MACBETH
CHARACTERS
MACBETH
"I am in Blood" (III.iv.135)
Macbeth is first characterized as a courageous and honorable general. Prior to the
events of the play, Macbeth and his army valiantly defeat an invading force of Irish and
Norwegians and kills the rebel leader Macdonwald. Nevertheless, Macbeth is far more
motivated by his own ambition than any sort of loyalty to the king, When three witches
tell him that he will become king, he obsesses over the idea and proves to be a tragic
hero whose downfall is ruthless ambition. Macbeth kills King Duncan in order to obtain
the throne and he is clearly a man who is willing to do immoral acts in order to obtain
what he desires. Moreover, Macbeth becomes increasingly impulsive and wrathful as
the play progresses. After killing Duncan, he kills his his own friend Banquo and then
Macduff's innocent wife and child. Macbeth is Machiavellian, he is willing to become
tyrannical and savage in order to gain and retain the Scottish crown,
LADY MACBETH
"Unsex me here" (I.v.42)
Lady Macbeth's goal throughout the play is to ensure that her husband obtains and
retains the crown. She is a manipulative character who certainly differs from what would
be considered a traditional wife in the Elizabethan era. Although Lady Macbeth
pressures her husband to kill Duncan, she appears to have a moral fiber. She
confesses that she cannot kill the king herself because he resembles her father when
he is sleeping. After the regicide, Lady Macbeth is increasingly guilt-ridden and weak.
Her culpability eventually consumes her, and prevents her from being the important ally
she was to her husband at the onset of the play. She becomes suicidal, haunted by
hallucinations of blood and nightmares which cause her to sleepwalk.
THE THREE WITCHES
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (I.i.11)
The three witches reveal the prophecy to Macbeth, ultimately leading to him kill the king
and usurp the Scottish throne. Later in the play, they also show Macbeth three
apparitions which lead him to falsely believe that he is invincible. The witches are
mysterious characters whose true nature and motives are never revealed. The witches
nonetheless appear to be manipulative and self-serving since they use Macbeth to
wreak havoc in Scotland rather than take action themselves.
BANQUO
"Though hast it now:King,Cawdor,Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and I fearThou play'dst most foully for't." (III,1,
1-3)
Unlike Macbeth, Banquo is truly loyal to the Scottish monarchy and worries that
Macbeth resorted to murder in order to become king. The witches claim that Banquo's
descendants will become kings, but he does not obsess over their prophecy as does
Macbeth. In Act III of the play Banquo is killed by three murderers hired by Macbeth.
MALCOLM
"So thanks to all at once and to each one,
we invite to see us crowned at scone. (V.vii.74-75)
Malcolm is King Duncan's elder son and the rightful heir to the Scottish throne. He flees
to England after his father is murdered, but returns after Macduff speaks to him.
Malcolm proves to be a cunning responsible individual as he tests Macduff to ensure
that he has noble motives. (Malcolm is a foil to his father who was a poor judge of
character and lost the throne.)
KING DUNCAN
"No more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive" (II.ii.63)
King Duncan treats Macbeth well and showers him with praise. He is a trusting person
who is completely unaware of Macbeth's intentions. Duncan's greatest flaw appears to
be his naivety and and his death at Macbeth's hands creates great disruption in
Scotland.
DONALDBAIN
"Where our fate, hid in an auger-gole
May rush and seize us?" (II.iii. 24-25)
Donaldbain is Duncan's younger son. He flees to Ireland after his father is killed and
does not return to fight Macbeth.
MACDUFF
"Tell thee, Macduff was from his
mother's womb
untimely ripped" (V.viii.15-16)
Macduff is the manifestation of retribution and can be viewed as the antithesis of
Macbeth since he is focused on returning justice to Scotland rather than on any
personal gain. He is the one who discovers Duncan's corpse in Macbeth's castle and
later travels to England to help the legitimate heir fight for the throne. At the end of the
play, Macduff kills the tyrant Macbeth who senselessly killed his wife and children.
ROSS
" 'Gainst nature still" (II.iv.27)
Ross is a Scottish nobleman whose primarily role in the play is that of a messenger. At
the beginning of the play, he informs the king that Macbeth and Banquo have defeated
the invading army. He also tells Macbeth that he has received the title of thane of
Cawdor. Later in the play, he tells Macduff that Macbeth has slaughtered his wife and
babes.
