Use this page when you know the book but need the right person, force, or relationship to carry the argument.
Come here when you need to sort out who matters, what they want, and where they actually help your argument in Macbeth.
Contents
The play's central figure. He starts as a loyal, decorated soldier and ends as a tyrant who orders the murder of women and children. His arc is a straight line downward, and it moves fast. Every scene he appears in after Act 2 shows him more isolated and more desperate.
Macbeth's wife and the architect of Duncan's murder. She is cold and strategic in Act 1, calling on dark forces to remove her conscience. By Act 5, those forces have won. Her sleepwalking scenes are some of the most psychologically intense writing in the play.
They appear at key moments and deliver prophecies that set the plot in motion. They do not explain themselves or take sides. Their predictions are accurate but worded to mislead. Students should read every prophecy carefully because each one has a catch.
Macbeth's fellow general and friend. The witches also give him a prophecy: his descendants will be kings. He is suspicious of Macbeth after Duncan's murder but does not act on it. Macbeth has him killed anyway. His ghost comes back to haunt Macbeth at the banquet.
A Scottish nobleman who suspects Macbeth early and flees to England to join Malcolm. While he is gone, Macbeth has his family killed. Macduff's grief and rage drive the final act. He kills Macbeth in single combat and fulfills the last prophecy.
Duncan's older son and the rightful heir to the throne. He flees Scotland after his father's murder, which temporarily makes him look guilty. He spends most of the play in England building an army. He tests Macduff's loyalty before trusting him, which shows he is cautious and politically aware. He becomes king at the end.
The king Macbeth murders in Act 2. He is presented as a genuinely good ruler, which makes the murder worse. He trusts Macbeth completely and is killed while sleeping as a guest in Macbeth's own castle.
The ruler of the witches, who appears briefly to scold them for dealing with Macbeth without her permission. Some scholars think these scenes were added later by another writer. She does not change the plot significantly but reinforces that the supernatural world in this play has its own hierarchy.
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This guide is built from the original text to help you get oriented fast. It is designed for recall, paper planning, and getting unstuck, but it is still a paraphrased guide, not a substitute for the reading itself. Double-check anything important before you turn in formal work.