First performed around 1606 under King James I and first printed in the 1623 First Folio by Edward Blount and William Jaggard, it is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.
Shakespeare adapted Raphael Holinshed's 1587 Chronicles, combining the reign of King Macbeth with Donwald's murder of King Duff while a guest beneath his roof.
Follows the general Macbeth and Lady Macbeth after the Three Witches prophesy his crown, from King Duncan's murder at Inverness to Macbeth's defeat by Macduff at Dunsinane.