Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare. It tells the tale of Macbeth, the king of Scotland.
Macbeth, the thane of Glamis and Cawdor, kills the king Duncan and uptakes the kingship himself after hearing a foreboding made by three witches. In time, Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, becomes mad and dies of selfkill. Macbeth himself is at last beheaded by Macduff, the thane of Fife, who has kept his trust in the dead king.
The main meaning behind the play is that the lust for might is overwhelming, and eats at the soul of man.
Well known lines from Macbeth[]
- "Are these knives I see before me?"
- Macbeth
- "Stars, hide your fires,
let not light see my deep and dark wantings."- Macbeth
- "The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the deadly coming-in of Duncan
Under my roof. Come, you ghosts
That tend on thoughts of men! unwife me here,
And fill me from the head to the toe top-full
Of fearful ache-acting; make thick my blood,
Stop up the going-in to guilt,
That no guilty go-toings of the world.
Shake my fell plot, nor keep goodwill between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering servers,
Wherever in your sightless beings
You wait on the world's worry-making!"- Lady Macbeth