Literary Heritage Text: Macbeth

Character Analysis

Macbeth Traits, relationships, motivations, fears &

development in the play
Traits:
distrustful
Act 2, Scene 1 Relationships:
- Macbeth seems distrustful of
Banquo
- Banquo’s knowledge of the witches’ prophecy makes him
both a potential ally and a potential threat to Macbeth’s
plotting
Motivations:
to murder the king
Fears:

Development in the play:

- We realize that if Macbeth succeeds in the murder of
Duncan, he will be driven to still more violence before his
crown is secure
- Shows the audience Macbeth´s troubled state of mind by
describing the hallucination of the bloodied dagger
leading him towards Duncan’s room.
Feelings:
Cowardness, guilt, fear, crazy because of the hallucinations,
Act 2, Scene 2 remorse, sadness
Relationships:
His wife, Lady Macbeth, tries to control Macbeth, however, they
both show their human sides during this scene

Motivations:
Macbeth appears not to care whether he is caught or not and
indulges in self-reproach

Fears:
Macbeth’s trepidation about the murder is echoed by several
portentous sounds and visions

Development in the play:

- The fact that the murder of Duncan occurs offstage is
significant because it would be very difficult, if not
impossible, for the audience to have a shred of sympathy
for Macbeth if they were to witness the actual act.
Literary Heritage Text: Macbeth

Traits:
Secretive, pretends to be angry, scheming, manipulative, in
Act 2, Scene 3 control.
Relationships:
Pretends not to know anything when talking to Lennox and
Macduff
Motivations:
He is motivated to hide what he has done, and instead blames the
bodyguards, and saying he couldn’t contain his anger so he
murdered the servants.
Fears:
Here he shows no fear of being found out to be the murderer, but
he is probably feeling scared.
Development in the play:
- Because the Porter is about to let people into Macbeth’s
home and discover that Duncan has been killed, it could
be argued that the Porter is the gate-keeper to Hell.
Traits:

Act 2, Scene 4 Relationships:

The most distrusting character is Macduff, he has been a fairly
unobtrusive character. Macduff asks Macbeth why he killed the
chamberlains, and later expresses his suspicion to Ross and the
old man
Motivations:

Fears:

Development in the play:

Here Shakespeare is using images of disturbance in nature to
reflect the huge crime that has been committed against Duncan,
highlighting that it is a crime so significant that it affects the
balance of nature