Macbeth

William Shakespeare

A soldier hears a prophecy, murders a king, and discovers that the crown is the least interesting thing he has taken.

TragedyAmbitionGuiltProphecyMarriage

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English reading edition

Full Project Gutenberg text, newly typeset—not a publisher scan. Public-domain status varies by country; check local laws. The source license is included.

Edition and source

How to read it

Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and his most claustrophobic: the imagery of sleeplessness and blood turns conscience into a physical climate. The Macbeths are the only married couple in the tragedies who talk like intimates — which is why their estrangement is the true catastrophe.

Selected section overview

These are selected acts, parts or episodes, not a complete chapter list. Summaries contain spoilers; descriptive headings are editorial.

Act IProphecy
Witches, Duncan's gratitude, and Lady Macbeth's 'unsex me here'. Ambition is spoken aloud before it is acted.
Act IIThe murder
The dagger of the mind; Duncan killed offstage; the Porter's knocking hell-gate comedy. 'Macbeth does murder sleep.'
Act IIIBanquo's ghost
Hired murderers, a spoiled banquet, and a king undone in public by what only he can see.
Act IVThe cauldron
Equivocal apparitions; the slaughter of Macduff's family — the play's point of no return.
Act VBirnam Wood
Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking hands; 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow'; prophecy fulfilled on a technicality.