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Macbeth
William Shakespeare
Summary

Act 1
The play takes place in Scotland. Duncan, the king of Scotland, is at war with the
king of Norway. As the play opens, he learns of Macbeth's bravery in a victorious
battle against Macdonald—a Scot who sided with the Norwegians. At the same
time, news arrives concerning the arrest of the treacherous Thane of Cawdor.
Duncan decides to give the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth.

As Macbeth and Banquo return home from battle, they meet three witches. The
witches predict that Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland, and
that Banquo will be the father of kings. After the witches disappear, Macbeth and
Banquo meet two noblemen Ross and Angus, who announce Macbeth's new title
as thane of Cawdor. Upon hearing this, Macbeth begins to contemplate the
murder of Duncan in order to realize the witches' second prophecy.
Macbeth and Banquo meet with Duncan, who announces that he is going to pay
Macbeth a visit at his castle. Macbeth rides ahead to prepare his household.
Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth informing her of the
witches' prophesy and its subsequent realization. A servant appears to inform her
of Duncan's approach. Energized by the news, Lady Macbeth invokes
supernatural powers to strip her of feminine softness and thus prepare her for the
murder of Duncan. When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth tells him that she will
plot Duncan's murder.

When Duncan arrives at the castle, Lady Macbeth greets him alone. When
Macbeth fails to appear, Lady Macbeth finds him is in his room, contemplating
the weighty and evil decision to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth taunts him by telling
him that he will only be a man if he kills Duncan. She then tells him her plan for
the murder, which Macbeth accepts: they will kill him while his drunken
bodyguards sleep, then plant incriminating evidence on the bodyguards.

Act 2
Macbeth sees a vision of a bloody dagger floating before him, leading him to
Duncan's room. When he hears Lady Macbeth ring the bell to signal the
completion of her preparations, Macbeth sets out to complete his part in the
murderous plan.

Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to finish the act of regicide. Macbeth enters, still
carrying the bloody daggers. Lady Macbeth again chastises him for his weak-

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mindedness and plants the daggers on the bodyguards herself. While she does
so, Macbeth imagines that he hears a haunting voice saying that he shall sleep
no more. Lady Macbeth returns and assures Macbeth that "a little water clears us
of this deed" (II ii 65).

As the thanes Macduff and Lennox arrive, the porter pretends that he is guarding
the gate to hell. Immediately thereafter, Macduff discovers Duncan’s dead body.
Macbeth kills the two bodyguards, claiming that he was overcome with a fit of
grief and rage when he saw them with the bloody daggers. Duncan's sons
Malcolm and Donalbain, fearing their lives to be in danger, flee to England and
Ireland. Their flight brings them under suspicion of conspiring against Duncan.
Macbeth is thus crowned king of Scotland.
Act 3
In an attempt to thwart the witches' prophesy that Banquo will father kings,
Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Lady Macbeth
is left uninformed of these plans. A third murderer joins the other two on the
heath and the three men kill Banquo. Fleance, however, manages to escape.
Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth as he sits down to a celebratory banquet,
sending him into a frenzy of terror. Lady Macbeth attempts to cover up for his
odd behavior but the banquet comes to a premature end as the thanes begin to
question Macbeth's sanity. Macbeth decides that he must revisit the witches to
look into the future once more.

Meanwhile, Macbeth's thanes begin to turn against him. Macduff meets Malcolm
in England to prepare an army to march on Scotland.

Act 4
The witches show Macbeth three apparitions. The first warns him against
Macduff, the second tells him to fear no man born of woman, and the third
prophesizes that he will fall only when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane castle.
Macbeth takes this as a prophecy that he is infallible. When he asks the witches
if their prophesy about Banquo will come true, they show him a procession of
eight kings, all of whom look like Banquo.

Meanwhile in England, Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty by pretending to confess

to multiple sins and malicious ambitions. When Macduff proves his loyalty to
Scotland, the two strategize for their offensive against Macbeth. Back in
Scotland, Macbeth has Macduff’s wife and children murdered.

