Macbeth is the story of a man who, finding himself faced with a moment of choice, lets the bad side of his nature dominate him. He considers his choices carefully, looks at the alternatives, and deliberately chooses the course he knows to be evil. From this time on he seems unable to turn back to the good side. In the beginning, he starts out at the height of his success and honor, but then follows a long dark path to despair. Macbeth did not make these choices on his own though, there were other supernatural forces swaying his decisions. These forces are three witches who make six prophecies…

There are two sets of prophecies, one with three predictions each. One set is in the beginning of the book, and the second set near the end. The first prediction of the first set is that Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually king of Scotland. This becomes true when the kings men, Ross and Angus, come to thank Macbeth for his victory in battle as a general and report to him that he has been named the Thane of Cawdor. The second prophecy says that Macbeth will eventually become king. This becomes true when Macbeth stabs King Duncan. The next morning when Duncan is discovered dead, Macbeth kills the chamberlains to, and easily becomes king. The third prophecy was that Macbeths companion Banquo's children will become king, but not Banquo. This comes true when Macbeth is later on killed in a battle with Macduff and Banquos son Malcolm becomes king.He visits with King Duncan, and they plan to dine together at Inverness, Macbeth’s castle, that night. Macbeth writes ahead to his wife, Lady Macbeth, telling her all that has happened.

Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty. She desires the kingship for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. When Macbeth arrives at Inverness, she overrides all of her husband’s objections and persuades him to kill the king that very night. He and Lady Macbeth plan to get Duncan’s two chamberlains drunk so they will black out; the next morning they will blame the murder on the chamberlains, who will be defenseless, as they will remember nothing. While Duncan is asleep, Macbeth stabs him, despite his doubts and a number of supernatural portents, including a vision of a bloody dagger. When Duncan’s death is discovered the next morning, Macbeth kills the chamberlains—ostensibly out of