Act 3, Scene 1 Summary

At the royal palace in Forres, Banquo ponders the witches’ prophecy. Even the second prophecy has now come to fruition, with Macbeth now the new king of Scotland. Banquo thus finds himself wondering if the third prophecy, too—of Banquo’s heirs ascending the throne—would come to pass.

He stops talking to himself when he hears others approaching. The Macbeths, the new royal couple, arrive, and they invite Banquo to the evening’s royal feast. Banquo accepts and tells the royal couple that he will be going on a horse ride in the afternoon. As Banquo leaves, a servant enters and informs the Macbeths that two men have come to meet the king. When the servant departs, Macbeth soliloquizes that if the third prophecy also comes to pass, he will never produce an heir to the throne. He admits that Banquo is the only man he fears in the kingdom. Macbeth wonders if by killing Duncan he has inadvertently cleared the way for Banquo’s heirs to overthrow him.

As the two men enter, the audience learns that they are the murderers Macbeth has hired to kill Banquo. Macbeth urges them to remember how Banquo had wronged them in the past: Banquo had held on to their fortunes, depriving them of their wealth, and pushed their families into poverty. He asks them if they are manly enough to exact revenge on Banquo, and the two men assure him that they are. Macbeth reminds them that Fleance, too, will have to be killed and tells them to wait inside the castle for his command.

Act 3, Scene 1 Analysis

Banquo’s speech reveals several things. First, it provides a recap of the witches’ prophecy. Next, the audience can deduce from his words that he suspects Macbeth of having killed Duncan. Third, the audience also witnesses the stirrings of ambitions in Banquo, which shows that he is not exempt from the trappings of aspirations and desires. Acknowledging Macbeth’s royal status, Banquo addresses him as “my lord,” which shows that the two men are no longer equal and no longer friends.

Macbeth is also uneasy in his new role. The security of his kingship rests in the continuation of his lineage, but since he does not have heirs, he worries that by killing Duncan he has achieved only half of his ambition. He is afraid that he would eventually have to make way for Banquo’s son. Whereas Duncan was Macbeth’s biggest obstacle to the throne, Banquo is now Macbeth’s biggest hurdle to sustaining his kingship.

Macbeth’s conversation with the hired killers is another important development: it shows that Macbeth can now get others to carry out dangerous tasks on his behalf. In doing so, he employs the same techniques Lady Macbeth had used on him earlier—he persuades them by stirring their ambition and questioning the men’s masculinity. Although Macbeth suggests that the murderers will be able to rise above the commoners by murdering Banquo, his ironic tone reveals that he regards them only as mercenary beasts. In his speech, Macbeth also admits his own inhumanity and imperfection: he concedes that he is acting like a “demi-wolf.” He thinks that persuading someone else to kill Banquo would constitute the “perfect” crime. The idea of perfection now dominates Macbeth’s thoughts, and the rest of the play deals with whether Macbeth can get away with committing the “perfect” crime.

Act 3, Scene 2 Summary

The audience sees Lady Macbeth in the castle summoning a servant to fetch the king. When the servant departs, she laments that she feels no contentment despite having fulfilled her ambition. She is deeply anxious. When Macbeth enters, he tells her that they might have to kill Banquo and Fleance as well. He urges her to be kind to Banquo during the evening feast in order to avoid making him suspicious.

Act 3, Scene 2 Analysis

This short scene explores Lady Macbeth’s state of mind and the onset of anxiety and guilt that will plague her later. She laments that it would be better to be killed than to be the killer who is tortured by anxiety and guilt. This scene also evokes the themes explored in Act 1, Scene 5, when Lady Macbeth planned Duncan’s murder. Here, it is Banquo’s fate that is being sealed, though Lady Macbeth is not aware of all the details. Their roles are reversed now: in the earlier instance Lady Macbeth had been the active plotter, whereas Macbeth plans the murder in this scene. Nonetheless, guilt weighs heavy on Macbeth’s conscience, too, as he admits that his mind is “full of scorpions.”

When he says, “Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill,” the audience is made privy to the mental exhaustion caused by his conspiracy. The royal couple does not enjoy elation and contentment after securing the throne; they only experience anxiety, fear, and guilt. The scene explores the play’s central theme—the repercussions of acting on ambition without any moral consideration—in more detail. Unlike Hamlet, in which the plot seems open to multiple possibilities even until the final scene, Macbeth unequivocally lets the audience know that the protagonist will face retribution in the end. There is nothing that will stop Macbeth’s killing spree; he cannot be absolved anymore, and the audience now awaits his downfall, which is the only way natural order can be restored in Scotland.

Act 3, Scene 3 Summary

This scene opens with the two murderers awaiting Banquo and Fleance in the woods outside the palace. A third man, who is also a killer, is seen accompanying them. Banquo and Fleance approach with a torch, and as they dismount their horses, the murderers first slay Banquo, who cries out to his son to flee at once and avenge his death later. In the chaos, someone accidentally extinguishes the torch, which allows Fleance to escape. The mission is only half done. The murders leave to inform Macbeth of the events.

Act 3, Scene 3 Analysis

This scene depicts the act of murder, unlike Duncan’s killing, which was not directly shown. The darkness in the woods is symbolic of the darkness that has by now engulfed Scotland. Banquo and Fleance are attacked on their way back home, and the timing of their attack is meant to show that Macbeth’s reign entails little safety for the people. When the torch is extinguished, it symbolizes the end of Banquo’s life, too.

