakespeare and the Uses of Power by Steven Greenblatt

v t e William Shakespeare
Plays	Comedies All's Well That Ends Well As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night's Dream Much Ado About Nothing Pericles, Prince of Tyre ✻ The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Two Noble Kinsmen ✻ The Winter's Tale Tragedies Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Hamlet Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida Histories King John Edward III ✻ Richard II Henry IV 1 2 Henry V Henry VI 1 ✻ 2 3 Richard III Henry VIII ✻ Early editions Quarto publications First Folio Second Folio Related Problem plays Late romances Henriad Characters A–K L–Z Ghost character Chronology Performances Settings Scenes
Poems	Shakespeare's sonnets comparison to Petrarch A Lover's Complaint The Phoenix and the Turtle The Rape of Lucrece Venus and Adonis
Apocrypha	Plays Arden of Faversham The Birth of Merlin Cardenio ✻† Double Falsehood Edmund Ironside Fair Em Locrine The London Prodigal Love's Labour's Won † The Merry Devil of Edmonton Mucedorus The Puritan The Second Maiden's Tragedy Sejanus His Fall Sir John Oldcastle Sir Thomas More ✻ The Spanish Tragedy Thomas Lord Cromwell Thomas of Woodstock Ur-Hamlet † Vortigern and Rowena A Yorkshire Tragedy Poems The Passionate Pilgrim To the Queen
Life and works	Birthplace Bibliography Complete Works Translations Coat of arms Collaborations Editors English Renaissance theatre Globe Theatre Handwriting Lord Chamberlain's Men/King's Men The Theatre Curtain Theatre Music New Place Portraits Religious views Sexuality Spelling of his name Stratford-upon-Avon Style Will Grave
Legacy	Attribution studies Authorship question Bardolatry Festivals Gardens Influence Memorials Screen adaptations Shakespeare and Star Trek Shakespeare's influence on Tolkien Works titled after Shakespeare Institutions Folger Shakespeare Library Shakespeare Quarterly Royal Shakespeare Company Royal Shakespeare Theatre Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Shakespeare's Globe (replica) Shakespeare Institute
Family	Anne Hathaway (wife) Susanna Hall (daughter) Hamnet Shakespeare (son) Judith Quiney (daughter) Elizabeth Barnard (granddaughter) John Shakespeare (father) Mary Arden (mother) Gilbert Shakespeare (brother) Joan Shakespeare (sister) Edmund Shakespeare (brother) Richard Shakespeare (grandfather) John Hall (son-in-law) Thomas Quiney (son-in-law)
✻ Shakespeare and other authors † Lost Category

v t e William Shakespeare's Macbeth
Characters	Macbeth Lady Macbeth Banquo Macduff King Duncan Malcolm Donalbain Three Witches Fleance Lady Macduff Macduff's son Third Murderer Young Siward
Inspirations	Macbeth, King of Scotland Gruoch of Scotland Duncan I of Scotland Malcolm III of Scotland Donald III of Scotland Siward, Earl of Northumbria King James VI and I
Sources	Daemonologie (1597) The Witch (play) Holinshed's Chronicles Darraðarljóð
Film	1908 1909 (French) 1909 (Italian) 1911 1913 1915 1916 1922 1948 Unfinished 1971 2006 2015 The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) accolades
Television	1954 1960 US TV 1960 Australian TV 1961 1979 1982 1983 1992 2010
TV / film adaptations	The Real Thing at Last (1916) Marmayogi (1951) Joe MacBeth (1955) Throne of Blood (1957) Marmayogi (1964) Macbeth (Verdi opera) (1987) Men of Respect (1990) Scotland, PA (2001) Makibefo (2001) Maqbool (2003) 2005 The Last King of Scotland (2006) Shakespeare Must Die (2012) Thane of East County (2015) Veeram (2016) Joji (2021)
Plays	Khwab-e-Hasti (1909) Voodoo Macbeth (1936) MacBird! (1967) uMabatha (1970) Macbett (1972) Cahoot's Macbeth (1979) MacHomer (1995) Just Macbeth! (2008) Sleep No More (2009) Dunsinane (2010) Sleep No More (2011)
Operas	Macbeth (1847, Verdi) discography Macbeth (1910, Bloch)
Literary adaptations	Wyrd Sisters (1988) The Last King of Scotland (1998) Macbeth (2018)
Albums	Music from Macbeth (1972) Macbeth (1990) Thane to the Throne (2000) Shakespeare's Macbeth – A Tragedy in Steel (2003) Lady Macbeth (2005)
Art	Pity (1795) The Night of Enitharmon's Joy (1795) Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers (1812 painting) Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889) Lady Macbeth (1905 sculpture)
Scenes and speeches	"On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" (1823) Sleepwalking Scene (5.1) "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow"
Words and phrases	"What's done is done" "Crack of doom" The Scottish Play Thane of Cawdor
In popular culture	Novels, film and theatre We Work Again Light Thickens The Deadly Affair Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine The Scottish Play Burke & Hare Television "A Witch's Tangled Hare" (1959, Looney Tunes) "The Bellero Shield" (1964, The Outer Limits) "The Movies" (1975, The Goodies) "Sense and Senility" (1987, Blackadder the Third) "Sleeping with the Enemy" (2004, The Simpsons) "The Coup" (2006, The Office) "Dial 'N' for Nerder" (2008, The Simpsons) "Four Great Women and a Manicure" (2009, The Simpsons) "The Shower Principle" (2012, 30 Rock) "The Understudy" (2014, Inside No. 9)
Other	Macbeth (Johann Strauss) The Scottish Play Piano Trios, Op. 70 (Ludwig van Beethoven) The Ruins of Cawdor House of Cards (UK, 1990) House of Cards (US, 2013–2018) Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)

Categories:

• Macbeth
• 1603 plays
• English Renaissance plays
• Shakespearean tragedies
• Regicides
• Plays set in the 11th century
• Plays set in Scotland
• British plays adapted into films
• Plays adapted into operas
• Plays adapted into television shows
• Fiction about suicide
• Biographical plays about Scottish royalty
• Fiction about regicide
• Plays about witches and witchcraft
• Plays about kings