Characters Guide and Introduction
Instructions for
Character Guide

 Take your paper and fold it long ways.
 Take the folded paper and on the outside make 16
sections.
 Make the same sections on the inner fold just
beneath.
 You will flip up the name of the character and see
the important characteristics beneath.
Duncan

 King of Scotland
 Model of the virtuous ruler
Malcolm

 Son of Duncan
 Rightful heir to Duncan’s throne
 More cunning than his father
Donalbain

 Son of Duncan, younger brother of Malcolm
Macbeth

 Thane of Glamis with more titles to come.
 Scottish General
 Easily tempted but later plagued by guilt
Lady Macbeth

 Macbeth’s wife
 Deeply ambitious
 Loyal to her husband
 Also affected by guilt
Porter

 Drunken doorman who works at Macbeth’s castle
 Provides comic relief
Seyton

 An officer serving Macbeth
Gentlewoman

 Serves Lady Macbeth
Banquo

 A Scottish Thane
 Brave and noble general
 Represents the path Macbeth could have taken
Fleance

 Banquo’s son
 Presumed to eventually fulfill the witches
predictions to Banquo
 Like his father, an ancestor of King James I
Macduff

 Thane of Fife
 Opposes Macbeth’s treachery
Lady Macduff and Son

 Wife and son of Macduff
 Lady Macduff serves to contrast Lady Macbeth
Lennox, Ross, Mantieth,
Angus, & Caithness

 Thanes
Siward and Young
Siward

 Siward is Earl of Northumberland, is Duncan’s
brother, and has a son, Young Siward
The Weird Sisters

 3 Witches
 Plot mischief through predictions of the future
 Allude to the three Fates of Greek mythology
 Followers of Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft
Historical Context

 Written in England in 1606 for King James I.
 James I was a strict Protestant who believed,
amongst other things, that:
 God had a supernatural influence on human affairs
 Witches and magicians were agents of the devil,
working to punish sinners and tempt the virtuous
 God distinguished kings from ordinary men
Historical Context continued

To please James I, Shakespeare set the play in
Scotland, used many characters who were
James' ancestors (including Duncan and
Banquo), and included witches, a subject that
James had written about.
The play is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy,
probably because King James often fell asleep
during performances.
Historical Context continued

Shakespeare's source for the story of Macbeth
was The History and Chronicles of Scotland
(1526), written by Hector Boece, a Scottish
historian and humanist.
(Many scholars question the factual reliability
of Boece's work, and point out that
Shakespeare took liberties with Macbeth's
history for dramatic purposes.)
Setting

 11th century Scotland
 Hereditary succession to the throne was only three
generations old
 Duncan is king; he has two sons, Malcolm and
Donalbain
 He is supported by a number of noblemen as they
battle Norse invaders
 Macbeth is a General in the king’s army
Great Chain of Being

People in Shakespeare's time didn't think like us.
We live in the post Darwinian age. Things are
supposed to improve over time as the weak die
out.
Before Darwin, people assumed that the further we
lived after the date of Creation the worse things
got, because we lived more distantly from the
“perfect time”.
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maggieoh/Macbeth/chain1.html
History vs. Macbeth

Macdonwald’s rebellion & the invasion of Sweno
took place at different times—Shakespeare
combined them
Duncan is supposed to have been killed by four
hired servants—Shakespeare has Macbeth
commit the murder
History represents Banquo as equal in guilt with
Macbeth—Shakespeare whitewashes Banquo’s
character as a compliment to King James

History makes no mention of Lady
Macbeth—her character is almost wholly
the creation of Shakespeare
In history, Macbeth fled before Macduff—
Shakespeare shows Macbeth bravely
fighting
Great Chain of Being

God
Angels
Kings/Queens
Dukes/Duchesses/Thanes
Bishops
Earls/Countesses
Knights/Local Officials
Ladies-in-Waiting
Priests/Monks
Squires
Messengers
Merchants/Shopkeepers
Tradesmen
Yeomen Farmers
Soldiers/Town Watch
Household Servants
Beggars
Actors
Thieves/Pirates
Gypsies
Animals
Plants
Rocks
http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/2008/09/20/searc
h-moving-up-the-buzzword-chain-of-being/
Disruptionin the
Chain could cause
anything from storms
to deaths to absolute
chaos.
Motifs and Imagery to
look for . . .

 supernatural
 blood
 sanity / insanity
 order / disorder
 light / darkness
Soliloquy and Aside

 Soliloquy – a speech that a character makes while
alone on stage to reveal his or her thoughts to the
audience.
 Aside – remark a character makes in an undertone to
the audience or another character.
What is a tragedy?

 A tragedy is a drama in which the fortunes,
misfortunes, and disasters befall human beings of
title, power, and position.
 A tragedy inevitably ends in the ruin or demise of
the hero, contains an element of fate with the façade
of free will and acts as a cry against the tragic
situation unfolding.
 A tragic hero is the main character of the play and
must submit to six basic characteristics.
#1: Noble Stature

Since tragedy often involves the “fall”
of the hero, he or she must have a high
position to fall from, or else there is no
tragedy.
People who fall from a high position in
society, such as king, affect the lives of
others.
#2: Tragic Flaw

The hero must “fall” due to something wrong
his or her personality. One of the most
common flaws is hubris (too much pride).
In Greek mythology, this is seen when
mortals think they can do better than the
gods.
In Shakespearean drama, it is seen when
characters think they can avoid or change
their fate.
#3: Free Choice

The hero falls because he chooses one
course of action over the other. In other
words, he has made a life-changing
mistake.
Look for warnings from other
characters that go unheeded, for
example.
#4: Punishment Exceeds
the Crime

The audience has to feel sorry for the
tragic hero. They must feel that he did
not get what he deserved.
Death is the most common punishment
that cannot be reversed AND seems the
harshest.
#5: Increased Awareness

The hero must come to some sort
of an understanding of what went
wrong or what was really going on
before he dies. He must come to
accept a truth.
#6: Produces Catharsis
for Audience

The audience must not feel guilty for
what happened to the tragic hero. They
must feel emotionally drained, but
happy. The ending must leave them
satisfied that all has happened for a
reason, and all characters have had lifealtering realizations.