McBeth is a play written by William Shakespeare with the full title being “The tragedy of McBeth”. Its main setting is in Scotland and it tells a story of McBeth, a Scottish general who is informed by three witches, as part of a prophecy, that he will become the King of Scotland. McBeth is amused by the witches’ premonition and ambition soon begins to stir up inside him. He informs his wife on these foretelling and being an ambitious woman, she persuades her husband that committing regicide would be the fastest way to achieving the witches’ prophecy (Shakespeare, 47). An opportunity quickly presents itself and both McBeth and Lady McBeth plot their evil plan of killing King Duncan. Their plan becomes a success and McBeth is coroneted as the new King of Scotland, but little did they know that that was the beginning of their downfall.
Soon after McBeth’s coronation as the new King, guilt begins to build up. Both McBeth and the Lady McBeth realize that their murderous deeds yielded no satisfaction. Lady McBeth states that they gained nothing from their actions; rather they lost everything with the murder of King Duncan (Shakespeare, 152). Even as the queen of Scotland, she is not as happy as she thought she would be and all she would think about is the murder.
In a bid to protect himself from suspicion, McBeth is forced to commit more murders so that the truth may never come out. He orders the killing of his friend Banquo, who they had received the witches prophecy with, and his son Fleance. Banquo”s death is inevitable, but his son Fleance flees and escapes death. McBeth returns to the witches who reveal to him that Macduff will return to Scotland to ruin him. With fear of being overthrown from his kingly throne, he sends someone to finish off Lady Macduff and her son adding to the list of his murderous deeds. Macduff learns of the atrocities bestowed upon his family from Malcolm and out of anger, plans avenge his family’s death. He and Malcolm organize troops in readiness for a battle with McBeth.
Preparing the arrival of Malcolm and his troops, McBeth leaves his wife behind in the castle. Lady McBeth is disturbed and often hallucinates about all the evil deeds that she and her husband have committed. She visits the doctor in search of a cure for her madness, but not even the doctor can help her. In this desperate situation, Lady McBeth is continually haunted by her actions and eventually succumbs to death. McBeth on the other hand, faces brutal defeat when Malcolm, Macduff, and their troops slay McBeth and carry his head in victory.
The overall summary of this play is that it shows the effects: both physical and psychological, of individuals who seek political power for their own personal interests. It has can help influence future leaders to lead countries to a righteous path.
Work cited
Shakespeare, William. Mcbeth. México: Ediciones Leyenda, 2006. Print.