SUMMARY
In the opening scene, three witches scheme to meet with a Scottish general named Macbeth.
Meanwhile Duncan, the King of Scotland, learns that Macbeth has defeated the invading Irish
and Norwegian armies and thus decides to award him with the title of Thane of Cawdor.
Following this, Macbeth and his friend Banquo cross paths with the three witches who tell them
that Macbeth will become the King of Scotland and Banquo's descendants will be monarchs.
Banquo rejects the witches’ prophecy, whereas Macbeth is skeptical but very intrigued. When
Macbeth learns he has been named Thane of Cawdor (as the witches said he would be), he starts
to believe in the prophecy and sends word of it to his wife.
When Macbeth returns to his castle Inverness, his wife Lady Macbeth pressures him to kill King
Duncan and usurp the throne. Despite some reluctance, Macbeth ultimately heeds to his wife's
demands and stabs the king as he sleeps in Inverness. The following morning, Macduff, Thane of
Fife, discovers Duncan’s corpse and immediately becomes suspicious. Lady Macbeth feigns
shock and pretends to faint, while Macbeth frames and executes two chamberlains for the
regicide.
King Duncan’s heir, Malcolm, and his younger brother Donalbain leave Scotland for fear of
being killed, and Macbeth assumes the throne in their absence. Nevertheless, Macbeth begins to
see Banquo and his son as threats and sends three murderers to kill them. They murder Banquo,
but his son Fleance escapes, causing Macbeth to worry that Fleance will one day return to take
the crown. Soon after, Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth during a dinner party. It is unclear
whether the ghost is real or a figment of Macbeth's imagination, but Macbeth has a fit and loses
credibility in front of his subjects.
Worried about his future, Macbeth meets the witches again and they show him three apparitions.
The first, a helmeted head tells Macbeth to beware of Macduff. The second, a bloody child tells
him he cannot be harmed by any man born of woman. The third, a crowned child holding a
branch, tells him he will not be defeated until the forest of Birnam Wood marches to Dunsinane
Castle. Macbeth is deceived by the apparitions and reassured of his right to throne but
nonetheless kills Macduff’s wife and children, Meanwhile, Macduff locates Malcolm and the
two gather an army to defeat Macbeth. Macduff learns of his family's demise, but resolves to
avenge them rather than be intimidated.
Consumed by guilt, Lady Macbeth commits suicide. This startles Macbeth as he prepares for
battle against Malcolm and Macduff’s army. Macbeth is convinced that he will be victorious
until he sees the enemy soldiers holding up branches for Birnam Wood in order to obscure its
numbers, fulfilling the apparition's prophecy. The battle begins and Macduff faces off against
Macbeth. Before beheading Macbeth, Macduff states that he was born via cesarean section and
was thus not technically born of a woman, fulfilling another part of the prophecy. The play ends
with the coronation of Malcolm, Scotland's rightful heir.
CONTEXT
William Shakespeare loosely based his tragic hero Macbeth after Mac Bethad mac
Findlaich, a Scottish monarch who reigned from 1040 to 1057 CE. Both Mac
Bethad and Shakespeare's Macbeth are killed by their own people, but the events
that occur in the play Macbeth are of course fictionalized.
Rather than basing Macbeth's life on true historical events, Shakespeare decided to
use his protagonist to explore the human vice of unchecked ambition. Macbeth's
hamartia is a testament to the dangerous impact that ruthless ambition can have on
an individual as well as on society. Many people in our era continue to succumb to
the same over-vaulting ambition and greed that ultimately destroy Macbeth.
THEMES
DECEIVING APPEARANCES
The theme of deceiving appearances recurs throughout the play since
Macbeth's ascension to power relies on deception. Macbeth is duped by
the witches at the onset of the play, and is very tempted by the honor of
becoming king. He, however, does not enjoy any glory when he becomes
monarch. Although Macbeth is revered as a "noble" and "worthy" thane at
the onset of the play, he becomes known as a tyrant after he claims the
crown.The price of assuming the throne turns out to be far greater than
Macbeth ever expected it to be. Macbeth deceives Duncan by welcoming
him into his castle and then killing him in his sleep, but he also ends up
deceiving himself. Macbeth deluded himself by not taking into account the
other murders he would commit after killing the king.
