Macbeth

Character List

Duncan, King of Scotland

A kindly and trusting older man, Duncan's unsuspecting nature leaves him open to
Macbeth's betrayal. Both before and after the regicide, it is Duncan's particularly
virtuous nature that enhances Macbeth's sense of guilt. The historic Duncan,
incidentally, was a young man when he was betrayed by his general Macbeth.
Malcolm and Donalbain, Duncan's sons
Although Malcolm and Donalbain seem to have inherited Duncan's fairness, both
display a cunning that far surpasses their father. After Duncan's death, they fear for
their lives rightly and both flee Scotland. Malcolm also tests Macduff's loyalty whilst
abroad by putting on dishonorable and corrupt airs. Such cunning, or shrewdness,
allows for their successful return to the crown of Scotland.
Macbeth, Thane of Glamis
Macbeth is a general in the king's army and originally the Thane of Glamis. As a
reward for his valiant fighting, described in the opening scene, Macbeth is also
named the Thane of Cawdor. Appropriately, the former Thane of Cawdor was a
traitor to the crown who appeared loyal. At heart, Macbeth does not deserve the
adjective "evil." To be sure, he commits regicide and eventually orders the death of
women and children alike. But unlike Iago of Othello or Edmund of King Lear,
Macbeth is not an explicitly malicious villain. His initial crime is a product of
opportunistic prophecies, a weakness of character, his "vaulting ambition," and
certainly the influence of Lady Macbeth. Thereafter, he is compelled to commit
further crimes in an attempt to cover his tracks and defy the three witches'
prophecy. After Duncan's death and the flight of Malcolm and Donalbain, Macbeth
reigns as king of Scotland until his death.
Lady Macbeth, Macbeth's wife
What Macbeth lacks in decisiveness, Lady Macbeth makes up for in bloodthirsty lust
for power and wealth. Swearing off her femininity at the beginning of the play, Lady
Macbeth manipulates her husband powerfully to follow through with his plans to kill
Duncan. After the act of regicide, it is Lady Macbeth who has the soundness of mind
to plant the incriminating evidence on Duncan's guards. And yet, her firmness
disintegrates gradually as the play progresses, leading to nightmares that haunt her
and ultimately drive her to suicide. In this regard, Lady Macbeth appears to switch
characters with Macbeth midway through the play. Although most famous for her
cruelty and lines such as "unsex me here," the decline of Lady Macbeth is also of
great interest and certainly a mysterious aspect of Macbeth.

Seyton
Macbeth's servant.
Three Murderers
Hired by Macbeth to kill Banquo, Fleance, Lady Macduff, and Macduff's son. Since
only two murderers are explicitly hired by Macbeth, commentators speculate on the
identity of the third murderer. A popular candidate is Macbeth himself.
A Porter, in Macbeth's service
Provides comic relief with his account of "hell-portering".
Banquo, Thane of Lochaber
A general in Duncan's army along with Macbeth, Banquo is also the subject of one
of the witches' prophesies. Unlike Macbeth, however, Banquo does not act to fulfill
these prophecies. He instead relies on his better judgement and morals. And true to
the witches' words, his son Fleance escapes Macbeth's murderers to become a
future king. Banquo is also important in that his ghost returns to haunt Macbeth,
thus instilling a strong sense of uneasiness among Macbeth's servants.
Fleance
Banquo's son. He alone escapes from the ambush set by Macbeth for him and his
father.
Macduff, Thane of Fife
A Scottish nobleman who questions Macbeth's tyrannical rule and refuses to
recognize him as king. Macduff follows Malcolm to England, where he demonstrates
his true faithfulness to Scotland. When the English army marches on Dunsinane, it
is Macduff who slays Macbeth in a duel. For even though Macbeth is said to be
invincible against any man born of a woman, Macduff was born by the equivalent of
a Caesarean section.
Lady Macduff, Macduff's wife
A kind and motherly foil for Lady Macbeth's lack of feminine sympathies, she is
killed along with her children after Macduff flees Scotland.
Macduff's son
The precociousness of Macduff's son makes his death ever the more lamentable.
Lennox
A Scottish noble who gradually questions Macbeth's tyrannical rule.
Ross
Macbeth's cousin, Ross is a Scottish noble who eventually turns on Macbeth,
choosing to side with Malcolm and the English forces.
Angus, Menteith, and Caithness
Scottish nobles who join with Malcolm and the English forces in opposing Macbeth.
Siward, Earl of Northumberland
As Duncan's brother, he leads the English army against Macbeth. His army
disguises itself with branches from Birnam Wood, thereby fulfilling the witches'
prophesy that Macbeth will fall only when "Birnam Wood remove to Dunsinane."
Siward is also a proud father, declaring his approval when his son dies bravely in
battle.
Young Siward
Siward's son, slain by Macbeth in combat.
Hecate, queen of the witches
Some critics believe that her character was added to the play by a later playwright.
Three Witches, The Weird Sisters
The witches foresee Macbeth's ascent to power and his defeat, as well as the
succession of Banquo's line. Apparently without any real motive, their speech is full
of paradox and equivocation. Although the witches do not have much character per
se, they are in many ways central to the plot and themes of the play (for
preliminary analysis, see that of Act 1 Scene 1).
Three Messengers, Three Servants, a Lord, a Soldier, a Captain in Duncan's
army, an Old Man, an English Doctor, a Scottish Doctor, A Scottish
Gentlewoman
Incidental characters.

