Characters in Macbeth
- Macbeth + Lady Macbeth
- Banquo is Macbeth’s friend, Fleance is the son of Banquo
- MacDuff + Lady MacDuff
- King Duncan
Characters
- Macbeth
- Lady Macbeth
- Duncan
- Banquo
- Macduff
- The Witches
Macbeth
A Brave + Loyal General
A brave + loyal general exhibits hubris the great man overreaches his ambitions in the early scenes Shakespeare establishes Macbeth as a valued member of society, the saviour of his country . His bravery + soldiership are stressed by several speakers. He is ‘brave Macbeth’, ‘noble Macbeth’ and ‘Bellona’s bridegroom’. Even though these accounts recount his heroism there is also a darker side of Macbeth which is alluded to Barbaric ferocity about the descriptions of his achievements on the battlefield. The Macbeth that is admired carries a sword that smokes with bloody execution, he rips his enemy open hacks his way through the massed ranks of the opposing armies. Lady Macbeth his ambition by unlawful means he lacks the ruthless, evil touch she associates with successful men.
A Reluctant Criminal
- hesitates before killing Duncan
- approaching the dead with with horror
- wishes Duncan was alive after he kills him immediate regret
- We don’t observe him killing Duncan we see Macbeth appalled response response
- pity for murderer is more that pity for dead
- feeling has been morally blackmailed by Lady Macbeth his self condemnation and self disgust
- Macbeth seen as pityful victim of the crime he was unwilling to commit he is doomed to live life in shadow of crime
- Lost inner peace
- Focus = Macbeth victim = largely forgotten
- “Monster and a hellhound”
- He looses sympathy of audience as he descends into a tyrannical villain with his planned murder of Banquo
- They were once friends
- Now seen as cunning calculated and deceitful sharp moral decline
- Pity for Banquo overshadowed be Banquett scene and Macbeth’s response
- Murder of Lady Macduff and children shifts focus away from Macbeth and onto the actual crime
- This crime them causes Lady Macbeth to breakdown and the breakdown of their relationship - sleepwalking scene
- She acted as force pushing him past his moral line. He broke through it and is now a monster with no morality. She still has a small bit of morality and is appalled by the monster she created
- The doomed damned villain causes to accept himself as he is and dies a warriors death
- He realises he’s done bad things but he doesn’t give up because honour is so important agent
Macbeth - Fully Responsible Agent?
- 2 issues responsibility and motivation
- If we believe that Macbeth only killed Duncan because of the witches then he’s mot morally responsible
- Witches were the catalyst of everything that happened
- Soliloquy Act 1 Scene 7 Line 1-29 “if it were done when tis done”
- Macbeth victim because he knows his future
- cursed by knowledge ignorance is bliss
- Lady Macbeth disturbs his moral balance her brow beat of him
- She bullies him into this as a test of his manly hood and love for her
- He originally was hesitant and didn’t want to
- She doesn’t care about right and wrong cares about if they can get away with it because she persuaded him, so easily maybe his free will was already gone
- On surface level looks like Macbeth is ambitious and power hungry but his actions run counter to his feelings and inner thought
- Maniac in a trance
- taunts of wife torments of imagination
- He ends up killing for the sake of killing because he killed once
- Goes from centrality (decorated hero, nobility) to isolator
- Seen as brave by other is people, but is actually cowardice
Positives
- Courageous
- Heroic
- Ambitious
- Loving husband
- Patriotic
Negatives
- Volatile
- Fearful
- Weak
- Indecisive
- Isolated
- Easily manipulated
- Tyrannical
Lady Macbeth
- Very ambitious
- Can’t let profusely go urges Macbeth to kill Duncan
- Focuses all her ability on one thing, tunnel vision
- doesn’t care about consequences of her husbands actions on him
- contrast between their morality
- turn logic on its head to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan
- She supports Macbeth and gets him through after he kills Duncan and Banquo
- She keeps calm and collected after the event
- She breaks after murder of Lady Macduff and children
- He’s no longer under her control
- Lady Macbeth is cool, calm and collected after each murder
- She convinced Macbeth to kill the king (Duncan)
- Without her helping him after killing Duncan he would have got caught or confessed to his crime
- After the death of Banquo she helps Macbeth by covering for him at the ball and reassuring him that he’s not going insane
- Sleepwalking scene shows the collapse character and their relationship
- Stress becomes too much for her
- Blood on her hands and she can’t wash it off
- She descended into madness
- Even though shes a bad person there’s a line she won’t cross and when it’s crossed she breaks down completely and looses all sense of reality
- She warned Macbeth not to believe what he was seeing at Banquet scene to prevent him from going crazy but in the end she was the one who descented into madness
Banquo
- Brave
- Noble
- Loyal
- Honest
- Sceptical
- Patriotic
- Unfortunate
- Strong willed
- Cowardly
He is introduced as a comrade of Macbeth and of equal status, he is a war hero. He serves as a foil of Macbeth. They both hear prophecies from the witches, but he doesn’t act on the information he received like Macbeth. Banquo becomes suspicious of Macbeth following the murder of Duncan because he knows of the prophecy
Banquo meets his untimely death at the hands of a hitman because he knows about the prophecy and could pose a threat to Macbeth and his tyranny