A brief introduction to William Shakespeare's "Macbeth"

1. MACBETH
William Shakespeare

2. MACBETH by William Shakespeare

3. Macbeth in Real Life
◦ Shakespeare was inspired by a real
person when writing the play.
◦ Notice the difference between the real
Macbeth and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

4. MAIN CHARACTERS
◦ 1. Macbeth: He is the protagonist who is an ambitious
army General in Scotland.
◦ 2. Lady Macbeth: Macbeth’s wife.
◦ 3. King Duncan: The King of Scotland.
◦ 4. Malcom: First born son of King Duncan (Prince of
Cumberland).
◦ 5. Donalbain: The youngest of Duncan’s sons.
◦ 6. Banquo: Army general, he is a good friend of
Macbeth’s.
◦ 7. Macduff: Scottish nobleman and Lord of Fife.
◦ 8. The Three Witches

5. INTERESTING FACT!

6. PLOT SUMMARY
◦ Macbeth is regarded as one of Shakespeare’s most intense and widely performed plays.
◦ The play follows the life and actions of Macbeth who becomes more and more successful as the novel progresses, his fault is
that the more power he gains, the more ruthless he becomes.
◦ Macbeth makes it evident that he will not allow anyone to derail his plans, even resorting to murder.
◦ His wife , Lady Macbeth, is ruthless and her greed drives Macbeth to do morally questionable things.
◦ Macbeth and his wife pay for their immorality when a series of unfortunate events results in their world collapsing and their
reign coming to an untimely end.
◦ Malcolm then becomes the new King.

7. IMAGERY ◦ Shakespeare uses a lot of dark imagery
throughout the play.
◦ Pay attention to the imagery that will be
used whenever something bad is about
to happen. Think about how in some
cultures bad omens are associated with
an imbalance in nature (which is why
people appease ancestors, to restore
peace and the natural balance of things)
◦ Pay attention to the role that imagery
associated with nature plays in delivering
a dark ambiance.

8. MACBETH: ACT 1
• This is Macbeth’s introduction to
the readers and this is where the
audience is first made aware of the
3 Witches and their premonitions.
• Think of the charcetristics that are
associated with “witches” and
“witchcraft” in South Africa today
and compare them to the
depiction of the Three Witches.

9. MACBETH: Act II
• Macbeth’s plan to kill King Duncan
proved to be successful.
• Can Macbeth’s betrayal to King
Duncan be compared to that of
Dingane and King Shaka Zulu?
• Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
successfully framed a servant for King
Duncan’s murder.
• Pay attention to how nature reacts to
Duncan’s death and how the natural
order of things is imbalanced.
• Suspicions surrounding Macbeth
begin to arise.

10. MACBETH: ACT III
• Macbeth continues to stray
further away from his morality,
we see this through him killing
Banquo.
• Lady Macbeth continues to
fuel Macbeth’s immoral
behavior.
• Macbeth’s conscience starts to
get the better of him. The
supernatural world is
punishing him.

11. MACBETH: Act IV
The Three Witches visit Macbeth
with more premonitions
regarding Macduff.
Macbeth heads the witches’
warning and decides to kill
Macduff’s son and his wife.
The witches present more
premonitions which continues to
fuel Macbeth’s immorality in an
attempt to protect his position as
King.

12. REFERENCE LIST
◦ Kennedy, M. (2009) ‘Macbeth Power Point’. Available from Slideshare at https://www.slideshare.net/mkennedy68/macbeth-
power-point-2331487 (Accessed 19 August 2020)
◦ Duisenbaeva, J. (2015) ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/zhanerkeduisenbayeva/macbeth-44641269?qid=b971069c-19d6-48be-aecc-
75b264cae450&v=&b=&from_search=7 (Accessed 19 August 2020)
◦ NewEnglishBlog. (2013). ‘Imagery in Macbeth’. Available from Slideshare at
https://www.slideshare.net/NewEnglishBlog/imagery-in-macbeth?qid=b78f77f0-687a-47d6-840d-
bd18c2b7e47b&v=&b=&from_search=3 (Accessed 19 August 2020)
◦ Suzan, G. (2018). ‘Shakespeare: Macbeth’. Available from Slideshare at https://www.slideshare.net/Suzan500/shakespeare-
macbeth-94676643?qid=6e71b4e9-4621-44b4-ae37-547d0d078300&v=&b=&from_search=5 (Accessed 19 August 2020)
◦ Guest03b209. (2008). ‘Macbeth Powerpoint’. Available from Slideshare at https://www.slideshare.net/guest03b209/macbeth-
powerpoint-presentation (Accessed 19 August 2020)