Shakespeare in Seven Minutes: Macbeth Summary #macbeth #shakespeare #gcseenglish

hi everyone and welcome to my channel this first series is all about macbeth so if you haven't got a copy already check out the links in the description for some of my recommended versions i'll be doing follow-up videos to this summary on themes character analysis notable quotes and everything you will need to not only learn but have fun as well so if you enjoy this video make sure to like comment and subscribe for more content easy as gcse presents shakespeare in seven minutes macbeth macbeth is one of william shakespeare's most popular tragedies and it is

likely that you may already be familiar with some aspects of it even if you have never read or watched the play before it is nicknamed the scottish play because you guessed it it's set in scotland sometime during the 11th century shakespeare's plays can be quite daunting to study but after this video i hope you'll see that all of his works are simply stories that are easy to understand with a little practice with that said let's jump straight into macbeth act one macbeth is the title character of the play which means that his name is also

the name of the play and he along with his friend banquo are generals in the army of king duncan while returning from a battle they run into a group of witches in a bog who tell macbeth that he will be the thane of cordor a high-ranking title and later king of scotland banquo is told that he will not be king of scotland but that his descendants will be because of this rather good news they are keen to find out more details but annoyingly the witches disappear not long afterwards macbeth actually does get promoted to thane

of corridor which makes him think that the witches may have been onto something on top of that good fortune king duncan also plans to honor macbeth with a visit to his castle in inverness macbeth promptly writes home to tell his wife lady macbeth about his new position and also about the strange encounter with the witches now unfortunately lady macbeth happens to be far more ruthless than her husband so she is immediately determined to help him fulfill his destiny by whatever wicked means necessary [Music] act two when the king arrives at macbeth's castle lady macbeth is

quick to suggest that they use this opportunity to murder him macbeth is hesitant but agrees after a lot of pressure from his wife she does her bit by sedating the guards with spiked wine but leaves macbeth to do the dirty work of actually killing duncan as any normal person would macbeth is overcome with guilt at what he has done but lady macbeth sets him straight by berating him for his cowardice she then frames the poor guards with the daggers covered in the king's blood at this critical moment the nobleman mcduff decides to turn up at

their gates unexpectedly so after a bit of frantic running around they make a great show of finding the king's corpse and executing the unlucky guards guessing quite rightly that whoever has killed their father is bound to come after them next the dead king's sons malcolm and donalbain managed to escape the castle and macbeth's murderous grasp act 3 now that duncan is dead or rather murdered macbeth is crowned king of scotland and the witches prophecy comes true however his pesky conscience keeps him from enjoying his success as he is plagued by paranoia his biggest worry is

that his friend banquo has a son freyance and the witches did mention that banquo's descendants would be kings to rectify this macbeth puts a hit out on the two unsuspecting men and banquo is murdered but flance is able to escape plunged even further into his pit of guilt macbeth sees the ghost of banquo at a banquet that night and is scared nearly out of his mind causing lady macbeth to begin to have a few doubts of her own [Music] act four to calm himself down after these traumatic incidents macbeth decides to return to the source

of these events the mysterious witches they reassure him that no harm will come to him unless burnham wood the surrounding forest marches to fight him even better no man born of a woman will be able to defeat him these two statements at the time were the equivalent of saying when pigs fly so macbeth is suitably calmed however the witches reiterate that banquo's descendants will still be king which puts macbeth into a state again he goes on a murderous rampage killing all those associated with the opposition including mcduff's family but not mcduff as he had joined

up with malcolm and donalbain to fight against macbeth act 5 holed up in his castle at dunsinane macbeth is shocked to learn that burnham wood from the witch's prophecy appears to be marching towards him malcolm's army cleverly cut down branches from the trees and held them in front as camouflage to create this illusion adding to macbeth's misery is the news that lady macbeth has taken her own life after being tormented by sleepwalking and visions of blood on her hands that cannot be cleaned macbeth and his army are on the verge of defeat but there is

one last glimmer of hope given to him by the witches no man born of a woman can kill him armed with this prophecy he accepts a challenge from mcduff only to learn mid-battle that mcduff was born via c-section so technically he is not born of a woman realizing that the witches had craftily foretold his doom rather than assure him of security macbeth is defeated and mcduff takes his head to malcolm who ends the play promising peace and going off to a city called scone to be crowned the new king of scotland see that wasn't so

bad and now that you're familiar with the basics of macbeth stay tuned to my channel for a more in-depth study coming soon don't forget to like comment and subscribe to get more gcse literature videos see you next time