What have you gotten yourself into? You're headed down a slippery, slippery slope. Thus far in the play, I can only predict a tragic ending for both you and your crazy wife. But alas, that is what should be expected of a Shakespearean play. From what I know of Shakespeare, I anticipate lots of tragedy, bloodshed, and comedy in the upcoming scenes (and let’s not forget the hours spent deciphering his incredibly confusing writing). First, let me catch everyone up as to what's happening.
We start off the play with a trio witches chanting in trochaic pentameter (yikes do they give me the creeps!) These witches have ability to predict the future and they use their power to seriously mess it up.
What we know so far is that the setting of the story is in Scotland. King Duncan, the Scottish King, is at war with both Ireland and Norway. Macbeth and Banquo are victorious generals who each defeated one of these armies. On their way back from the battle, they encounter the three witches who use their powers to predict their futures. They say to Macbeth:
"All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!" (I.iii.48-50)
The first two prophecies come true which prompts Macbeth to think that the third one will too. They also give Banquo a nice little prophecy. The witches claim that his children will one day be king. At this point, I can see a bit of an issue developing. First of all, Macbeth, a well-trusted and loyal servant, is now having evil thoughts about murdering the king. And what happens to Macbeth's children? How do Banquo's family become king if Macbeth is king? I'm eagerly awaiting the answers to those questions, but for now we'll just have to wait.
At this point in the story, we get to meet my all time favourite character, Lady Macbeth (I'll tell you all about her in a later post) After having read her conversation with Macbeth; I was seriously feeling sorry for the dude. Macbeth sounded like a decent guy. He was a good general who was set up by a bunch of prophetic witches and his lunatic wife (and yes, I do believe that the witches set him up, but more on that in my next post: Is it Fate? Is it Destiny? Or is it Just Plain Old Manipulation?)
As of now, I am finding the story quite enjoyable and am looking forward to reading more (just kidding, I'm way more excited to watch more videos, not read more) to find out how the story all plays out.
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