Complete Character Analysis
This comprehensive guide covers every major character in Macbeth, exploring their development, relationships, key quotations, and thematic significance.
What You'll Learn
- In-depth analysis of Macbeth's tragic fall
- Lady Macbeth's manipulation and descent into madness
- Banquo as Macbeth's foil
- The role of the Witches
- Minor characters and their significance
- 50+ key character quotations with detailed analysis
- Context: Jacobean attitudes to kingship, gender, and the supernatural
Macbeth: The Tragic Hero
Initial Presentation
Shakespeare introduces Macbeth as a heroic warrior: "brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name." The Captain's report establishes Macbeth's valor in battle, creating dramatic irony when we later see his moral corruption.
Key Quotations & Analysis
"Stars, hide your fires; / Let not light see my black and deep desires"
- Metaphor of darkness reveals Macbeth's awareness of his sinful ambition
- Imperative "hide" shows his shame—he knows regicide is wrong
- Adjectives "black" and "deep" emphasize the moral depravity of his thoughts
- Context: Divine Right of Kings made regicide not just murder but sacrilege
"I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition"
- Extended metaphor compares ambition to a horse
- "Vaulting" suggests excessive, overreaching desire (Aristotelian hamartia)
- Admission that ambition alone drives him (not moral justification)
"I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er"
- Metaphor: Macbeth sees himself literally wading through blood
- Point of no return—he's committed too many murders to stop
- "Tedious" reveals emotional numbness; killing has become routine
- Tragic descent complete: from reluctant murderer to casual tyrant
Character Development Arc
- Act 1: Brave warrior with dormant ambition
- Act 2: Reluctant murderer, immediately guilt-stricken
- Act 3: Tyrant, ordering Banquo's murder without Lady Macbeth
- Act 4: Paranoid dictator, massacring Macduff's family
- Act 5: Hollow shell, numb to life and death
Lady Macbeth: Manipulation and Madness
Initial Presentation
Lady Macbeth is introduced through her soliloquy reading Macbeth's letter, immediately revealing her ambition and manipulative nature.
Key Quotations & Analysis
"Unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty"
- Imperative "unsex" reveals she sees femininity as weakness
- Wants to reject gender to embrace violence
- Hyperbolic "crown to the toe" emphasizes complete transformation
- Context: Jacobean gender roles—women expected to be gentle, subservient
- Disturbing rejection of natural order (echoes the Witches' unnaturalness)
"Look like th' innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't"
- Biblical allusion to Garden of Eden
- Lady Macbeth as tempter (parallels Eve)
- Contrast between appearance and reality (key theme)
- Advises Macbeth to practice deception
"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
- Sleepwalking scene reveals psychological breakdown
- Obsessive focus on imagined bloodstain symbolizes inescapable guilt
- Imperatives show desperate attempt to control what she cannot
- Dramatic irony: earlier she said "A little water clears us of this deed"
- Retribution: the guilt she dismissed now destroys her
Character Development Arc
- Act 1: Ruthlessly ambitious, stronger than Macbeth
- Act 2: Successfully executes plan, takes control
- Act 3: Beginning to lose influence over Macbeth
- Act 5: Consumed by guilt, sleepwalking, then suicide
Feminist Reading
- Is Lady Macbeth a villain or a victim of patriarchal constraints?
- She must work through her husband to gain power
- Her "masculine" ambition is ultimately punished
- Shakespeare both challenges and reinforces gender norms
Banquo: The Foil
Banquo serves as Macbeth's moral opposite, highlighting Macbeth's corruption.
Key Quotations & Analysis
"Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, / As the weird women promised, and I fear / Thou played'st most foully for't"
- Banquo suspects Macbeth but doesn't act (complicit in silence?)
- Contrast: Banquo resists temptation, Macbeth succumbs
- "Fear" suggests Banquo's moral awareness
"Thou mayst revenge"
- Banquo's final words to Fleance
- His concern for his son's survival (family lineage)
- Ironic: Fleance does NOT revenge Banquo; Malcolm and Macduff do
The Witches: Agents of Fate or Chaos?
Are They Evil?
The witches are deliberately ambiguous:
- They predict but don't force Macbeth's actions
- Their prophecies are equivocal (misleading through double meanings)
- They represent disorder, challenging natural and political hierarchies
Key Quotations
"Fair is foul, and foul is fair"
- Paradox establishes theme of appearance vs reality
- Moral inversion: what's good appears evil and vice versa
"Lesser than Macbeth, and greater... Not so happy, yet much happier"
- Paradoxical prophecy to Banquo
- Foreshadows Banquo's death but his descendants' kingship
Malcolm & Macduff: Restoring Order
Both represent legitimate authority and moral righteousness.
Macduff's significance:
- "Not of woman born" - supernatural counterforce to Macbeth
- Personal motivation: revenge for family's murder
- Embodies loyalty and righteous anger
Malcolm's significance:
- Legitimate heir, restores divine order
- His "testing" of Macduff shows political wisdom
- Final speech promises healing: "What needful else / That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace, / We will perform"
Essay Planning
Sample Essay Question
"Macbeth is presented as a tragic hero who is more sinned against than sinning." To what extent do you agree?
Potential Arguments
Agree:
- Manipulated by Lady Macbeth
- Misled by the Witches' prophecies
- Victim of his own ambition (flaw, not evil)
Disagree:
- Makes conscious choice to murder Duncan
- Kills Banquo and Macduff's family independently
- Free will vs. fate: he chooses his path
What's Included in the Full Guide
- 30+ pages of detailed character analysis
- 50+ quotations with context and language analysis
- Character relationship maps
- Thematic connections for each character
- 5 practice essay questions with detailed plans
- Grade 8-9 model paragraphs
Purchase the complete guide for £11.99 to access all content, including downloadable PDFs, revision flashcards, and essay planning templates.
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