Shakespeare - Macbeth - characters

There are lots of characters in Macbeth, but it is okay to concentrate on the ones that play the biggest part in the story. You just need to know what their relationship is to Macbeth and the important parts they play in the story.

The Scottish noblemen are called Thanes, this is a Scottish word, which means Lord.

The four most important characters are:

• Macbeth
• Lady Macbeth
• Banquo
• Macduff

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is the Thane of Glamis. He is famous throughout Scotland for being a tough soldier. King Duncan likes him and promotes him. But Macbeth meets three Witches who predict this promotion and tell him that he will be king in the future. Macbeth is too ambitious to wait and see if this will happen. Instead he kills King Duncan with some help from Lady Macbeth. He becomes King of Scotland, but his troubles don’t end there. In fact, this is only the beginning.

Did you know?

Macbeth is the tragic hero of the play. Ambition is his fatal flaw. Tragic heroes start off nice, then a bad part of their personality kicks in (a fatal flaw) to make them not so nice. In the end, there is always a glimmer of the good person they were…before they die. Shakespeare wrote plenty of stories about tragic heroes, eg Othello, Hamlet, Julius Caesar. He got his idea from Greek stories. Sometimes, when you watch modern films, the film maker uses the idea of a tragic hero too.

• Ambitious - one promotion is not enough. He can’t wait to be king and once he’s king, he doesn’t want anyone around who might threaten his position.
• Superstitious - he believes the Witches when he first meets them on the heath, and returns to their lair for more predictions later in the play.
• Gullible - he allows Lady Macbeth to bully him into murdering King Duncan, and later he believes what the Witches have told him makes him invincible.

Macbeth's friends are:

• Banquo - starts off as Macbeth’s friend. Macbeth has him assassinated in case Banquo’s children threaten his position as king.
• Lady Macbeth - is on Macbeth’s side, but she gradually goes mad with guilt so he loses her.
• The Witches - seem like they are Macbeth’s friends, but they actually contribute to his downfall.

Macbeth has lots of enemies but the main one is:

• Macduff - Macbeth kills his family. Macduff kills Macbeth so that the true king of Scotland can take over.

• Macbeth is admired because he’s a brave warrior and loyal friend to Duncan and Banquo, but he kills them both to satisfy his ambition.
• He has a very close relationship with Lady Macbeth, but guilt drives them apart and when she dies, it’s as if he doesn’t have time to care.
• At the end he is a hated tyrant, but he is still brave, and he refuses to die like a coward.

Lady Macbeth’s behaviour would have seemed shocking to an audience in Shakespeare’s day. She pushes her husband around. She is hungry for power. She asks evil spirits to make her more like a man so that she can play her part in killing the king. The audience would have thought her behaviour was unnatural for a woman.

• Controlling – she knows her husband won’t want to murder the king so she manipulates him. She plans the murder and takes control of events when Macbeth loses the plot.
• Cruel – she is violent, cold-blooded and happy to be a part of the murder. She ridicules Macbeth when he won’t join in with her cold-blooded plans.
• Two-faced – she welcomes King Duncan warmly even though she plans his death. She advises Macbeth to be two-faced too.

Lady Macbeth is friends with:

• Macbeth - they share a terrible secret and she supports him until her untimely end.Her enemies are:

• Macduff, Banquo and King Duncan - no one threatens her directly. Although she helps to murder Duncan, they’re not her enemies; they just stand in the way of what she wants: the throne.

• Lady Macbeth makes fun of Macbeth for not having the courage to kill Duncan – but when it comes to it, she can’t kill him herself, and Macbeth has to do it.
• Although Lady Macbeth seems to be the one in control, in the middle of the play Macbeth begins to make decisions without her knowledge. She loses control.
• She starts off not caring about murder but in the end she goes mad with guilt. She starts sleep-walking and talking about Duncan’s murder in her sleep. In the end, she kills herself.

Did you know? Lady Macbeth’s suggestion of bashing the baby’s brain out is horrifying isn’t it? There’s no mention in the play of whether the Macbeths have children or not, so there’s no evidence that she has actually murdered a baby in the past. But remember, back in Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth asked evil spirits to unsex her, ie take away all of her female traits. Surely this is the ultimate example of this. Lady Macbeth has no human sympathy at all. She is ready to kill the King.

Banquo is Macbeth’s best friend, and the Witches promise him that his descendants will be future kings of Scotland. This prediction puts him in mortal danger with Macbeth. Macbeth is so worried about losing the throne that he is willing even to kill his best friend in an attempt to cheat fate. Banquo reappears after his death as a disapproving ghost at Macbeth’s banquet.

• Sceptical – he doesn’t trust the Witches’ predictions.
• Suspicious – he suspects Macbeth of murder and is worried about his own safety around his old friend.
• Loyal – he doesn’t tell anyone else about the Witches’ predictions, even when King Duncan is killed.

Banquo is friends with:

• Macbeth - is a great friend to begin with. They have fought bravely beside each other in battle. Macbeth doesn’t want to kill Banquo, but the Witches have said that Banquo’s children will be kings. This threatens Macbeth’s position as king. He sees Banquo’s murder as the only way to cheat fate.
• Fleance – his son.