Act 5
Lady Macbeth suffers from bouts of sleepwalking. To a doctor who observes her
symptoms, she unwittingly reveals her guilt as she pronounces that she cannot
wash her hands clean of bloodstains. Macbeth is too preoccupied with battle
preparations to pay much heed to her dreams and expresses anger when the

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doctor says he cannot cure her. Just as the English army led by Malcolm,
Macduff, Siward approaches, Lady Macbeth’s cry of death is heard in the castle.
When Macbeth hears of her death, he comments that she should have died at a
future date and muses on the meaninglessness of life.

Taking the witches’ second prophecies in good faith, Macbeth still believes that
he is impregnable to the approaching army. But Malcolm has instructed each
man in the English army to cut a tree branch from Birnam Wood and hold it up to
disguise the army’s total numbers. As a result, Macbeth's servant reports that he
has seen a seemingly impossible sight: Birnam Wood seems to be moving
toward the castle. Macbeth is shaken but still engages the oncoming army.

In battle, Macbeth kills Young Siward, the English general's brave son. Macduff
then challenges Macbeth. As they fight, Macduff reveals that he was not "of
woman born" but was "untimely ripped" from his mother's womb (V x 13-16).
Macbeth is stunned but refuses to yield to Macduff. Macduff kills him and
decapitates him. At the end of the play, Malcolm is proclaimed the new king of
Scotland.

Character List

Duncan, King of Scotland

A kindly and trusting older man, Duncan's unsuspecting nature leaves him open to
Macbeth's betrayal. Both before and after the regicide, it is Duncan's particularly virtuous
nature that enhances Macbeth's sense of guilt. The historic Duncan, incidentally, was a
young man when he was betrayed by his general Macbeth.
Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan's sons
Although Malcolm and Donalbain seem to have inherited Duncan's fairness, both display a
cunning that far surpasses their father. After Duncan's death, they fear for their lives rightly
and both flee Scotland. Malcolm also tests Macduff's loyalty whilst abroad by putting on
dishonorable and corrupt airs. Such cunning, or shrewdness, allows for their successful
return to the crown of Scotland.

Macbeth, Thane of Glamis

Macbeth is a general in the king's army and originally the Thane of Glamis. As a reward for
his valiant fighting, described in the opening scene, Macbeth is also named the Thane of
Cawdor. Appropriately, the former Thane of Cawdor was a traitor to the crown who
appeared loyal. At heart, Macbeth does not deserve the adjective "evil." To be sure, he
commits regicide and eventually orders the death of women and children alike. But unlike
Iago of Othello or Edmund of King Lear, Macbeth is not an explicitly malicious villain. His
initial crime is a product of opportunistic prophecies, a weakness of character, his "vaulting
ambition," and certainly the influence of Lady Macbeth. Thereafter, he is compelled to

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commit further crimes in an attempt to cover his tracks and defy the three witches'
prophecy. After Duncan's death and the flight of Malcolm and Donalbain, Macbeth reigns as
king of Scotland until his death.

Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's wife

What Macbeth lacks in decisiveness, Lady Macbeth makes up for in bloodthirsty lust for
power and wealth. Swearing off her femininity at the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth
manipulates her husband powerfully to follow through with his plans to kill Duncan. After
the act of regicide, it is Lady Macbeth who has the soundness of mind to plant the
incriminating evidence on Duncan's guards. And yet, her firmness disintegrates gradually
as the play progresses, leading to nightmares that haunt her and ultimately drive her to
suicide. In this regard, Lady Macbeth appears to switch characters with Macbeth midway
through the play. Although most famous for her cruelty and lines such as "unsex me here,"
the decline of Lady Macbeth is also of great interest and certainly a mysterious aspect
of Macbeth.

Seyton
Macbeth's servant.

Three Murderers
Hired by Macbeth to kill Banquo, Fleance, Lady Macduff, and Macduff's son. Since only two
murderers are explicitly hired by Macbeth, commentators speculate on the identity of the
third murderer. A popular candidate is Macbeth himself.

A Porter, in Macbeth's service

Provides comic relief with his account of "hell-portering".

