Characters Flashcards
Duncan
- Kind of Scotland, an old, gracious, pious and gentle man who resembles Lady Macbeth’s father in his sleep.
- too trusting, betrayed twice by Thanes of Cawdor
- promises to improve the fortunes of Banquo and Macbeth before announcing Malcolm as his heir.
- He is stabbed to death in his sleep by Macbeth.
Malcolm
Duncan’s eldest son,
He is named Prince of Cumberland and heir to the throne
-flees to England, Macbeth frames him as the murderer.
- He becomes opposition to Macbeth, with the English king’s help amasses an army to recover his throne.
- To test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland, Malcolm pretends to be a thoroughly vile human being to him; he is reassured that Macduff works for his country and not simply out of hatred when Macduff turns from him.
- He conceives the idea of camouflaging his army’s advance with the trees of Birnam Forest. On his victory, he re-titles the thanes as earls, an English title rather than a Scottish one.
Donalbain
Donalbain is Duncan’s second son. After his father’s murder, he suggests to Malcolm that they quickly leave.
He flees to Ireland, arguing that by going to separate places he and his brother will be safer, doesn’t return.
Macbeth
Macbeth is Thane of Glamis.
keeping spies in the household of every nobleman.
He hides the murder plot from his Queen, signaling an end to the closeness of their relationship.
To explain his fit, he explains to his assembled noblemen that he is subject to an epileptic-type condition, but whether this is true or not is uncertain.
By this stage an insomniac, he has lost all hope of redemption, and is determined to do anything that he must to keep himself safe.
Hearing of Macduff’s flight, he resolves to now act on his first impulses, and he sends his men to sack Fife and murder all of Macduff’s family.
. He cares about his wife in her illness, though his concern for her state of mind may apply as much to his own. By the time Malcolm’s army begins its approach, he has lost all touch of the fear that afflicted him in the lead-up to his killing Duncan.
He alternates between wild rage and deep, nihilistic depression as his wife commits suicide and his enemies arrive at his gate. He is brought to doubt the witches’ promises by the moving forest of Birnam, and in his last moments convinced of their falseness when Macduff reveals the circumstances of his birth. He still pulls up his courage, however, and dies fighting.
Banquo
Banquo is a Scottish Thane, Macbeth’s co-general in the wars.
he reaffirms his loyalty to Duncan when Macbeth subtly tests it. He suspects Macbeth of Duncan’s murder, and his accession to king leaves Banquo in hope that his children may yet take the throne. On being attacked by three murderers, his thoughts are for his son Fleance’s safety. After his death, he reappears as a ghost and as an apparition.
Macduff
Macduff is the Thane of Fife. Commanded by Duncan to visit him early in the morning at Macbeth’s castle, he discovers the King’s body.
Though he accepts the explanation that Duncan’s attendants committed the murder at his sons’ instigation, he refuses to attend Macbeth’s coronation.
Having refused to attend a feast of Macbeth’s, he is cast into disgrace, and travels to England to beg King Edward to help Malcolm overthrow the usurper. His wife accuses him of lacking natural human feeling and of being a coward for having fled.
A noble and ethical idealist, he is horrified by Malcolm’s listing of his own vices, and finally must conclude that the young man is no more worthy of the throne than Macbeth. T
, he remains fond of his wife and children, and is devastated when he learns that they have been slaughtered on his account. This grief becomes his chief spur against Macbeth. He leads a part of Malcolm’s army, but at the battle of Dunsinane soon abandons them while on a single-minded quest to find and kill Macbeth himself.
Finding him, he wastes little time in dialogue, preferring to trust to his sword. He tears Macbeth’s last hope from him by revealing that he was the issue of a Caesarean birth, and threatens him with abject humiliation. In the end, he succeeds in beheading him.
Lennox
Lennox is a young Thane attending on Duncan.
He accompanies Macduff the morning of Duncan’s murder, and notes that he cannot remember as stormy a night as the preceding one. He joins Macbeth’s court, but is soon convinced of the usurper’s guilt, which he cautiously exposes to similarly-minded lords in ironical phrases. He still stays with Macbeth, however, bringing him the news of Macduff’s flight. He is one of the Thanes who deserts Macbeth once Malcolm invades, bringing reinforcements to Malcolm’s army, and is well-informed of who is present with Malcolm.
Angus
Angus is a Thane who accompanies Ross in bringing Duncan news of the victory over Norway, and later bringing Macbeth the announcement of his accession to the rank of Thane of Cawdor.
He is one of the four Thanes who desert Macbeth when Malcolm invades, bringing reinforcements to Malcolm’s army. He is less talkative than Ross.
Cathness
Cathness is one of the four Thanes who desert Macbeth when Malcolm invades, bringing reinforcements to Malcolm’s army.
He has the latest news of Macbeth’s preparations.
Siward, Earl of Northumberland
Siward, the Earl of Northumberland, is a veteran soldier’s of the English king’s and Malcolm’s uncle.
He is the leader of the English troops lent to Malcolm to retrieve his throne. On hearing of his son’s death, his only fear is that the young man may have been killed from behind. When told that that all the wounds were to the front, and that he therefore died fighting, Siward is quite reconciled to his death.
Young Siward
Young Siward is Siward’s son. During the battle at Macbeth’s castle, he comes across Macbeth and fights with him, but is killed.
Seyton
Seyton is Macbeth’s chief servant when his thanes are abandoning him.
The fact that his name rhymes with ‘Satan’ may be coincidental. He helps to arm Macbeth, and reports the Queen’s death to him.
English Doctor
An English Doctor is involved with gathering sufferers from the Evil to receive the English king’s touch. He informs Malcolm of the king’s presence.
Doctor of Physic
A Doctor of Physic is called in by Lady Macbeth’s waiting-gentlewoman to witness her mistress’s sleepwalking.
He is appalled at what he understands her unconscious words to mean, and all too aware of the danger of knowing them. He realizes that this is not a disease that a doctor can heal, and tells Macbeth as much. He has no trust that Macbeth will win, and wishes himself well away from Dunsinane.
Porter
A Porter at Macbeth’s castle got extremely drunk during the feast for Duncan.
He has a lively imagination and is willing to speak bawdily to those who are by far his social superiors.