• Banquo begins as Macbeth’s loyal friend, but he begins to suspect that Macbeth is up to no good after he becomes king.Alive, Banquo is a good man, but his ghost haunts Macbeth at the banquet, frightening him terribly. The ghost might not really be - - – Banquo, but a figment of Macbeth’s imagination.
• Banquo begins as a humble thane, but his descendants become kings of Scotland – leading down to King James himself.

Macduff is loyal to King Duncan, even after he is murdered. He loves Scotland and puts his family at risk to help raise an army to topple Macbeth’s tyrannical rule. Macbeth kills his wife and young family. Macduff fights and kills Macbeth by decapitating him. True to the Witches’ prediction, he is "not of woman born". He was born by way of Caesarean section, so was not "born" in the normal sense of the word.

• Loyal – he risks his life and that of his family for his country.
• Emotional – when Malcolm tests his loyalty, he becomes very upset. He is devastated by the death of his family. He kills Macbeth in a rage of revenge.
• Brave – He fights fearlessly, even when Macbeth tries to warn him that he is invincible.

Macduff’s friends are:

• The English - the army help him topple Macbeth
• Malcolm – Macduff is determined to make him the rightful king
• Ross – is Lady Macbeth’s cousin but helps Macduff topple Macbeth

Macduff’s family include:

• Wife and family - killed by Macbeth

Macduff only has one enemy:

• Macbeth - Macduff suspects that Macbeth killed Duncan – he risks everything to raise the alarm against him

• Macduff is devastated when he finds Duncan’s body, but once he suspects Macbeth of murder he risks everything to raise an army against him.
• Although he begins as a loyal subject of Scotland, Macduff has nothing to lose in the end. Macbeth has taken everything from him. He is seething with bloody revenge and cuts off Macbeth’s head.

The Witches rhyme their way through the play causing mayhem wherever they can. They make promises to Macbeth that come with a heavy price. They use words cleverly to mislead Macbeth. They’re not pretty. Banquo mentions that they have beards.

When Macbeth greets the Witches he says:

MACBETH
How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
Act 4 Scene 1

Character attributes

• Evil
• Unearthly

Hecate is the Witches’ mistress. She appears briefly to scold them for dealing with Macbeth without her say so. She thinks Macbeth is ungrateful and doesn’t deserve their help. She warns the Witches that she will set up illusions to confuse Macbeth and give him a false sense of security.

She says that Macbeth will:

HECATE
spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear.
And you all know, security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
Act 3 Scene 5

Character attributes

• Controlling
• Merciless

He rewards Macbeth for his loyalty and Macbeth returns the favour by murdering him. Duncan is a good and popular king until his death.

Macbeth says:

MACBETH
Duncan
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off.
Act 1 Scene 7

Character attributes

• Noble
• Trusting

Malcolm is Duncan’s son and the heir to the throne. He runs away to England when his father is murdered. He returns with an army to retake the throne at the end.

He tests Macduff’s loyalty to him because he’s worried that Macduff is a spy. When Macduff finds out that his family has been killed, he says:

MALCOM
Dispute it like a man
Act 4 Scene 3

Character attributes

• Wary
• Unsympathetic

Donalbain is Duncan’s youngest son. He runs away to Ireland when his father is murdered.

He realises that he and his brother are in grave danger of being the next victims. He says:

DONALBAIN
There’s daggers in men’s smiles
Act 2 Scene 3

Character attributes

• Scared
• Wise

Lady Macduff is Macduff’s wife and Ross’s cousin. She is angry with Macduff when he leaves for England to raise an army because he has put his country before his family. When she is warned that she is in danger, she refuses to run away because she knows that she has done nothing wrong. Macbeth’s henchmen kill her child, and then kill her.

She tells Ross that unlike her husband, a woman would never leave her children, but would fight to protect them:

LADY MACDUFF
the poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
Act 4 Scene 2

Character attributes

• Resentful
• Proud

The boy is Lord and Lady Macduff’s son. He is cheeky to his mum and obviously quite clever even though he is still very young. He defends his father’s reputation against Macbeth’s henchmen and they kill him.

When Macbeth’s henchman says that Macduff is a traitor, the boy says:

SON
Thou liest, thou shag-haired villain.
Act 4 Scene 2

Character attributes

• Cheeky
• Fearless

A Scottish nobleman, Lennox comes with Macduff to fetch Duncan on the morning after the King is killed. He loses faith in Macbeth and suspects him of the murders fairly early on but cannot confront Macbeth. He sees Macbeth after the Witches’ final predictions. He has to tell Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. He joins in the rebellion against Macbeth.

About deposing Macbeth and making Malcolm the new king, Lennox says:

LENNOX
dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds
with as much of our blood as is necessary.
Act 5 Scene 2

Character attributes

• Two-faced
• Non-confrontational

Ross is a Scottish nobleman and Lady Macduff’s cousin. He brings Macbeth the news that Duncan has made him Thane of Cawdor. He tries to comfort Lady Macduff when her husband leaves for England. He has to tell Macduff the sad news that his family has been murdered. He joins Malcolm and the English army in toppling Macbeth towards the end.

When he has to tell Macduff that his family has been slaughtered he says:

ROSS
Let not your ears despise my tongue forever
Which shall possess them with the heaviest sound
Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.
Act 4 Scene 3

Character attributes

• Kind
• Tactful