Banquo, Thane of Lochaber

A general in Duncan's army along with Macbeth, Banquo is also the subject of one of the
witches' prophesies. Unlike Macbeth, however, Banquo does not act to fulfill these
prophecies. He instead relies on his better judgement and morals. And true to the witches'
words, his son Fleance escapes Macbeth's murderers to become a future king. Banquo is
also important in that his ghost returns to haunt Macbeth, thus instilling a strong sense of
uneasiness among Macbeth's servants.

Fleance
Banquo's son. He alone escapes from the ambush set by Macbeth for him and his father.

Macduff, Thane of Fife

A Scottish nobleman who questions Macbeth's tyrannical rule and refuses to recognize him
as king. Macduff follows Malcolm to England, where he demonstrates his true faithfulness
to Scotland. When the English army marches on Dunsinane, it is Macduff who slays
Macbeth in a duel. For even though Macbeth is said to be invincible against any man born of
a woman, Macduff was born by the equivalent of a Caesarean section.

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Lady Macduff, Macduff's wife

A kind and motherly foil for Lady Macbeth's lack of feminine sympathies, she is killed along
with her children after Macduff flees Scotland.

Macduff's son
The precociousness of Macduff's son makes his death ever the more lamentable.

Lennox
A Scottish noble who gradually questions Macbeth's tyrannical rule.

Ross
Macbeth's cousin, Ross is a Scottish noble who eventually turns on Macbeth, choosing to
side with Malcolm and the English forces.

Angus, Menteith, and Caithness

Scottish nobles who join with Malcolm and the English forces in opposing Macbeth.

Siward, Earl of Northumberland

As Duncan's brother, he leads the English army against Macbeth. His army disguises itself
with branches from Birnam Wood, thereby fulfilling the witches' prophesy that Macbeth
will fall only when "Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane." Siward is also a proud father,
declaring his approval when his son dies bravely in battle.

Young Siward
Siward's son, slain by Macbeth in combat.

Hecate, queen of the witches

Some critics believe that her character was added to the play by a later playwright.

Three Witches, The Weird Sisters

The witches foresee Macbeth's ascent to power and his defeat, as well as the succession of
Banquo's line. Apparently without any real motive, their speech is full of paradox and
equivocation. Although the witches do not have much character per se, they are in many
ways central to the plot and themes of the play (for preliminary analysis, see that of Act 1
Scene 1).

Three Messengers, Three Servants, a Lord, a Soldier, a Captain in Duncan's army, an

Old Man, an English Doctor, a Scottish Doctor, A Scottish Gentlewoman
Incidental characters.

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Prophecy
The plot of Macbeth is set in motion ostensibly by the prophecy of the three witches. The
prophecy fans the flames of ambition within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, serving as the
primary impetus for the couple to plot the death of Duncan--and subsequently Banquo. But
one also wonders: Would Macbeth have committed such heinous crimes if not for the
prophecy? What if he had ignored the witches’ statements? Such speculation, however
interesting, ultimately appears futile, since the prophecy itself is self-fulfilling. The witches
know Macbeth’s tragic flaw: given the irresistible temptation to become King,
he will choose to commit murder even though he could simply discard their words. As it
turns out, the prophecies are not only fated but fatal, as Macbeth's confidence in the
witches leads him to fight a rash battle in the final act.
Guilt and Remorse
Some of the most famous and poetic lines from Macbeth are expressions of remorse. “Will
all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” exclaims Macbeth after
he stabs Duncan (II ii 58-59). Similarly, Lady Macbeth is plagued by a “spot” that she cannot
remove from her hand: “Out, damned spot! Out, I say. . . What, will these hands ne’er be
clean?” (V I 30-37). At first physical remainders of a regrettable crime, the royal blood
leaves permanent marks on the psyche of the couple, forever staining them with guilt and
remorse. The different ways in which the Macbeths cope with their crimes show how their
characters develop: whereas Lady Macbeth is initially the one without scruples, urging
Macbeth to take action, it is an overpowering sense of guilt and remorse that drives the
Lady to her untimely death. Macbeth, on the other hand, seems to overcome the guilt that
plagues him early on in the play.
Ghosts and Visions
Just as an overwhelming guilty conscience drives Lady Macbeth mad, so too does Macbeth’s
“heat-oppressed” brain project the vision of a dagger before he murders Duncan (II i 39). In
what concerns ghosts and visions, the relation of the natural to the supernatural
in Macbeth is unclear. The three apparitions that the witches summon, for example, are
usually taken to be “real”—even if only as supernatural occurrences. But the matter is less
clear when it comes to Banquo’ ghost. Macbeth is the only one who sees the ghost in a
crowded room; is this yet another projection of his feverish mind? Or is it really, so to
speak, a supernatural occurrence? Such ambiguities contribute to the eerie mood and sense
of uncanniness that pervade the play, from the very opening scene with the three bearded
witches.
The Natural/Supernatural
If the witches’ prophecy is understood to be imposing a supernatural order on the natural
order of things, the natural order can also be understood as responding with tempestuous
signs. Following Duncan’s death, Lennox describes the “unruly” night in some detail.
Similarly, Ross notes that “the heavens, as troubled with man’s act, / Threatens his bloody
stage” (II iv 5-6). In the same scene, the Old Man and Ross both agree that they saw horses
eat each other. Even the events leading to the conclusion of the play can be understood as a
negotiation of the natural and supernatural. Whereas Macbeth believes that he will live the

