Macbeth

Also known as: Cawdor / Glamis · Family: Scotland · Role: captain · First appears: Macbeth · Act I, Scene II

After the battle, Macbeth, captain of Scotland and Thane of Glamis, kills his enemy Macdonwald and fixes his head upon the battlements. Duncan, his cousin and king, praises him as “O valiant cousin! worthy gentleman!”; Macbeth is also allied with Banquo, Ross, and Angus. When the Weird Sisters foretell that Macbeth will be king and Banquo will father kings, Ross announces that Macbeth has become Thane of Cawdor, while Angus confirms that the former thane was overthrown for treason.

Macbeth remains bound to Duncan by fealty even as the king names him his patron, and he writes to his wife, Lady Macbeth, calling her his partner in greatness and “My dearest love,” to tell her of the promised kingship. During Duncan’s visit to Macbeth’s castle, Lady Macbeth plans the murder and its framing, while Macbeth moves from hesitation to decision: “I am settled, and bend up / Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” He kills Duncan, then retreats with Lady Macbeth as knocking threatens to expose them; Macbeth is subsequently named sovereign and goes to Scone for his investiture.

As king, Macbeth turns against former allies. He commissions the murders of Banquo and Fleance, though Fleance escapes, and Banquo’s ghost appears at Macbeth’s banquet. Macbeth then seeks further predictions from the Weird Sisters and Hecate, while treating Banquo as an enemy and regarding Macduff, Malcolm, and Donalbain as enemies. After Macduff refuses his summons, Macbeth is warned to beware him but is assured that no man born of woman can harm him and that he cannot be vanquished until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane; he responds by ordering an attack on Macduff’s castle and the seizure of Fife.

At Great Dunsinane, Macbeth fortifies himself against the forces led by Malcolm, Siward, and Macduff, ordering Seyton to send out more horses and punish anyone who speaks of fear. His thanes abandon him, Seyton reports that Lady Macbeth has died, and Birnam Wood appears to move toward Dunsinane, weakening Macbeth’s confidence in the prophecy. He kills young Siward in combat, but Macduff reveals that he was delivered by caesarean birth, then kills Macbeth and presents his severed head.