Scene 1

• setting: Scottish moor, a thunderstorm rages
• the witches (three old, haggard women) emerge from the storm and agree upon meeting again on the heath after the battle in order to confront Macbeth
• they disappear again

Scene 2

• setting: military camp near the King of Scotland Duncan‘s palace
• the king asks an injured captain for news about the battle with Irish rebels led by a man called Macdonald
• the captain has helped Malcolm - Duncan‘s son - to escape from the Irish and was wounded in doing so
• he claims that the Scottish generals Macbeth and Banquo have fought bravely and brutally
• the king is informed that Macbeth killed the traitor Macdonald
• also, the traitorous Thane of Cawdor has been defeated and the Norwegian army has retreated as the Thane of Ross reports
• Duncan puts the death sentence upon the Thane of Cawdor and selects Macbeth to be his successor as a token of his heroic warfare
• the Thane of Ross exits in order to deliver the news to Macbeth

Scene 3

• setting: heath near battlefield, thunderstorm
• the three witches reappear and recount what they just did - one has killed pigs, the other plans to take revenge on a sailor whose wife did not want to share her chestnuts with her
• when a drum sounds, the third witch shouts that Macbeth is arriving
• Macbeth and Banquo see the three old women and are horrified, Banquo wonders whether they are mortal at all and whether they are women due to their beards
• the witches call Macbeth the Thane of Glamis (whom he actually is), as well as the Thane of Cawdor
• because Macbeth does not yet know about King Duncan‘s decision, he is baffled
• in addition, the witches predict that Macbeth will become king one day
• the witches continue speaking in riddles to Banquo, declaring that he is lesser than Macbeth and greater at the same time and also, that although he will never be king, his children will sit upon the throne
• Macbeth presses the witches for more information but they vanish
• Banquo and Macbeth discuss the strange encouter but are interrupted by the arrival of Ross and Angus
• Ross tells Macbeth that he is now the Thane of Cawdor due to the fact that the former will be executed for treason
• Macbeth is astonished about the truth of the witches‘ prophecy and asks Banquo if he wanted his children to be kings
• Banquo is skeptical about the prophecy and responds that devils often tell half-truths in order to win people over against their own intentions and values
• Macbeth keeps thinking about the possibility of him becoming king and wonders whether he will need to perform a dark deed or whether the reign will come to him somehow naturally
• the group leaves and Macbeth whispers to Banquo that he wants to take to him at a later point in time about what has happened

Scene 4

• setting: king Duncan‘s palace
• Malcolm reports to Duncan that Cawdor died nobly, also confessing and repenting of his crimes
• when Macbeth and Banquo enter with Ross and Angus, King Duncan thanks the generals for their victorious warfare and they avow their loyalty and gratitude
• King Duncan announces his son Malcolm the heir of the throne and Macbeth realizes that Malcolm stands between him and the crown now
• Duncan is supposed to have dinner at Macbeth‘s castle and Macbeth informs his wife of the royal party that will attend their castle in the evening

Function Scene 1-4

• scenes create dramatic atmosphere
  
  • thunderstorm during the witches‘ meeting: natural forces are intertwined with supernatural powers
  • awakening of Macbeth‘s intentions
  • battlefield symbolizes cruelties and atrocities of war; bloody carnage foreshadows the murders later on in the play
  • dark mood runs through the whole play
• main characters and their relationships are portrayed
  
  • Macbeth as noble and brave warrior; he also seeks power and does not care about murdering in order to achieve his goals
  • Macbeth thinks the prophecy through instead of simly dismissing it and is pushed to act by his wife
  • female characters as vivid and wicked and also, they are stronger and more imposing than the male characters of the play
  • witches: rhyming spells set an eerie mood, always appear in an uneasy setting (thunder/lightning); language of contradiction ("fair is foul and foul is fair") emphasizes the play‘s sense of moral confusion
  • Macbeths first phrase in the play is similar to the one of the witches which closely links them to him

