What happens in Act 5 of Macbeth?

Lady Macbeth sleepwalks, obsessively trying to wash imagined blood from her hands, and later dies — likely by suicide. Malcolm's army camouflages itself with branches from Birnam Wood, fulfilling the prophecy that the forest would come to Dunsinane. Told of his wife's death, Macbeth delivers the 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow' speech. In the battle, Macduff reveals he was delivered by caesarean — not 'of woman born' — kills Macbeth, and presents his head to Malcolm, who is proclaimed King of Scotland.

What does 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow' mean?

Hearing that his wife is dead, Macbeth reflects that time simply crawls on, day after identical day, and that all our past days have only lit the way to death. Life, he concludes, is a brief candle, a bad actor's single hour on stage, a tale told by an idiot 'signifying nothing.' It is the play's bleakest statement of meaninglessness — spoken by a man who has emptied his own life of meaning.

How does Macbeth die?

Macduff kills Macbeth in single combat at the end of Act 5. Macbeth believed himself invincible because no man 'of woman born' could harm him, but Macduff reveals he was 'from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd' — delivered by caesarean section. Realizing the prophecy has tricked him, Macbeth still refuses to surrender and dies fighting; Macduff beheads him offstage and presents the head to Malcolm.

Shakespeare in Plain English

Macbeth · Tragedy · c. 1606

Act Five

The finale. A queen who can't wash her hands clean, a forest that gets up and walks, a prophecy with the worst fine print in history, and the shortest, bleakest, most beautiful speech Shakespeare ever wrote. All eight scenes, every line.

Macbeth

The Original · First Folio

Plain Modern English

Hover or tap any line — its translation glows across the gutter.