WANTING MORE THAN ONE CAN HAVE
Though King Duncan awards Macbeth with the title of Thane of Glamis,
Macbeth wants more. He becomes fixated with the idea of claiming the
throne from the time the three witches plant the thought into his head. After
Macbeth kills King Duncan, a man who has done him no wrong, he begins
to kill senselessly in an attempt to secure the throne he usurped. The
penalty for regicide and usurping the throne is high. Macbeth becomes
known as a tyrant and impulsive killer. Furthermore, his strong relationship
with his wife gradually deteriorates. Though Lady Macbeth pressured her
husband to kill Duncan, guilt consumes her and she kills herself.
THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Every action in Macbeth has irrevocable and immediate consequences.
Once Macbeth kills King Duncan, Scotland is irrevocably changed. The
king's sons flee the country, and Macbeth becomes monarch in their
absence. However, many nobles, particularly Macduff are suspicious of
Macbeth and seek justice for Duncan. Trying to retain power, Macbeth
causes more impulsive murders which backfire on him. Murdering his friend
Banquo causes Macbeth to hallucinate and have projections of guilt. Killing
Macduff's wife and child only strengthen Macduff's resolve to kill Macbeth.
Malcolm and Macduff then return to Scotland to punish Macbeth for his
crimes. At the end of the play, order is restored in Scotland, but Macbeth
has lost his honor, his wife, and his life.
QUOTATIONS
MACBETH
“Will all Great Neptune's ocean wash the blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine
making the green on red”
(II.ii.59-61)
After murdering Duncan, Macbeth reflects on the regicide and wonders if can atone
himself. He, however, states all the ocean's waters won't suffice to cleanse his
murderous hand and his hand would simply sully the waters, rendering them a bloody
red. Rather than seeking repentance, Macbeth impulsively commits more murders in an
attempt to retain the throne.
"I am in blood"
(III.iv.135)
Blood is a strong symbol of guilt throughout the play. Macbeth knows he has committed
a bloody deed to inherit the crown and can can only extend his reign with more blood.
"Something wicked this way comes" (IV.i.62)
One of the three witches utter these words as Macbeth enters a cave to visit them.
Although Macbeth is presented as a hero and defender of Scotland at the beginning of
the play, he chooses to betray his king. Macbeth is corrupted by the witches' prophecy,
and his evil deeds wreak havoc in Scotland.
LADY MACBETH
"Unsex me here"
(I.v.42)
Throughout Macbeth, masculinity is linked to violence and tyranny whereas femininity is
associated with docility. Case in point, after Macduff discovers Duncan's corpse, he simply tells
Lady Macbeth "O gentle lady,'Tis not for you to hear what I can speak: The repetition, in a
woman’s ear, Would murder as it fell." (II.iii.58-61). Macduff automatically assumes that the
news of the murder is shocking for a woman to bear. Lady Macbeth, however, helped plot the
murder and swore to give up her feminine qualities in order to help claim the crown. By stating
"unsex me her", Lady Macbeth vowed to abandon the docility linked to femininity and take on
the violent temperament associated with masculinity.
"What's done, is done "
(III. ii. 8-12)
In Act III, Lady Macbeth attempts to allay her husband's guilt, explaining that they cannot
change the past. At this point in the play, her mind is still lucid, but she later succumbs to her
own guilt over Duncan's murder and commits suicide.
"Here's the smell of the blood still: all
the sweet perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand."
(V. i, 48-49)
In the final act of the play, Lady Macbeth is losing control of her mental capacities. She keeps
imagining blood on her hands which represents her guilt over Duncan's murder, and she begins
sleepwalking which symbolizes her inability to be at rest. Lady Macbeth knows that she can't
hide the smell of blood on her hands and later adds "What's done cannot be undone." (V. i. 68)
THE THREE WITCHES
"When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain? " (I.ii.1-2)
The witches' decision to meet in bad weather implies that they are very different from most
humans. They are attracted to things that most people avoid. They partake in sinister activity
which would repulse most people, but over course tempts Macbeth.
