The emotional impact of seeing and hearing Lady Macbeth goad her husband into bloody violence in order to amass power makes a compelling opera.

A Scottish general returning from battle, Macbeth encounters three witches who prophesy his future. Mystified, he returns home where Lady Macbeth has received word that the king will stop for the night at their home that very evening. This is all it takes for the ambitious Lady Macbeth to begin planning and encouraging her husband to do whatever has to be done to gain power.

The bloodbath begins.

Verdi idolized Shakespeare and his Macbeth is particularly suited to the operatic stage with its flawed hero, strong heroine and plot full of gore, madness and the supernatural.