Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth
- Author
- William Shakespeare
- Year
- 1606
- Country
- England
- Copyright
- Written around 1606. Out of copyright; the full text is in the public domain.
A general who hears three witches' prophecy murders the king with his wife and takes the throne, only to be destroyed by the very prophecy he trusted.
Why it is a classic
The shortest and fastest of Shakespeare's tragedies. Every step from ambition to murder, murder to paranoia, paranoia to massacre is on the page, which makes it the best model of a descent structure.
Structure breakdown
- 01Act 1 · The prophecy
On the heath three witches hail Macbeth as future king. When the first prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) comes true at once, Lady Macbeth drives him toward regicide.
- 02Act 2 · The murder
The dagger of the mind. Macbeth kills King Duncan; the princes flee and take the blame. Macbeth is crowned.
- 03Act 3 · The ghost
Banquo is murdered but his son Fleance escapes. Banquo's ghost appears at the banquet and Macbeth breaks down in public.
- 04Act 4 · The second prophecy
'None of woman born shall harm Macbeth'; 'safe till Birnam Wood moves'. Macbeth slaughters Macduff's family.
- 05Act 5 · The wood moves
Lady Macbeth dies after sleepwalking. An army camouflaged with branches comes like Birnam Wood, and Macduff, born by caesarean, kills Macbeth.
What to steal for your own script
- Use a prophecy, system or rule twice: first to lift the hero, then to drop him through its literal reading.
- Guilt is a staircase, not a single step. Each act's murder is easier and crueller than the last, and that is the character arc.
- Write short. The quick intercutting after Act 4 is what makes the siege feel like closing walls.
Original excerpt
Act 1, Scene 1 — the three witches · Studio script format · English original
An opening that declares the world's rule in twelve lines: fair is foul, and foul is fair.
A desert place. Thunder and lightning.
Enter three WITCHES.
FIRST WITCH
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
THIRD WITCH
That will be ere the set of sun.
FIRST WITCH
Where the place?
SECOND WITCH
Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH
There to meet with Macbeth.
ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Exeunt.