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair." (I.i.4)
This paradox is one of the most famous lines in the play--to the witches, good is bad and bad is
good . The witches thrive off wrongdoing and disdain righteousness.
KING DUNCAN
"This castle hath a pleasant seat.
The air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses ." (I,vi. 1-3)
Duncan is completely unaware of the cruel fate that awaits him in Macbeth's castle Inverness.
He enters Macbeth's quarters, completely unaware of the thane's sinister intentions.
"None more that Thane of Cawdor shall deceive
Our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death,
and with his former title greet Macbeth." (II.ii.63-65)
Duncan' s words are evidence that he has not learned from his mistakes. He trusted the former
thane of Cawdor who betrayed him and now praises the man who will soon kill him. The words
"Macbeth and death" uncannily rhyme, foreboding Macbeth's decision to kill Duncan.
"There's no art to find the mind's construction
in the face: he was a gentleman on whom I built
my absolute trust." (I. iv. 11-14)
Macbeth decides to conceal his dishonest intentions with a facade and states his resolve at the
end of Act 1, Scene 7, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know", Duncan is
nonetheless unaware of this and falsely believes that he can judge Macbeth's character from his
outer appearance.
BANQUO
"Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all
As the weird women promis'd; and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for't" (III.i, 1-3)
Banquo realizes that the witches' prophecy has been realized: Macbeth is know king in addition
to being thane of Cawdor and Glamis. He, however, worries that Macbeth resorted to evil
means and killed Duncan in order to claim the throne.
"Myself should be the root and father
Of many kings" (III.i. 5-6)
The witches paradoxically told Banquo that he would be both less and greater than Macbeth.
Although Banquo is told he will never be king, he learns that one of his descendants will one
day wear the crown. Macbeth consequently sees Banquo as a threat and tries to have him and
his son killed.
MALCOLM
"Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief
convert to anger; blunt not the heart; enrage it." (IV. iii. 228-229)
Following Macbeth's decision to kill Macduff's family, Malcolm tells Macduff not to despair. He
instead tells him to let his grief it strengthen his resolve for justice and become the impetus to
avenge his family .
"So thanks to all at once and to each one,
whom we invite to see us crowned at scone." (V. viii. 74-75)
As the legitimate heir to the crown, Malcolm assumes the throne, thereby restoring order in
Scotland.
MACDUFF
"Fit to Govern!
No, not to live. O nation miserable" (IV. iii-102-103)
When Macduff tries to convince Malcolm to return to Scotland, Malcolm tests him by pretending
to be a terrible leader. Macduff becomes enraged, and this proves to Malcolm that Macduff truly
wants the best for his country.
"Tell thee, Macduff was from his
mother's womb
Untimely ripped." (V.viii.15-16)
Macbeth falsely believes that he is invincible because the witches tell him that no man born of a
woman can harm him . However, Macduff reveals that his mother had a cesarean
birth and is thus not technically born of a woman.
DONALDBAIN
"Where our fate, hid in an auger-gole
May rush, and seize us?" (II.iii.23-25)
"This murderous shaft that's shot
Hath not yet lighted and our safest way is to avoid aim
Therefore to horse;
And let us not ne dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away." (II.iii.43-47)
Donaldbain speaks to his elder brother about fleeing the kingdom. Someone has just killed their
father and they may be the next victims unless they act.
ROSS
"Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes savagely slaughtered" (IV. iii. 205)
Ross' primarily role in the play is that of a messenger. He is the one who informs Macduff that
his wife and children have been killed by Macbeth the tyrant.
"Ah, good father.
Thou seest, the heavens as troubled with man's acr,
Threatens his bloody stage." (II.iv.4-6)
" 'Gainst nature still." (II. iv. 27)
The Elizabethans believed the king was chosen by God so Macbeth's decision to kill the
monarch was not only a homicide, but a crime against the heavens and all of nature.
Macbeth was never intended to be king and unnatural ascension to the throne causes all sorts
of disruptions in the kingdom. For instance, Ross learns of an owl killing a falcon, which would
not normally occur in nature.