Shakespeare, William - Macbeth, plot and analysis

Macbeth

The plot is set in Scotlan during the middle ages. The play revolves around the story of the nobleman Macbeth, who is the favourite lord of the king: he is respected, astimed and he's married to Lady Macbeth, a faithful wife, who support everything. They're in love, they respect each other, they are the example of the perfect marriage.
In the period where the plot is set, Scotland is involved in a war against Norway. King Duncan is on the battlefield to controll the situation. Macbeth is the bravest general, he has fought like a lion, without any fear or hesitation. The king decides to give him a reward for his valour and attributes him a new title, belonging to another Scottish lord, who has been punished because he was a traitor. When the war finishes, the soldiers come back. While going home Macbeth and Banquo, another generale, meet three witches who foretell them their future. The witches tell that Banquo will be father to kings, then they salute Macbeth with the title thane of cawdor and glamis and tell him that he will be king. Then the three witches dissapear. Banquo giustifies the apparition as a working of his mind, while Macbeth believes that it has been real, then the new title convinces him that the prediction is true. So he writes a letter to Lady Macbeth, to anticipate her about the meeting with the witches and the prediction. Anyway he ask her to keep it as a secret because he knows that there is something wrong in the prediction: he isn't a member of the royal family so he's not supposed to be king.
Despite his esitations, Macbeth murders Duncan. He feels no remorse but he's so shoked by what he has done and obsessed by the idea of Duncan's blood on his hands that he starts to hears voices in his mind. Lady Macbeth, on the other side, is no scared and takes control of the situation: she is the one who comes back to take the daggers stained in blood and suggests Macbeth to put on his nightgown and pretend they are sleeping.
For the main part of the play Lady Macbeth seems to be the more determinated and fearless of the pair, but then we gets that she's not so strong as she seems to be. Indeed she becomes obsessed by the idea of Duncan's blood on her hands and keeps washing them till she goes insane and committs suicide. In front of this event, Macbeth reacts in a strange way, showing indifference. At the end of the play Macbeth is mortally hurt and dies too.
The two characters are driven by ambition to do something wrong. The possibility that the prediction may be true supports them. Even Macbeth, the bravest and the most honest of the soldiers is corrupted by ambition