Macbeth

Characters

Character Map

Who is who, and who belongs to whom. Click a name to open the character page.

Macbeth Thane of Glamis, captain under King Duncan and his kinsman, hero of the war against the rebel Macdonwald and the Norwegians, and the man who, after hearing three witches, kills the king sleeping under his roof to seize the throne. He is the protagonist of the... Lady Macbeth Wife of Macbeth and lady of the castle at Inverness, where King Duncan is to sleep. She gives a name to what her husband desires: she reads the letter in which he tells of the meeting with the witches, concludes that his nature is too good for the short road... Banquo Companion in arms of Macbeth, captain under King Duncan, and father of Fleance. He hears the witches together with Macbeth, but their promise to him is different, that of sons who will be kings, and he hears all of it as a warning: he suspects that the... Duncan King of Scotland, father of Malcolm and Donalbain, generous to those who serve him and trusting to the point of being deceived by the very men he honored. He honors Macbeth for the victory over the rebels, promises to tend his growth as one tends a plant,... Macduff Thane of Fife, Scottish nobleman who discovers Duncan's body, does not follow the new king, flees to England to join Malcolm, and loses, in Fife, his wife and children in a massacre ordered by Macbeth. He is the man whom the first apparition tells Macbeth to... Malcolm Eldest son of Duncan, named Prince of Cumberland and heir to the throne. He flees to England, while his brother Donalbain goes to Ireland, when their father is murdered and suspicion falls on both of them, and he returns as the commander of the army that... The Witches The three witches of the heath, called the Weird Sisters in the play, and Hecate, their queen, who appears twice: she rebukes them in Scene 5 of Act III and approves the cauldron in Scene 1 of Act IV. They open the play, speak of Macbeth before he enters, and...

Other characters

Donalbain: son of Duncan and brother of Malcolm. On the morning his father is found dead, he distrusts everyone in the house and decides to flee to Ireland, while Malcolm goes to England, and the flight of the two makes suspicion of the crime fall on them (scene 3 of Act II).
Lennox: Scottish nobleman who accompanies Macduff to the gate of Inverness on the morning of the crime and describes the turbulent night, of wind and cries in the air. With Macbeth already king, he remarks ironically on the official version of the deaths of Duncan and Banquo and calls the king a tyrant; later he brings Macbeth the news that Macduff has fled to England (scene 6 of Act III).
Captain: wounded soldier who, in the camp near Forres, tells Duncan how Macbeth killed the rebel Macdonwald and, with Banquo, resisted the new attack of the Norwegians. Duncan praises his words and sends for doctors to tend him (scene 2 of Act I).
Ross: Scottish thane who serves as messenger. He tells Duncan that the Thane of Cawdor betrayed the realm alongside the Norwegians, names Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, comments with an Old Man on the omens of the night of the crime and, in England, tells Macduff that his wife and children were killed (scene 2 of Act I).
Angus: Scottish thane who, with Ross, brings Macbeth the king's thanks and the news that he will be Thane of Cawdor, explaining that the former Thane deserves to lose his life for his proven treasons. Later he joins the nobles who march against Macbeth and says that his title hangs upon his person like a giant's cloak on a dwarfish thief (scene 3 of Act I).
Fleance: son of Banquo. He carries his father's torch in the courtyard of Inverness and, in the ambush ordered by Macbeth, escapes when Banquo, under attack, shouts to him to flee and avenge him. Since he survives, the witches' prophecy about Banquo's descendants stays alive (scene 3 of Act III).
Porter: drunken guard of Inverness castle. While Macduff and Lennox knock at the door on the morning of the crime, he pretends to be the gatekeeper of Hell and imagines who would enter: a farmer, a man of ambiguous words, and a tailor who stole from the cloth. It is the comic scene right after the heaviest night of the play (scene 3 of Act II).
Old Man: elderly man of seventy who, in front of the castle, talks with Ross about the night of the crime. He says he has never seen anything like it, tells that an owl killed a falcon in full flight, and repeats what is said, that Duncan's horses devoured one another, which Ross confirms (scene 4 of Act II).
The murderers: men Macbeth recruits to kill Banquo and Fleance: two resentful with life, to whom a third sent by him is joined. They kill Banquo on the road, but Fleance escapes. In Fife, other murderers acting on Macbeth's orders stab Macduff's son (scene 3 of Act III).
Hecate: queen of the witches. She rebukes the Witches for dealing with Macbeth without calling her, promises illusions that will lead him to scorn Destiny and to trust too much in himself, and afterward approves the work of the witches around the cauldron (scene 5 of Act III).
King Edward: King of England, who does not appear on stage. He is described as pious and saintly: he welcomes Malcolm at his court, cures the disease called the King's Evil with his touch, and has the gift of prophecy. Macduff goes to ask his support for Malcolm, and England lends ten thousand men led by Siward (scene 3 of Act IV).
Lady Macduff: wife of Macduff, who lives in the castle of Fife with her children. Not knowing why her husband left, she calls his flight a lack of love and courage. Warned of the danger by a Messenger, she says she has done no harm and is pursued by the murderers, crying for help (scene 2 of Act IV).
Macduff's son: small boy who plays with his mother, asking questions about traitors and answering with childish cleverness. When the murderer calls his father a traitor, he says the man lies, he is stabbed, and he still asks his mother to flee (scene 2 of Act IV).
English Doctor: doctor who, at the English court, warns Malcolm that a crowd of sick people awaits the cure from the king, whose touch, blessed by Heaven, heals in an instant the disease that medicine cannot overcome (scene 3 of Act IV).
Gentlewoman: servant of Lady Macbeth who watches the sleepwalking queen with the Doctor. She tells that the queen gets up in her sleep, writes on a paper, and rubs her hands for a quarter of an hour, but refuses to repeat what she heard her say without a witness; the Doctor asks her to keep watch (scene 1 of Act V).
Scottish Doctor: doctor of Dunsinane who watches over Lady Macbeth with the Gentlewoman and concludes that the case is beyond medicine and that she needs spiritual help more. Pressed by Macbeth, he replies that the patient must find her own remedy and, in an aside, says he wishes he were far from the castle (scene 1 of Act V).
Menteith and Caithness: Scottish nobles who, with Angus and Lennox, march to meet Malcolm's army near Birnam. Caithness says some call Macbeth mad and others furious, and Angus adds that his men serve him out of obligation, not affection; it is Menteith who tells Siward that the wood ahead is Birnam (scene 2 of Act V).
Seyton: officer in Macbeth's service at Dunsinane. He hears the king ask for his armor and replies that it is not yet needed, receives the order to dispatch the horsemen, and is the one who announces that the queen is dead (scene 5 of Act V).
Siward: Earl of Northumberland and English general, uncle of Malcolm, who commands the ten thousand English soldiers against Macbeth. He reminds all that only blows will decide the war and, on learning that his son died fighting, asks whether the wounds were in front and says he would not wish him a finer death (scene 4 of Act V).
Young Siward: son of Siward, among the young men who join Malcolm's army. He challenges Macbeth on the battlefield, unafraid of his name, and is killed; his father, on learning that he fell facing the enemy, considers him a soldier of God (scene 7 of Act V).