Macbeth Summary
Act 1
The play takes place in Scotland. Duncan, the king of Scotland, is at war with the
king of Norway. As the play opens, he learns of Macbeth's bravery in a victorious
battle against Macdonald—a Scot who sided with the Norwegians. At the same time,
news arrives concerning the arrest of the treacherous Thane of Cawdor. Duncan
decides to give the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth.
As Macbeth and Banquo return home from battle, they meet three witches. The
witches predict that Macbeth will be thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland, and that
Banquo will be the father of kings. After the witches disappear, Macbeth and
Banquo meet two noblemenRoss and Angus, who announce Macbeth's new title as
thane of Cawdor. Upon hearing this, Macbeth begins to contemplate the murder of
Duncan in order to realize the witches' second prophecy.
Macbeth and Banquo meet with Duncan, who announces that he is going to pay
Macbeth a visit at his castle. Macbeth rides ahead to prepare his household.
Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth informing her of the
witches' prophesy and its subsequent realization. A servant appears to inform her
of Duncan's approach. Energized by the news, Lady Macbeth invokes supernatural
powers to strip her of feminine softness and thus prepare her for the murder of
Duncan. When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth tells him that she will plot Duncan's
murder.
When Duncan arrives at the castle, Lady Macbeth greets him alone. When Macbeth
fails to appear, Lady Macbeth finds him is in his room, contemplating the weighty
and evil decision to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth taunts him by telling him that he will
only be a man if he kills Duncan. She then tells him her plan for the murder, which
Macbeth accepts: they will kill him while his drunken bodyguards sleep, then plant
incriminating evidence on the bodyguards.

Act 2
Macbeth sees a vision of a bloody dagger floating before him, leading him to
Duncan's room. When he hears Lady Macbeth ring the bell to signal the completion
of her preparations, Macbeth sets out to complete his part in the murderous plan.
Lady Macbeth waits for Macbeth to finish the act of regicide. Macbeth enters, still
carrying the bloody daggers. Lady Macbeth again chastises him for his weak-
mindedness and plants the daggers on the bodyguards herself. While she does so,
Macbeth imagines that he hears a haunting voice saying that he shall sleep no
more. Lady Macbeth returns and assures Macbeth that "a little water clears us of
this deed" (II ii 65).
As the thanes Macduff and Lennox arrive, the porter pretends that he is guarding the
gate to hell. Immediately thereafter, Macduff discovers Duncan’s dead body.
Macbeth kills the two bodyguards, claiming that he was overcome with a fit of grief
and rage when he saw them with the bloody daggers. Duncan's sons Malcolm and
Donalbain, fearing their lives to be in danger, flee to England and Ireland. Their
flight brings them under suspicion of conspiring against Duncan. Macbeth is thus
crowned king of Scotland.
Act 3
In an attempt to thwart the witches' prophesy that Banquo will father kings,
Macbeth hires two murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. Lady Macbeth is left
uninformed of these plans. A third murderer joins the other two on the heath and
the three men kill Banquo. Fleance, however, manages to escape.
Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth as he sits down to a celebratory banquet,
sending him into a frenzy of terror. Lady Macbeth attempts to cover up for his odd
behavior but the banquet comes to a premature end as the thanes begin to
question Macbeth's sanity. Macbeth decides that he must revisit the witches to look
into the future once more.
Meanwhile, Macbeth's thanes begin to turn against him. Macduff meets Malcolm in
England to prepare an army to march on Scotland.
Act 4
The witches show Macbeth three apparitions. The first warns him against Macduff,
the second tells him to fear no man born of woman, and the third prophesizes that
he will fall only when Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane castle. Macbeth takes this
as a prophecy that he is infallible. When he asks the witches if their prophesy about
Banquo will come true, they show him a procession of eight kings, all of whom look
like Banquo.
Meanwhile in England, Malcolm tests Macduff's loyalty by pretending to confess to
multiple sins and malicious ambitions. When Macduff proves his loyalty to Scotland,
the two strategize for their offensive against Macbeth. Back in Scotland, Macbeth
has Macduff’s wife and children murdered.