Fleance’s escape is the turning point, or peripeteia. His escape paves the way for the fruition of the third prophecy and represents Macbeth’s reversal of fortune.

Act 3, Scene 4 Summary

The scene opens to the evening feast to which Banquo was earlier invited. All the Thanes of Scotland have assembled, except Banquo. Just as the feast is about to begin, one of the murderers appears and informs Macbeth that Fleance has escaped. Predictably, this enrages Macbeth. However, he composes himself and rejoins the feast. When Macbeth goes to sit at the head of the royal table, he sees Banquo’s ghost occupying his chair. Struck with horror, he speaks to the ghost, which is seemingly only visible to him, and not to the other guests. In her attempt to explain his odd behavior, Lady Macbeth tells the guests that her husband frequently has “visions” and that the guests should ignore him. She urges Macbeth to come back to his senses, and once again questions his manhood. The ghost disappears, and Macbeth tries to regain his composure. As he offers a toast to his guests, Banquo’s specter reappears, and Macbeth lapses into reckless outbursts, alarming the guests. Lady Macbeth now sends the guests outside as the ghost vanishes again.

When they are finally alone, Macbeth tells his wife that he has been informed by a spy that Macduff, in a clear sign of treason, intends to avoid his court. He also tells her that he would like to visit the three witches again to see what his future holds.

Act 3, Scene 4 Analysis

The evening feast is an opportunity for Macbeth to establish himself as the new king and gain his Thanes’ approval. When he says, “Both sides are even: here I’ll sit I’th’midst,” he seems to hint at the renewal of the natural order, a return to normalcy. It is also intended as an assurance of his nobility. However, the audience knows that this is not true: Banquo is missing, and both sides are not even. As in Act I, Scene 6, Lady Macbeth’s words also effectively conceal her actual emotions. The couple appears confident in their knowledge that Banquo and his son will be killed, that the throne will be secured in their favor. However, their confidence vanishes when the murderer informs them that Fleance has escaped.

The royal banquet, signifying order and the king’s generosity, promptly disintegrates into a hellish parody of itself. Instead of Macbeth sitting “in the midst,” dispensing his favor and largesse, he sees his throne usurped by the bloody apparition of Banquo, his former friend, challenging him even in death. Macbeth’s language reflects this disintegration. The ghost, so hideous that it would “appall the devil,” appears to have risen from a “charnel-house.” Macbeth is unable to fathom how the dead can come back to life. Throughout Macbeth, as is the case with most of Shakespeare’s plays, the supernatural and the unnatural appear in grotesque forms as indicators of wickedness, moral corruption, and a stricken conscience. The lines between reality and imagination are blurred. Despite the chaos, Lady Macbeth remains pragmatic and tries to deflect any suspicion from the guests.

This short scene sees the frequent usage of the word “blood,” thereby suggesting to the audience that darker events are about to follow.

Act 3, Scene 5 Summary

The three witches meet Hecate, the goddess of the lower world who represents the spirit of ancient witchcraft. She berates the witches for sharing prophecies with Macbeth and for excluding her from this exchange when she is “the mistress of [their] charms, / The close contriver of all harms.” Hecate now decides to personally ensure Macbeth’s downfall. She asks the witches to meet her near the river tomorrow, where they will lull Macbeth into a false sense of safety. Hecate vanishes, and the witches leave to prepare their charms.

Act 3, Scene 5 Analysis

This scene urges the audience to wonder if Macbeth is at all in control of his fate. In Hecate’s opinion, he is. Without Hecate’s appearance, it might have been easier for the audience to empathize with Macbeth: the audience could have believed that Macbeth is indeed powerless and that his fate has already been sealed. She tells the witches that Macbeth is “a wayward son, / Spiteful and wrathful” who “loves for his own ends.” She prophesizes that Macbeth “shall spurn Fate.”

Act 3, Scene 6 Summary

Lennox is seen walking with another nobleman. They discuss the recent events, and the audience learns that Banquo’s murder has been officially blamed on Fleance, his son. However, the men also seem suspicious of Macbeth, whom they call a “tyrant.” The nobleman tells Lennox that Macduff has traveled to England, joining Malcolm, and that the two will try to seek the alliance of King Edward of England to aid them against Macbeth.

Macbeth, too, has heard of this development and has started preparing for war.

At the end of the scene, Lennox and the nobleman wish for Macduff and Malcolm’s success, so that Scotland can be saved from “a hand accursed.”

Act 3, Scene 6 Analysis

This scene primarily has two functions. First, it tells the audience what Lennox is truly thinking. While at the beginning of the scene, he appears loyal, at the end he is suspicious of Macbeth, the “tyrant.” The nobleman informs the audience of the developments happening elsewhere—that Macduff and Malcolm are now planning to challenge Macbeth and that Macbeth, too, is preparing for war.

Although Shakespeare fictionalizes Macbeth and his contemporaries to a large extent, this scene also refers to the actual, historical relationship between England and Scotland. Around the year 1050, King Edward created a policy that he hoped would ally Scotland and Wales. Under his guidance, Malcolm Canmore (son of King Duncan I) defeated and killed Macbeth around the year 1058. By mentioning the possibility of an alliance between Malcolm, Macduff, and King Edward, Shakespeare recreates this political history in the play.