KING
HEREAFTER
known as the scottish play, Macbeth was
written by William Shakespeare three years
after James became king of England. Macbeth
is a tragedy about a Scottish nobleman’s rise
and fall. After witches—also called the three
weird sisters—tell him “thou shalt be king
hereafter,” Macbeth murders King Duncan in
cold blood, becomes king, and continues kill-
ing to retain his grip on power. Undone by his
own ambition, he loses his wife, his friends, his
reputation, and his crown before being slain.macbeth was a real, 11th-century Scottish king.
Shakespeare got his story from the English
chronicler Raphael Holinshed, who in turn got
it from several Scottish chroniclers. The most
important was Andrew of Wyntoun, who wrote
about 1420. According to Wyntoun, Macbeth
saw “three weird sisters” in a dream; they proph-
esied to him that he would eventually become
king. “Weird” was a Scots dialect word mean-
ing “fate,” and “weird sisters” were minor deities
like the Greek Fates. Later chroniclers added “a
witch” who prophesied that Macbeth would
not be overthrown until Birnam Wood came to
Dunsinane. Shakespeare streamlined the story
by combining the “weird sisters” and the “witch.”THE THREE WITCHES
CLASP HANDS IN A 19TH-
CENTURY ENGRAVING BY
RICHARD WESTALL.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI