Macbeth is a tragedy written in the early Seventeenth century. It was intended by the playwright to be commercially successful and so, obviously, it had to attract and appeal to the audience. Since it is a traditional Shakespearean five-act play, the first act introduced the characters and the problem and set the tone of the play. Hence, it was crucial for the play's success (commercial or otherwise) that the first act captivate the audience and get them interested in the play. Shakespeare attracted the audiences' attention through a complex and multi layered amalgam of structure, intrigue, the supernatural and the combined imagery of violence, darkness and evil.

The structure of a play as well as that of each of its acts is its skeleton. Shakespeare exploits this to captivate the audiences' attention. Considering the fact that the audience of those times did not have access to twenty for...