Scene 5

• setting: Macbeth‘s castle in Inverness
• Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth in which he tells her about his promotion to the thaneship of Cawdor and in which he recounts his meeting with the three witches
• the lady knows about her husband‘s ambitions but is afraid that his kindness hinders him from achieving his goals and decides to convince Macbeth to do whatever needs to be done in order to become king
• a messenger informs Lady Macbeth about the king‘s and her husband‘s imminent arrival at the castle
• while she waits, she begs the spirits to get rid of her natural feminity so that she can engage in the bloody deeds that will be necessary for Macbeth to ascend the throne
• when Macbeth arrives, he discusses the king‘s visit with Lady Macbeth
• although Macbeth claims that the king will leave the next day, Lady Macbeth reassures him that the king will never see the next day
• she asks Macbeth to be patient and intends to plan the murder of king Duncan

Scene 6

• the king arrives, praises the castle and its environment and expresses his gratitude towards Lady Macbeth with regard to her hospitality
• Lady Macbeth answers that this is her duty due to the fact that she and her husband owe a lot to the king
• Duncan proceeds to go inside and expresses his affection for Macbeth

Scene 7

• during the preparations for the feast, Macbeth reconsiders his idea of killing Duncan, drawing the conclusion that it would be easier to kill Duncan if he knew that no terrible consequences would follow
• although he is willing to put up with eternal damnation, he notices that bloody actions will always have an impact on the one who executed them
• also, he thinks about reasons why he should not kill Duncan - he is his kinsman, subject and in addition, the king is beloved by the people
• due to those reasons, it is hard for Macbeth to motivate himself to killing Duncan
• Macbeth concludes that there is no reason to murder Duncan except for his own ambitions and he acknowledges these as rather unreliable
• Lady Macbeth interrupts Macbeth and tells him that the king has finished dining and that he has been asking for Macbeth
• Macbeth states that he does not want to kill the king anymore and his wife is outraged, questioning his manhood and calling him a coward
• whereas Macbeth utters his fears about the consequences in case of a failure of their plan, his wife believes that if they are bold, they will be successful
• Lady Macbeth reveals her plan to kill Duncan: she will make his chamberlains drunk by giving them wine and she will then slip in to Duncan‘s quarters with Macbeth and execute the murder
• in order to make the chamberlains look guilty, they will smear Duncan‘s blood on them
• Macbeth is fascinated with his wife‘s vicious and brilliant plan and believes that because of that, she will only give birth to boys
• Macbeth finally agrees to the plan

Function Scene 5-7

• Lady Macbeth is portrayed as one of the most memorable characters of the play
  
  • her soliloquies that revolve around the possible aspect of killing Duncan charaterize her as violent and unabashed and emphasize her strength of will
  • she knows that her husband might not be able to convey the murder and decides to manipulate him into following the witches‘ prophecy
  • her presence is linked to the play‘s exploration of gender roles: she rids herself of her feminine characteristics, even wishing to be unsexed and her milk exchanged for gall in order to be "manly" enough to kill Duncan by herself
  • for her, manhood is closely connected to murder, which is why she questions her husband‘s manhood because he has doubts concerning the murder of the king
  • she also compares his undecidedness with regard to killing Duncan with his inabilities to carry out a sexual act
  • she can be considered the opposite of an ideal wife
• introduction of the theme of a subject‘s loyalty
  
  • the plot mainly focuses on Macbeth‘s betrayal of his king and of Scotland
  • Macbeth is the epitome of a disloyal subject: his desire for power overwhelmes his thoughts about Duncan‘s good qualities
  • Macbeth even ignores his own doubts about killing Duncan and just wishes for a simple and consequence-free murder
  • although he thinks so carelessly about the murder, he is also aware of the gravity of the act of regicide
• blood and the act of spilling blood is linked to guilt and cosmic retribution