The play opens when three witches say that they'll meet Macbeth on a health - this establishes them as being central to the play. In the next scene, Macbeth is presented as a brave a loyal warrior who is defending Duncan's throne against an invading army from Norway and a traitorous Thane. We cut back to the three witches. One of them explains how a woman refused to give her some chestnuts, and so the witch cursed her husband. This is important as it establishes just what magic powers the witches have: they can torment men while also making them unable to sleep. Macbeth then enters - almost repeating one of their most famous lines - and they cast a spell over him implanting a desire to kill Duncan. Macbeth doesn't like the idea at all, but decides that he'll do nothing about it anyway so it won't matter. In the next scene the King, Duncan, announces that his son will be next in line to the throne. Macbeth can't understand how he will be king, and hopes that the desire to kill Duncan will never see the light of day.

We then meet Lady Macbeth who's pretty horrible about her husband, saying he lacks a ruthless edge. She then performs a magic spell that asks for her to feel no remorse, and that she is no longer tied to the gender roles that were so important back then. Then Macbeth arrives and she suggests killing Duncan. In the next scene, Lady Macbeth welcomes Duncan to the castle.

In the last scene of the act, Macbeth delivers a long speech that lists all the reasons he doesn't want to kill Duncan - all of them would break the strong codes of masculinity that were so important to people in Jacobean England. Lady Macbeth enters and absolutely slams him into changing his mind.

Late at night, Banquo and his son are talking. Macbeth enters and there is a brief discussion of the encounter with the witches. It's a little unclear how each of them feel about it but they do say that they'll talk again. After Banquo goes to bed, however, Macbeth sees a magical floating dagger that leads him to Duncan's room.

After killing Duncan, Macbeth is clearly very traumatised - almost like he can't believe what he's just done. He also claims to have heard a voice -presumably the voice of the witches - saying that he'll never sleep again. Lady Macbeth bashes him into shape again, and tells him to basically get over it.

The next morning, Macduff finds the king's dead body, Macbeth kills the grooms who would have been the only witnesses and Malcolm and Donaldbain escape to England and Ireland respectively. At the end of the act, Ross and and old man are talking about how Macbeth has ascended to the throne, but the world seems to be falling into chaos.

Macbeth is becoming increasingly mistrustful of Banquo - after all, the witches promised that it would be Banquo's children who ended up on the throne. As a result, he hires assassins to kill Banquo and his son. Macbeth is showing real signs of discomfort though, complaining about not being able to sleep, talking about scorpions in his mind, and generally acting like someone who's not best pleased with what he's got. His wife consoles him, though, remaining calm and confident - despite her having expressed some doubts about what has happened.

Banquo is killed but his son, Fleance, escapes. That evening, however, at a dinner party Banquo's ghost comes back to torment Macbeth and Lady Macbeth has to send the guests home. Macbeth decides to visit the witches again.

The act ends with us returning to the witches who are getting told off by Hecate, the Queen of Witches, for what they've done to Macbeth. Hecate tells them to wrap up what they've done by making Macbeth over-confident so he makes a mistake.

Macbeth visits the witches who tell him to "beware Macduff," and say that he is safe until Birnham wood marches to his castle walls and that he cannot be harmed by any man "of woman born." As a result, Macbeth decides to kill Macduff and his entire family. Lady Macduff and his son are killed in the next scene.

Meanwhile, Macduff himself is in England with Malcolm, discussing what it is to be a great leader. This sequence really confirms that Macduff chose his loyalty to the crown over his loyalty to his wife - which is exact opposite to what Macbeth did. Buy the end of the act, Malcolm and Macduff have decided to invade Scotland and take back the throne.

The act opens with Lady Macbeth's famous sleepwalking scene, where she claims that she can't wash the guilt off her hands. Though this scene is one of the most iconic in Shakespeare's cannon, it does seem to come out of the blue a little. Last time we saw Lady Macbeth on stage she was telling Macbeth off about seeing Banquo's ghost at the dinner party. She does have four lines in Act 3 where she expresses some remorse for what she's done, but it's still fair to say that this level of guilt comes as a surprise.

The rest of the play is taken up by switching between Malcolm's invading army and Macbeth's defence of the castle. We also meet one of Macbeth's servants - who's called Seyton (and although most critics say the fact that his name sounds like Satan is a coincidence, that seems surprising given the role of the supernatural in the play.) Seyton also finds the queen's dead body, which may or may suggest his role in killing her.

By the end of the play, Macbeth is killed by Macduff who was born by caesarian which means - apparently - that he wasn't born of a woman. At the end of the play, Malcolm is crowned. Interestingly, it's Malcolm who 'confirms' that Lady Macbeth killed herself by "violent hands," though there is a case for saying that the real cause of her death is up for debate.

Act 1: Macbeth is persuaded to kill Duncan

S1: Witches meet on the heath

S2: Macbeth is a hero of the battle

S3: Macbeth meets the witches

S4: Malcolm is announced as the next king

S5: We meet Lady Macbeth and she suggests killing Duncan

S6: Duncan arrives at the castle

S7: Macbeth doesn't want to kill Duncan, but his wife persuades him to

Act 2: Macbeth kills Duncan and becomes king himself

S1: Macbeth sees the knife that leads him to kill Duncan

S2: Lady Macbeth clears up the mess after the murder

S3: They discover Duncan's dead body

S4: Ross and an old man talk about Macbeth being king

Act 3: Macbeth also kills Banquo and then sees his ghost

S1: Macbeth gets frustrated that Banquo's children will have the throne

S2: Lady Macbeth tries to reassure her husband, who is clearly suffering some mental health issues

S3: Banquo is killed

S4: The ghost of Banquo visits Macbeth over dinner

S5: Hecate, the Queen of Witches, is angry at the witches and tells them to stop what they're doing

S6: Lennox becomes suspicious of Macbeth

Act 4: Macbeth meets the witches again, and Malcolm prepares to invade England

S1: Macbeth sees the witches again and they give him three prophecies

S2: Macduff's family are killed

S3: Malcolm and Macduff agree to join forces and invade Scotland

Act 5: Lady Macbeth dies, Macbeth gets killed, Malcolm becomes king

S1: Lady Macbeth confesses her guilt while sleepwalking

S2: With Malcolm heading for Macbeth's castle

S3: Macbeth tries to get a doctor to help his wife, but he can't

S4: Scottish Lords join Malcolm and they cut down branches from Birnham Wood to use as camouflage

S5: Macbeth hears that his wife is dead

S6: Malcolm's army arrive

S7: Macbeth kills Young Siward

S8: Macbeth is killed

S9: Malcolm is killed