Macbeth: a Synopsis

[Toby Frost]

Given that the issue of writing a synopsis for sending to publishers often comes up here, I thought it might be interesting to take a well-known story and try to shorten it as if to be submitted for publication. I am imagining here that Macbeth is written as a novel of 82,000 words rather than a play. I assume that a covering letter goes out with the synopsis and whichever bits of the manuscript are required, explaining that the story is a supernatural thriller (or perhaps a historical fantasy) about a man made great and brought low by ambition.

Feel free to hack this apart as seems fit. Re-reading it, I can see a couple of flaws, and no doubt there are actually many more. I'd be interested to see what people made of a story we probably all know and which isn't by one of us.





Macbeth by William Shakespeare: a Synopsis
(82,000 words).

Macbeth is a powerful fighter who serves the King of Scotland, Duncan. Riding back victorious from a battle, he encounters three witches, who greet him with the title of Thane (Lord) of Cawdor and prophesise that he shall be king. The witches tell Macbeth’s friend Banquo that he will not be king himself, but will produce a line of monarchs.

Shortly afterwards, Macbeth is appointed Thane of Cawdor, apparently demonstrating the truth of the prophesy. His ambitious wife, Lady Macbeth, urges him to murder Duncan and take the throne, but Macbeth is troubled by his conscience.

Macbeth invites Duncan to visit him. After much self-doubt, Macbeth’s ambition overcomes his conscience and he stabs Duncan to death. With his wife’s help, Macbeth frames innocent servants for the murder. Duncan’s sons flee the kingdom and Macbeth takes the throne, although many other thanes, including Macduff, a friend of Duncan’s, are suspicious. Banquo remembers the witches’ prophesy that Macbeth would become king.

Macbeth broods over the promise that Banquo will be the father of a line of kings. He realises that, to secure his position, he must kill his friend. He invites Banquo to a feast, and hires assassins to kill him and his son Fleance on the way. Banquo is murdered, but Fleance escapes. Macbeth is furious that, since Fleance is alive, Banquo could still be the father of kings.

At the feast, Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth. Although the ghost is invisible to the other guests, Macbeth’s terror disrupts the event. Macbeth visits the witches for advice.

The witches make promises to Macbeth that imply that he will be safe: he will be protected so long as Burnham Wood does not come to his castle, and no man “of woman born” can kill him.

Macbeth learns that Macduff has fled to England, and has Macduff’s family murdered. Macduff learns of the murders and plans revenge. Meanwhile, although Macbeth has become increasingly ruthless with each killing, Lady Macbeth’s conscience has started to drive her insane. She has become obsessed with cleaning her hands of blood, and acts out her guilt in her sleep.

An army, including Macduff and Duncan’s sons, marches on Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth commits suicide. Macbeth is dismayed, but believes that the witches’ promises have made him invincible. Only as the army advances, using foliage from Burnham Wood as camouflage, does Macbeth realise that the witches’ promises cannot protect him.

He fights bravely and duels Macduff. During the fight, Macduff reveals that he was born by Caesarian section, and hence is not “of woman born”. He kills Macbeth.

The rightful king takes the throne. Macbeth’s head is left on a stake, marking the end of a man exalted and ultimately destroyed by his own ambition.

(Edited for clarity. I'm approaching this as though Macbeth is a novel, rather than the play itself).

 

[The Judge]

Hmmm. Well, it's the story all right, but I never thought MacBeth could seem so, well, pedestrian...

Anyway, since it isn't a real piece for critiquing, I think it's true home is in Workshop, where we can run with it, and perhaps bring in other plays, too, so I'll move it over.

 

[Pyan]

82,000 words, Toby? Or is it the usual thing to put the original number of words in the piece you're doing the synopsis of, so to speak?

 

[Toby Frost]

Good question, and unfortunately I don't know the answer. I should have clarified that: my mental image was that Will had written the story as a novel and that was the number of words in it. I should add that I don't have particular expertise in this area - I'm definitely not qualified to "mark" anyone's comments!

I've altered the description to reflect the (imaginary) word count.

