10 Things I Used To Hate About English

MACBETH – THE SIMPLEST SUMMARY EVER !

 

This is the life of Mac the Knife

His fate was foretold by witches:  

    They said he’d be king, so he and his wife                         

Worked out the possible hitches,  

     When good king Dunc in sleep was sunk,                                      

They thrust him through with a dagger,

    And although poor Mac was blue with funk

He carried it off with a swagger.

    The king was dead, the princes fled,

And the kingdom’s Mac’s for the taking,

    But Banq’s for the chop since the witches said

His sons were kings in the making.

    The thugs are slow off the mark, and so

They half complete their mission,

    But enough to make Mac’s party go

When he sees Banq’s apparition.

    The bloodstained ghost upset his host

But makes him even keener

    To put his enemies on toast,

And take them to the cleaner.

    The witches bluff him with some stuff

Which is truthful yet deceiving;

    His target is now the tough Macduff

Who’s off to England leaving

    His wife and chicks to cross the Styx,

Fit tidings to incite him

    To end the tyrant’s testy tricks,

So he joins the prince to fight him.

    Meanwhile the Knife observes his wife

Parade, out – out –damn –spotting-

    Curses the shadow play of life,

Such pointless parts alloting.

    Now branches hood his foes- not good

For Mac, who, white as linen,

    Recalls what’s said of Birnam Wood

Advancing to Dunsinane.

    Still he won’t run – no woman’s son

Slays his pedestrian…

    Macduff explains he isn’t one

(a posthumous Caesarian);

    His sword goes smack through poor old Mac-

Alas for realm and riches!

    It’s better to endure their lack

Than put your trust in witches.

By Mary Holtby in ‘How To Become Ridiculously Well-Read In One Evening.’

Compiled by E. O. Parrot.  

For a scene by scene summary : click here

For themes of Macbeth : click here

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