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“lease of nature”—since Birnam Wood cannot possible come to Dunsinane Hill—the forest
is literally uprooted by the English army in accordance with the prophecy. The dichotomy
between the natural and the supernatural forms a backdrop that suggests the epic
proportions of the struggle over the Scottish crown.
Dichotomy and Equivocation
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air” (I i 10-11). The first
scene of the first act ends with these words of the witches, which Macbeth echoes in his
first line: “So foul and fair a day I have not seen” (I iii 36). In a similar fashion, many scenes
conclude with lines of dichotomy or equivocation: “Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell /
That summons thee to heaven or hell” (II i64); “God’s benison go with you, and with those/
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes” (II iv 41-42). Such lines evoke an air of
deep uncertainty: while polarities are reversed and established values are overturned, it is
entirely unclear as to whether the dichotomous clarity of “heaven or hell” trumps the
equivocatory fogginess of “fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Thus, for Macbeth, this translates
into an uncertainty as to whether the prophecies are believable. It seems that Birnam
Wood will either come to Dunsinane Hill (a supernatural event) or it will not (a natural
event); but the actual even turns out to be neither here nor there, as the
Wood figuratively comes to Dunsinane.
Ambition and Temptation
Ambition and temptation both play a key factor in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s decision to
kill Duncan. Macbeth possesses enough self-awareness to realize the dangers of
overzealous ambition: “I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting
ambition which o’erleaps itself / And falls on th’other” (25-28). And yet, the temptation to
carry out the witches' prophecy is ultimately too strong for Macbeth to curb his ambition.
In Lady Macbeth’s lexicon, incidentally, “hope” is also another word for “ambition” and
perhaps “temptation.” As Macbeth expresses his doubts about killing Duncan, she demands:
“Was the hope drunk / Wherein you dressed yourself” (35-36)? Ironically, Lady Macbeth
must herself rely on intoxicants to “make [her] bold” before executing her ambitious and
murderous plans (II ii 1). Once the intoxication wears off, Lady Macbeth finds that she is
unable to cope with the consequences of her own "hope." Ultimately, ambition and
temptation prove fatal for both the Macbeths.
Salvation and Damnation
As a morality tale of sorts, Macbeth has as its near contemporary Christopher
Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus. Like Dr. Faustus, Macbeth recognizes the damning consequences of
his crime:

. . . Besides, this Duncan

Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.” (I vii 16-20)

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And yet Macbeth carries out the crime, thus precipitating his own descent into
hell. Later in the play, appropriately, Macduff calls Macbeth by the name of “hell-
hound” (V x 3). Indeed, the story of Macbeth is that of a man who acquiesces in
his damnation—in part because he cannot utter words that may attenuate his
crime. As Duncan’s guards pray “God bless us” on their deathbed, Macbeth
cannot say one “Amen” (II ii 26-27). His fate is thus sealed entirely by his own
hands.

