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Macbeth Plot Synopsis

Act I, Scene I
Amidst thunder and lightening, three witches meet to plan their encounter with Macbeth, a Scottish general and the Thane of Glamis. They agree to gather again at twilight upon a heath that Macbeth will cross on his way home from battle.

Act I, Scene II
King Duncan of the Scots awaits news of the battle between his men and the rebels led by the Thane of Cawdor. The King and his sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, meet a soldier who is weak and bleeding. He reports that Macbeth and Banquo have performed valiantly in the fight. His admiration of the noble yet brutal Macbeth is deep indeed:
For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--
Disdaining fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valour's minion carved out his passage...
Till he unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps,
And fix'd his head upon our battlements. (I.ii.15-20)

King Duncan is delighted at his captains' bravery, and, when Angus and Ross arrive to tell him that the Thane of Cawdor has surrendered, Duncan gladly hands over the Thane's title and all his land to Macbeth.

Act I, Scene III
The Witches meet on the dark and lonely heath to await Macbeth. To pass the time they exchange boasts about their evil deeds. Macbeth and Banquo come across the Weird Sisters and we see immediately that Macbeth has a strange connection to the Witches, mimicking their famous words spoken earlier in the drama: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (I.iii.38). The Witches address Macbeth as Glamis, Cawdor, and King of the Scots. Macbeth is startled by what he sees clearly as a prophecy that he will be Scotland's next ruler. He is too stunned to speak and thus Banquo asks the Witches if there is any more to their premonition. They do have something to add, not about Macbeth, but about Banquo. They talk in riddles, telling him he will be "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater" and "Not so happy, yet much happier" (I.iii.65-6). They also tell Banquo that...