Act 5, Scene 5: Inside the castle, Macbeth prepares to do battle with Malcolm and Macduff. He learns that Lady Macbeth has committed suicide and hardly mourns her death. He is hardened by his newfound life as a criminal and is thus devoid of all proper emotion and compassion for his wife. A messenger interrupts Macbeth’s reverie and tells him that he saw the trees of Birnam Wood moving towards the castle. In reality, this is Malcolm’s army carrying the trees before itself. Not believing what the messenger says, Macbeth looks out the window to verify his statement.

Malcolm and the Scottish thanes along with Siward and his son approach Birnam wood with their large army. Malcolm orders the men to each cut a bough from the forest trees and use it to disguise themselves so that Macbeth will not see them coming. The lords have learned from reports that Macbeth remains at Dunsinane and that his troops have dwindled because many of the men have revolted. The only men left to fight for Macbeth are men who had no other choice, and are therefore not so strong of heart as the men who fight for Malcolm because they want to. Malcolm and the lords are optimistic that Macbeth will be defeated, but they want to hold off on boasts until the battle has been won for certain.

At the Scottish royal home of Dunsinane, a gentlewoman has summoned a doctor to observe Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking. The doctor reports that he has watched her for two nights now and has yet to see anything strange. The gentlewoman describes how she has seen Lady Macbeth rise, dress, leave her room, write something on a piece of paper, read it, seal it, and return to bed—all without waking up. The gentlewoman dares not repeat what Lady Macbeth says while thus sleepwalking.

bring me no more reports

In the countryside near Dunsinane the Scottish lords who have joined against Macbeth are waiting for Malcolm, Macduff, and the English support that they will bring. Menteith, Caithness, Angus, and Lennox discuss what they know of Macbeth’s preparations for battle. The king has fortified the Dunsinane castle, and they have heard word from those who hate Macbeth that he behaves madly. The lords decide amongst themselves that Macbeth’s guilt has finally driven him crazy, and rightfully so because he has committed crimes so horrible that his own senses are reviled by his actions.

At the Scottish royal home of Dunsinane, a gentlewoman has summoned a doctor to observe Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking. The doctor reports that he has watched her for two nights now and has yet to see anything strange. The gentlewoman describes how she has seen Lady Macbeth rise, dress, leave her room, write something on a piece of paper, read it, seal it, and return to bed—all without waking up. The gentlewoman dares not repeat what Lady Macbeth says while sleepwalking.

In Macduff’s castle in Fife, Lady Macduff comforts and is comforted by her young son, who displays a courage beyond his years when confronted with the possibility that his father has turned traitor. Although warned by the Thane of Ross to escape before it is too late, Lady Macduff is encountered by Macbeth’s henchmen, who brutally kill first her child and (as the audience learns in the following scene) her.

In this scene Macbeth returns to the weird sisters and boldly demands to be shown a series of apparitions that tell his future. The first apparition is the disembodied head of a fighter, who seems to warn Macbeth of a bloody revenge at the hands of Macduff. The second is a blood coverd child who comforts Macbeth with the news he cannot be killed by any man “of woman born.” The third is a child wearing a crown, who promises that Macbeth cannot lose in battle until Birnam wood physically moves towards his stronghold in Dunsinane.

Lady Macbeth reads her husband’s letter before welcoming home Macbeth and preparing to receive the King. Lady Macbeth enters the castle alone with a letter. Also Lady Macbeth uses a soliloquy in the text which suggests that she wishes that she was evil, and that she wishes she was poisonous. The soliloquy she says is “That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” she means that she wants to be a boy and not a woman because she wants to be king

In this scene the first witch and Hecate are talking throughout the scene. They are talking. He asks the witch to bring her best spell and the witch is telling him that she is going to make the best spell, a really really powerful. She is going to create a spell so good that it is going to drive Macbeth into confusion.

characters in the play are

hecate

first witch