Is Lady Macbeth a Villain or a Victim?

When audiences first encounter Lady Macbeth, she seems a very forceful and
dominant personality, and we can assume that she is the villain, or antagonist,
of the play. Unlike Macbeth, who deliberates over whether or not to kill Duncan
and who wrestles with loyalty to his king, Lady Macbeth is single-minded in her
lust for power. She has no loyalty to any cause beyond her own ambition, and is
willing to manipulate her husband to achieve what she wants. Her desire for
Macbeth to be king doesn’t stem from a belief he’d be a good ruler; she wants
him to be king because she wants to be queen. As a woman, queen is the most
powerful role she can hope for in the court. Unlike Macbeth, who hopes there’s
a way he can become king without taking action himself, Lady Macbeth
immediately accepts that murder is necessary to achieve her goals, and prays
for the resolve necessary to commit the act: “Come, you spirits that tend on
mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/of
direst cruelty.”
However, if we look more closely at the difference between who Lady Macbeth
is and who she wants to be, we begin seeing a different side of Lady Macbeth,
suggesting that she is not as villainous as we might have thought. While her
boast to Macbeth that, if she had promised to kill her own child, she would have
“dashed its brains out” without hesitation is certainly blood-chilling, she is only
saying what she would do, not telling us about something she has actually
done. In the lines before this shocking claim, she admits, “I have given suck, and
know/How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me.” In reality, she is capable
of tenderness and warmth. Her wish to be “unsexed” and request that the spirits

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to “take my milk for gall,” so that she can act without remorse, indicate that,
rather than lacking compassion, she fears she has too much. In fact, it may be
Lady Macbeth, not her husband, who may be “too full o’ th’ milk of human
kindness.”
Another contrast between what Lady Macbeth says she would do and what
she actually does comes on the night of Duncan’s murder. While waiting for
Macbeth to kill Duncan, she admits “Had he not resembled/ my father as he
slept, I had done’t.” Again, she is portraying herself as ruthless and violent, but
her action (or lack of action) tells a different story. Maybe she would have killed
Duncan if he didn’t look like her father; maybe not – all we know is, given the
opportunity to kill the king, she couldn’t go through with it. Her previous wish that
her blood would “stop up th’ access and passage to remorse” has not come
true. When Macbeth announces Duncan’s death, she faints. One reading is that
her faint is faked to distract from Macbeth’s shaky story. But if the faint is real, it
suggests she just now realizes the truth of what they’ve done, and is
overwhelmed by her husband’s ability to kill not only Duncan but also the
attendants, and lie so easily about it.
After Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth’s role is of comforter and protector of
Macbeth, rather than instigator of murder, and her character becomes more
sympathetic. Immediately after the murder, Macbeth says, “to know my deed,
‘twere best not know myself,” and the rest of the play sees him becoming further
estranged from himself and his essential humanity. Lady Macbeth, in contrast,
stops pretending to be someone she’s not, and begins admitting who she
actually is. She recognizes the error of their actions, saying, “’Tis safer to be that
which we destroy/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” They’ve killed
Duncan, but the murder only made them miserable, and in some ways they’d
be better off dead. However, she continues to put on a brave face for her
husband, encouraging him to put the past behind him (“what’s done is done”)
and stop worrying. When Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost at the banquet, Lady
Macbeth again covers for him. But, sensing her regret, he hides his plans to kill

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Lady Macduff and her children. Not only has Macbeth become a stranger to
himself, he is also a stranger to his wife, who now has no ally and is isolated in her
guilt.
The last time we see Lady Macbeth she is raving about blood on her hands,
signaling that she is a victim of her husband and her own overwrought
emotional state. Over the course of the play we’ve seen her evolve from a
crafty manipulator to a guilt-ridden casualty of her husband’s ambition who has
lost all agency over her own life. “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she
now?” she asks, in what sounds like babble but is actually a poignant
acknowledgment of her own irrelevance. Her husband is off murdering more
innocent people in his quest to hold onto his ill-gotten crown, while Lady
Macbeth, who hoped to share in his glory, has been abandoned. Her obsession
with cleaning the phantom blood off her hands signals that she has been just as
tainted as Macbeth by his murders, even though she did not commit them
herself, nor has she benefitted from them. While Lady Macbeth is far from
blameless for her role in inciting her husband to action, she ends the play a far
more sympathetic character than she began.