 

[The Judge]

OK, I'll have a go. Rather than critique Toby's I thought I'd try doing my own version.

~~~~

When MacBeth, Thane of Glamis and loyal soldier under Duncan, King of Scotland, is hailed by three witches as Thane of Cawdor, he is confused, since the Earl of Cawdor lives. His confusion rises when they call him "king hereafter". Within hours, though, he learns of Cawdor's death and his own elevation to the title, and he begins to wonder as to the rest of the witches' prophecy. His wife, to whom he relates the story, immediately presses him to take the nearest way to the throne by murdering Duncan, who, with his sons, is a guest in MacBeth's castle.

Despite misgivings and the pangs of conscience MacBeth allows his wife to persuade him to the murder. He kills Duncan, framing the King's sleeping servants whom he then also kills in simulated rage before they can profess their innocence. Duncan's sons, alarmed and suspicious, flee to England, and no one can stop MacBeth taking the crown for himself.

MacBeth is king, but he remains troubled, for the witches also foretold that it would be his friend, Banquo, and not himself, who would be father of kings. Banquo has one son, Fleance, and in order to defeat the prophecy MacBeth hires assassins to kill both of them. But the assassins bungle the murders, and Fleance escapes.

Already disturbed, MacBeth is brought to terror and the edge of insanity when Banquo's bloodied ghost appears to him at a banquet. He returns to the witches seeking their counsel, and is told that he cannot be harmed unless Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane, his castle, and that he cannot be killed save by one not of woman born.

Satisfied that he is protected, MacBeth becomes more ruthless in his power and he kills the entire family of MacDuff, a thane who has gone with Duncan's sons to England. This atrocity gives yet added impetus to the army which the sons have raised to depose MacBeth, and they march on MacBeth's castle.

Despite her original callousness, it is Lady MacBeth whose mind crumbles in the face of the bloodshed committed at her behest, and she plunges into insanity, first sleepwalking in her guilt, then throwing herself from the castle battlements**. MacBeth himself remains strong, even when he sees the forces arrayed against him, their exact numbers hidden by the boughs they carry from a nearby forest -- Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane.

MacBeth rides out to face MacDuff in single combat, still confident of his victory, and, as they fight, he explains to MacDuff why. But MacDuff triumphantly states that he was not born of woman, since he was ripped from his mother's womb. Faced with the realisation the witches have deceived him and that he has lost all, MacBeth still fights on, but he is killed by MacDuff, destroyed by his own ambition and rapacity.


** I'm pretty sure we're not told how she dies, but that's how she ought to do it. (I'm trying to recall all the times I've seen the play whether it was made explicit, but I can't get past Sean Bean kissing Samantha Bond so much her lips blistered... [imagine a jealous lustful smiley here... ])

 

[Colbey Frost]

Is that how long a synopsis should be? Oh dear, mine is 6k words....

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Usually agents and editors want 1 page, single-spaced, in a 12 pt font (Courier or Times New Roman), Christian. At most 2 pages. So you've got a lot of condensing to do.

Toby, I think you have done an admirable job of distilling the plot. But, for me, your synopsis lacks atmosphere and emotional power.

TJ, I thought yours brought the characters to life.

For both synopses, I think a few words to make the Weird Sisters more ... weird ... might be helpful, and perhaps a few here and there to bring the setting of some of the most important scenes into sharper focus.

"Crossing a heath after the battle, Macbeth is hailed by three withered hags"

"In an eerie ritual, the witches call up phantoms, prophesying ... etc."

(These are just off the top of my head. I'm sure that either one of you could think of something better.)

Edit -- TJ, is there a Sean Bean Macbeth that was shown in the UK? Now I'm jealous, because there hasn't been even a whisper of anything like that over here.

.
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[Phyrebrat]

I would rather have liked to have got involved in this little exercise but I cannot really improve on what TJ has written. <grumpy>

I did take solace in the fact that we were looking at a novel (of the play) as opposed to Roman Polanski's movie version which although striking, really messes with Donalbain and Malcolm's virtues! (for those who have not seen this, Malc and Don go to the witches at the end to see what their future holds!!! What next? Gonzalo will be trying usurp Prospero? )

pH

 

[The Judge]

Good thinking about the weird atmosphere, Teresa. Yes, it's definitely worth a few lines there and for the scene-setting. I tend to forget about that to concentrate on the action.

