what is macbeth

Macbeth is a tragedy play written by William Shakespeare, thought to have been first performed in 1606. The play begins with a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receiving a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, and soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The play is filled with riddles, prophecies, nightmare visions, and lots of brutal murder. The story of Macbeth has been seen as a powerful study of a heroic individual who commits an evil act and pays an enormous price as his conscience destroys him.