Main Characters
Macbeth
Macbeth is one of the two Scottish Generals, the other being Banquo. In the beginning of the play he is calm and loyal, but as the play goes on, he turns into a blood thirsty monster. This is all the work of the evil witches, who tells Macbeth of their prophecy for him. The witches predict that he will be named Thane of Cawdor. Moments later King Duncan's messenger arrives and announces to Macbeth that he is now the 'Thane of Cawdor'. He then realizes that the witches are right. Through ambition and the will to fulfill the witches prophecy, he takes out all potential threats, starting from King Duncan, then Banquo, and after, Macduff's family. Throughout the play Macbeth is constantly constricted by his guilty conscience with images of blood constantly appearing. By the near end of the play Macbeth has transformed into such a monster he no longer reacts to a women's cry, not even his own wife's! "As life were in't. I have supped full with horrors. Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts Cannot once start me" (Macbeth Act 5 Scene 5). In the end he is killed by a furious Macduff.
List of Macbeth's Murder Victims
List of Macbeth's Murder Victims
- King Duncan (Act 2 Scene 1)
- Banquo (Act 3 Scene 3)
- Macduff's Family (Act 4 Scene 2)
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's partner in Crime and Wife. Lady Macbeth in the beginning is the puppet master of Macbeth, shaping him into a killer ("A man" says Lady Macbeth) by making him kill King Duncan. But as the play continues goes on, she loses control over her monster and mind. Along with her power, being lost by the minute she also starts hallucinating, and sleepwalking. "Out damn'd spot! out, I say!" (Lady Macbeth Act 5 Scene 1 Line 25). Lady Macbeth can't take anymore of her mentally diseased state, so she suicides in Act 5 Scene 5 right before Macbeth leaves his castle to fight against Macduff and his forces.
The Three witches
The devious Three Witches first appear to Macbeth and Banquo on a hill after they a major victory against their enemies. The Three Witches tell Macbeth of their prophecy, which gives him the ambition and thirst to seize the Scottish Throne. The Witches manipulate Macbeth, they are the puppet masters and Macbeth is the puppet. Macbeth tries to fulfill the prophecy as told by the witches in their first meeting and succeeds. Later he visits the Witches for guidance in Act 4 Scene 1, once again being manipulated by the witches with the second part of their prophecy.
What the witches intimidated Macbeth to do:
1st meeting (On a hill)
2nd meeting (Inside the Witches Cave)
What the witches intimidated Macbeth to do:
1st meeting (On a hill)
- Seize the Throne by killing King Duncan
- Eliminate Banquo and his son (Only Banquo was eliminated, his son fled)
2nd meeting (Inside the Witches Cave)
- Beware the Thane of Fife (Macduff)
- Fight Hard as no women born can harm Macbeth
- Don't care about the feelings about any other person (who cares if they hate, resent or conspire against you)
- Do not fear defeat until the Birnam Wood marches upon Dunsinane Castle