How is Macbeth a Tragic Hero?

Macbeth is a tragic hero because a grave error of judgment and his own
ambition cause him to murder Duncan, leading to chaos, destruction, and
eventually his own death. According to Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, the tragic
hero must begin the play as a high status individual so that his fall from grace
carries impact. Aristotle believed that since the aim of tragedy is to provoke
intense emotion in the audience, that goal is more easily met by showing
something terrible happen to a king or a noble man than by telling a tragic story
about a shepherd or a farmer. Also, when a hero is of high status, his actions
have repercussions for the whole community, such as disrupting line of
inheritance of the throne. Macbeth begins the play as a wealthy and high status
Scottish nobleman who has also just distinguished himself and earned the king’s

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favor due to his bravery and skill as a warrior. The audience initially admires him
for his accomplishments, and can relate to his desire to be king, since ambition is
a common human drive.
While a tragic hero begins as someone the audience can look up to, he is soon
tempted to make a terrible mistake. Macbeth’s mistake is letting his ambition
blind him to the immorality of murdering Duncan. Although he seems to have
been a loyal subject, once the possibility of him becoming king comes up, he
can’t resist the temptation to make this change in status happen. Macbeth has
just achieved a rise in status through being made Thane of Cawdor, yet rather
than being satisfied with the reward he has honorably achieved, he remains
unsatisfied. Macbeth, does, however, hesitate a number of times before putting
his plan into action. He initially tries to put thoughts about murdering Duncan out
of his mind as soon as they come up. He resists his wife’s suggestions about
seizing power. He even changes his mind about carrying out the plan and has
to be talked back into it. Up to this point, he remains a sympathetic character.
Most people have wanted something they didn’t have, or discovered, once
they got it, that they wanted more. Most people have even fantasized about
committing criminal or immoral acts to achieve a goal. Most people, however,
do not commit murder. In watching Macbeth actually act on his fantasies, the
audience vicariously lives out behavior they wouldn’t be capable of themselves.
Where Macbeth deviates from the audience is in his belief that he is special,
invincible, and capable of getting away with things most ordinary men would
not dare to attempt. In most people, ambition is tempered by morality and an
understanding that actions have consequences. Macbeth, on the other hand,
believes his ambition will not be checked by consequence. These delusions of
grandeur are furthered by the supernatural elements of the play. The witches’
prophecies imply that Macbeth is simply living out a fate that has already been
determined for him. It remains an open question at the end of the play whether
Macbeth could have done anything to avoid his fate. While he clearly acted of
his own free will and volition in killing Duncan, his choice to do so was heavily

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influenced by the witches and his wife’s urging. Had Macbeth not met the
witches, or had he been married to a different woman, he might never have
dreamed of becoming king. In this sense, his fate was unavoidable. Classic
Greek tragedy relied heavily on fate and the will of the gods, so the use of the
supernatural links Macbeth to Greek plays.
The use of a character who makes an initial mistake and then winds up being
gradually corrupted as a result has continued to be popular in literature and
film. John Milton’s 17th century epic poem Paradise Lost retells the Biblical story
of creation. After Satan falls prey to his pride and ambition and rebels against
God, he becomes more and more committed to further corruption and evil
deeds. In later times, writers became interested in figures who cover up a first
transgression with further evil acts. For example, in Matthew Lewis’s popular
Gothic novel The Monk (1796) the title character breaks his vows of chastity,
then breaks more vows trying to protect himself from being discovered. More
recently, in the TV series Breaking Bad, the main character becomes a drug
dealer to help his family, but gradually becomes corrupted by the actions he
takes, and by his own greed. In all of these stories, characters fall prey to thinking
of themselves as exceptional individuals for whom standard rules of morality do
not apply. Likewise, Macbeth begins by thinking that his ambitions justify the
means he uses to achieve them, and ends the play as a figure whose legacy is
corruption and destruction.

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