King Duncan's palace was at Forres; Macbeth's castle at Inverness. The invasion Macbeth and Banquo repelled was from Norway. Note the exposed location of Forres on the north coast,

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To show favor to Macbeth after this victory, the King visits Macbeth's castle, and Macbeth, taking advantage of the opportunity, kills him.

The play from this point on becomes a history of crime. After the murder of the King, Macbeth cannot draw back. His fears for safety drive him from crime to crime. His guilty mind becomes a prey to terrors and the consciousness of sin. His soliloquies sometimes take on the form of deep regrets. At other times the torture of his conscience drives him into fits of abstraction during which he sees the very things that terrify his mind to think about.

To Banquo, on the other hand, the witches prophesy he shall be father to a line of kings, though he be none himself. There are no seeds of wickedness in Banquo's heart, so he commits no crimes to fulfill the prophecy. His character is the antithesis of Macbeth's. Banquo becomes the ancestor of the Scottish King who as James I. sat upon the throne of England at the time Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.

Of the later characters, Lady Macbeth concerns usi most. She is a woman with a will of steel. She urges Macbeth on, and when he quite betrays himself, she rescues him from discovery with rare presence of mind and consummate skill.

In Banquo's place, when Macbeth murders him, springs up Macduff, the most dangerous of all Macbeth's wronged enemies.

The play begins with the meeting of the witches on the heath. The witches are both grotesque and terrible. In their dances and at their first appearance we could almost smile at them, but when we realize the hideousness of their designs and their environment, we shiver, and our blood runs cold.

ACT I

A heath, during a storm [Prolog.] Three witches; then Macbeth and Banquo victorious generals of the Scottish King, coming fresh from battle.

[Exit.] 1 concerns us: this in despite of the fact that Lady Macbeth's own feelings and experiences in the play are not presented in this playlet.

3

[Thunder. Enter the three Witches R.] 1 Witch. Where hast thou been, sister? 2 Witch. Killing swine. 3 Witch. Sister, where thou? 1 Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap, And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me!"

quoth I. “Aroint: thee, witch!” she cries. Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger; But in a sieve I'll thither sail, And, like a rat without a tail,

I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
2 Witch. I'll give thee a wind.4
1 Witch. Thou'rt kind.
3 Witch. And I another.
1 Witch. I myself have all the other.

He shall live a man forbid 5
Weary sevennights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost,

Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
1 Witch. Look what I have.
2 Witch. Show me, show me.
1 Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wracked? as homeward he did come.

3 Witch. A drum, a drum! Macbeth doth come.

[They join hands and circle slowly around as they chant.] All. The weird sisters, hand in hand,

Posters? of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about;
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine.
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! The charm's wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo L.]
Macbeth. So foul and fairs a day I have not seen.
Banquo. How far is't called to Forres?4 – What are these

So withered and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants of the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught

That man may question?
Macbeth.

Speak, if you can. What are you? 1 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis.. 2 Witch. All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!? 3 Witch. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter! Banquo. (To Macbeth.] Good sir, why do you start, and

seem to fear Things that do sound so fair? - In the name of truth, Are ye fantastical, or that indeed Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner You greet with great prediction 1 weird (wērd): suggesting magical influence. 2 posters (pās'těrz): rapid travelers.

3 foul and fair. It has been a stormy, foggy day, but a fair, i.e. fortunate, one for Macbeth and Banquo.

4 Forres (for'ěs). 5 thane (thān): an old Scottish title of honor, nearly the equivalent, in Macbeth's time, to earl.

Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems lost in thought; to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear

Your favors nor your hate. 1 Witch. Hail! 2 Witch. Hail! 3 Witch. Hail! 1 Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. 2 Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier. 3 Witch. Thy children shall be kings, though thou be none;

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
1 Witch. Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
Macbeth. Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.

By Sinel's' death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? The thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you.

[Witches vanish R.]
Banquo. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,

And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?
Macbeth. Into the air; and what seemed real melted

As breath into the wind. Would they had stayed!
Banquo. Were such things here as we do speak about?
Macbeth. Your children shall be kings.
Banquo.

You shall be King.
Macbeth. And thane of Cawdor too; went it not so?
Banquo. To the self-same tune and words. Who's here?