TJ, is there a Sean Bean Macbeth that was shown in the UK? Now I'm jealous, because there hasn't been even a whisper of anything like that over here.

Ah, it was a stage production at the Albery in London, I was going to say a couple of years ago, but checking I see it was 2002... (My sense of passing time is getting worse as I get older!) Here's a couple of reviews http://www.compleatseanbean.com/macbeth-reviews-press8.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2002/nov/15/theatre.artsfeatures2 I agreed with the Telegraph one -- from other reviews I know Michael Billington of the Guardian can be a bit po-faced and dismissive, as here.

I saw one review which criticised Bean for using his normal Sheffield accent, while Bond spoke RP, but it worked perfectly -- you could see him as a common soldier who'd worked his way up to become thane by his military prowess, and then married up because an aristocrat had fallen in lust with him. It also gave real drama to the way she could persuade him to the killing, because you got the sense that he still couldn't believe his luck getting her and he was swayed by everything she said. (Billington gets that right.)


Thanks, Phyrebrat! How about taking one of the other plays, though? That's why I moved it to Workshop so we could all have a go!

 

[Pyan]

** I'm pretty sure we're not told how she dies, but that's how she ought to do it.

You're right: Seyton comes on, and baldly announces "The Queen, my lord, is dead". MacBeth promptly goes off into his "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.." speech. But it would be fitting if she did do a Tosca...


I'd love to see someone have a go at "The Comedy of Errors"...

 

[The Judge]

But it would be fitting if she did do a Tosca...

When I was writing the synopsis, I yelled to my partner "Did she throw herself off the battlements?" and he immediately told me I was thinking of the wrong opera.

(Heard the one about the soprano loathed by the back stage staff and the trampoline substituted for the safety mattress..? )

 

[Pyan]

There's another apocryphal tale about that. Apparently, a tired stage manager inadvertently provided a memorable finale.

When asked by the supernumeraries how to exit the final scene after chasing Tosca into space, the manager thoughtlessly responded, "Follow the principal off the stage". They quite literally did so, treating the audience to the spectacle of a mass suicide orchestrated by Puccini.

 

[A. S. Behsam]

An editor asked me for ONE page, DOUBLE-spaced.
I struggled a lot, until my friend put it this way and made it easier:

3-4 Paragraphs for one page:

1) The MAIN idea that came to you and made you write the book, which is usually the main point of the story. example> "Someone to Blame" is supernatural thriller about Jason Watson; a young man who goes into coma after getting injured when he tries to pull his brother Jared out of drug-dealing business. The story deals with Jason's struggle in some sort of limbo as he watches real life events and faces difficult choices.

2/3) About the most important things in the story, especially the purpose behind the title and events that support the genre. example> Jason is the second son among the three, but after his older brother dies, he decides to marry Sara, his sister-in-law, so he can help her take of her two children. But Jared, his younger brother, has gotten himself in trouble; he's been selling drugs and now that he wants out, he's not permitted to walk away. As Jason gets involved to save Jared, he is stabbed by the thugs and losing so much blood, he goes into coma.
Jason then finds himself somehow trapped in an odd place he calls "an odd version of real life", where he meets others who claim to be in coma as well. Jason watches over Jared and his family, deals with his own fears and the bitter taste of betrayal, and is forced to leave behind the only things he's ever loved. It all makes him develop a sense of hatred for his brother Jared, blaming him for all the things his life ever lacked. It gets to the point that he admits to his new friend Melissa that should he ever meet the "Ultimate Choice" (the choice very few of the people there must make; their life or someone else's) between his own life and Jared, he would choose himself.

3/4) The end of the story, the conclusion. example> In the end, when Jared faces horrible danger, Jason faces his "Ultimate Choice" just like he predicted; Jared, or himself. But unlike what he told Melissa Jason chooses Jared, forgiving his brother and sacrificing himself to save him. But when Jared survives the danger and wakes up in the hospital, it is Jason who is living inside his younger brother's body, though he doesn't remember what happened after he went into coma. Jared (or Jason) is told that his brother has passed away, but he doesn't say anything about himself being actually Jason. The story ends with him marrying Sara as Jared.


This helped me actually.