Three witches prophesy that Macbeth will become king. Lady Macbeth reads his letter, resolves to push him to murder, and manipulates him past his hesitation when he wavers.

Macbeth murders Duncan in his sleep, immediately unravels psychologically, and is covered for by Lady Macbeth. The discovery of the body triggers chaos; Macbeth kills the guards. Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donalbain flee, making them suspects.

Macbeth, troubled by the prophecy that Banquo's descendants will be kings, arranges Banquo's murder. Banquo dies; Fleance escapes. At a state banquet, Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost and loses control publicly. The nobles grow suspicious. Hecate rebukes the witches.

Macbeth revisits the witches, who show him three apparitions offering reassurance with hidden loopholes. He orders the massacre of Macduff's family. In England, Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty before agreeing to invade Scotland. Macduff learns his family has been slaughtered.

A doctor and gentlewoman observe Lady Macbeth sleepwalking, compulsively washing blood from her hands, and murmuring fragments of the murders. Macbeth prepares for battle with desperate bravado, learning that his nobles are deserting and that Lady Macbeth has died.

Malcolm orders his soldiers to cut branches from Birnam Wood as camouflage. The prophecy fulfills itself. Macbeth fights with savage courage until Macduff reveals he was not 'born of woman' in the conventional sense. Macduff kills Macbeth. Malcolm is crowned.

A structural analysis of the play's three interlocking themes: the psychology of ambition, the physiology of guilt, and the nature of the witches' power.

How Macbeth uses contested definitions of masculinity and femininity to drive its action, and what the play ultimately argues about the relationship between gender, violence, and power.

A comparative analysis of Shakespeare's two most studied tragic protagonists: how their soliloquies work differently, what each play argues about action, thought, and moral agency.