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Here’s the scoop on Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Macbeth is all about the domino effect. Killing prompts more killing prompts more killing. But Shakespeare wasn’t just about the blood and gore. Macbeth is also a play about consequences.

Video Transcription:

Call Macbeth a play about the domino effect. We’ll talk about why right after this.

The domino effect. One event causes a huge chain reaction.

In Macbeth, the event is Macbeth’s power-hungry murder of King Duncan.

The reaction? Macbeth, who is now king, soon feels threatened by Banquo, so he gets Banquo killed. Not long after that, Macbeth feels threatened by Macduff, so he gets Macduff’s family killed. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth (who was the instigator of the King Duncan murder) has a dramatic change of heart and kills herself—out of guilt. And Macduff, vowing revenge, marches to Macbeth’s castle where he kills and beheads Macbeth.

But the chain reaction isn’t just in the action of the play. There’s also a moral reaction. In other words: We want someone to take the blame. Like Lady Macbeth, who coerced Macbeth into the first killing. Or what about Macbeth himself, who committed the first killing, and ordered the second, and the third? And don’t forget the witches, whose prophecy got Macbeth thinking about being king in the first place.

Ultimately, Macbeth is about consequences—and about the tragedy that results when we sacrifice our morals.