When he is told that Macduff has deserted him, Macbeth begins the final stage of his tragic descent.
This time, the Witches not only confirm that the sons of Banquo will rule in Scotland, but they also add a new prophecy: Macbeth will be invincible in battle until the time when the forest of Birnam moves towards his stronghold at Dunsinane and until he meets an enemy "not born of woman." Dismissing both of these predictions as nonsense, Macbeth prepares for invasion. The following day, Macbeth returns to the same Witches who initially foretold his destiny. Again, his wife tries to strengthen Macbeth, but the strain is clearly beginning to show. At a celebratory banquet that night, Macbeth is thrown into a state of horror when the ghost of the murdered Banquo appears at the dining table. The hired murderers kill Banquo but mistakenly allow Fleance to escape. Macbeth is duly proclaimed the new king of Scotland, but recalling the Witches' second prophecy, he arranges the murder of his fellow soldier Banquo and his son Fleance, both of whom represent a threat to his kingship according to the Witches' prophecy. With suspicion heavy in the air, the king's two sons flee the country: Donalbain to Ireland and Malcolm to raise an army in England. The assembled lords of Scotland, including Macbeth, swear to avenge the murder. When the murder is revealed, Macbeth swiftly kills the prime witnesses, the sleepy guards of the king's bedchamber, and Lady Macbeth faints. Macbeth indicates the location of the king's room, and Macduff discovers the body. When the drunken porter of Macbeth's castle finally responds to the noise, he opens the door to Macduff, a loyal follower of the king, who has been asked to awake Duncan in preparation for the return journey. Suddenly, both are alarmed by a loud knocking at the castle door. Haunted by what he has done, Macbeth is once more reprimanded by his wife, whose inner strength seems only to have been increased by the treacherous killing. Following an evening of revelry, Lady Macbeth drugs the guards of the king's bedchamber then, at a given signal, Macbeth, although filled with misgivings, ascends to the king's room and murders him while he sleeps. Once more, however, his wife prevails upon him. At first Macbeth is loth to commit a crime that he knows will invite judgment, if not on earth then in heaven. A perfect opportunity presents itself when King Duncan pays a royal visit to Macbeth's castle. Returning to his castle, Macbeth allows himself to be persuaded and directed by his ambitious wife, who realizes that regicide - the murder of the king - is the quickest way to achieve the destiny that her husband has been promised. Although initially prepared to wait for Fate to take its course, Macbeth is stung by ambition and confusion when King Duncan nominates his son Malcolm as his heir. As part of the same prophecy, the Witches predict that future Scottish kings will be descended not from Macbeth but from his fellow army captain, Banquo. Already a successful soldier in the army of King Duncan, Macbeth is informed by Three Witches that he is to become king. Set in medieval Scotland and partly based on a true historical account, Macbeth charts the bloody rise to power and tragic downfall of the warrior Macbeth.
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