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Macbeth ▾
contents
  1. Dramatis Personae
  2. Act I
  3. Act II
  4. Act III
  5. Act IV
  6. Act V
English ▾

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

free · 18,375 words · ~1 h read · first published 1623

text from Standard Ebooks

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Dramatis Personae

  • Duncan, king of Scotland

  • Malcolm, his son

  • Donalbain, his son

  • Macbeth, general of the king’s army

  • Banquo, general of the king’s army

  • Macduff, nobleman of Scotland

  • Lennox, nobleman of Scotland

  • Ross, nobleman of Scotland

  • Menteith, nobleman of Scotland

  • Angus, nobleman of Scotland

  • Caithness, nobleman of Scotland

  • Fleance, son to Banquo

  • Siward, Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces

  • Young Siward, his son

  • Seyton, an officer attending on Macbeth

  • Boy, son to Macduff

  • An English doctor

  • A Scotch doctor

  • A soldier

  • A porter

  • An old man

  • Lady Macbeth

  • Lady Macduff

  • Gentlewoman attending on Lady Macbeth

  • Hecate

  • Three Witches

  • Apparitions

  • Lords, gentlemen, officers, soldiers, murderers, attendants, and messengers

Scene: Scotland; England.

Act I

Scene I

A desert place.

Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches.

First Witch

When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

Second Witch

When the hurlyburly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.

Third Witch

That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch

Where the place?
Second Witch

Upon the heath.
Third Witch

There to meet with Macbeth.
First Witch

I come, Graymalkin!
Second Witch

Paddock calls.
Third Witch

Anon.
All

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air. Exeunt.

restoring your place…

fetching the rest…

More by William Shakespeare

  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.
  • All’s Well That Ends Well
    Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.
  • Antony and Cleopatra
    These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.

genres

  • Tragedy

appears in

  • Great Books of the Western World
  • Shakespeare: The Tragedies
  • Shakespeare: Where to Start
  • The Long Conversation: A 9–12 Reading List

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thank you for reading

Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The text is in the US public domain, from the Standard Ebooks edition. Served from our own copy; read on their site for the full edition with images and typography.

First published in 1623.

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