Act 5
Lady Macbeth suffers from bouts of sleepwalking. To a doctor who observes her
symptoms, she unwittingly reveals her guilt as she pronounces that she cannot
wash her hands clean of bloodstains. Macbeth is too preoccupied with battle
preparations to pay much heed to her dreams and expresses anger when the doctor
says he cannot cure her. Just as the English army led by Malcolm, Macduff, Siward
approaches, Lady Macbeth’s cry of death is heard in the castle. When Macbeth
hears of her death, he comments that she should have died at a future date and
muses on the meaninglessness of life.
Taking the witches’ second prophecies in good faith, Macbeth still believes that he is
impregnable to the approaching army. But Malcolm has instructed each man in the
English army to cut a tree branch from Birnam Wood and hold it up to disguise the
army’s total numbers. As a result, Macbeth's servant reports that he has seen a
seemingly impossible sight: Birnam Wood seems to be moving toward the castle.
Macbeth is shaken but still engages the oncoming army.
In battle, Macbeth kills Young Siward, the English general's brave son. Macduff then
challenges Macbeth. As they fight, Macduff reveals that he was not "of woman
born" but was "untimely ripped" from his mother's womb (V x 13-16). Macbeth is
stunned but refuses to yield to Macduff. Macduff kills him and decapitates him. At
the end of the play, Malcolm is proclaimed the new king of Scotland.

Act 1
Act 1, Scene 1
On a heath in Scotland, three witches, the Weird Sisters, wait to meet Macbeth
amidst thunder and lightning. Their conversation is filled with paradox and
equivocation: they say that they will meet Macbeth "when the battle's lost and won"
and when "fair is foul and foul is fair" (10).

Act 1, Scene 2
The Scottish army is at war with the Norwegian army. Duncan, king of Scotland,
meets a captain returning from battle. The captain informs them of Macbeth and
Banquo's bravery in battle. He also describes Macbeth's attack on the castle of the
treacherous Macdonald, in which Macbeth triumphed and planted Macdonald’s head
on the battlements of the castle. The Thanes of Ross and Angus enter with the news
that the Thane of Cawdor has sided with Norway. Duncan decides to execute the
disloyal thane and give the title of Cawdor to Macbeth.

Act 1, Scene 3
The Weird Sisters meet on the heath and wait for Macbeth. He arrives with Banquo,
repeating the witches' paradoxical phrase by stating "So foul and fair a day I have
not seen" (36). The witches hail him as "Thane of Glamis" (his present title),
"Thane of Cawdor" (the title he will soon receive officially), and "king hereafter"
(46-48). Their greeting startles and seems to frighten Macbeth. When Banquo
questions the witches as to who they are, they greet him with the phrases "Lesser
than Macbeth and greater," "Not so happy, yet much happier," and a man who
"shall get kings, though [he] be none" (63-65).
When Macbeth questions them further, the witches vanish into thin air. Almost as
soon as they disappear, Ross and Angus appear with the news that the king has
granted Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth and Banquo step aside to
discuss this news; Banquo is of the opinion that the title of Thane of Cawdor might
"enkindle" Macbeth to seek the crown as well (119). Macbeth questions why such
happy news causes his "seated heart [to] knock at [his] ribs / Against the use of
nature," and his thoughts turn immediately and with terror to murdering the king in
order to fulfill the witches' second prophesy (135-36). When Ross and Angus notice
Macbeth's distraught state, Banquo dismisses it as Macbeth's unfamiliarity with his
new title.

Act 1, Scene 4
Duncan demands to know whether the former Thane of Cawdor has been executed.
His son Malcolm assures him that he has witnessed the former Thane’s becoming
death. While Duncan muses about the fact that he placed "absolute trust" in the
treacherous Thane, Macbeth enters. Duncan thanks Macbeth and Banquo for their
loyalty and bravery. He consequently announces his decision to make his son
Malcolm the heir to the throne of Scotland (something that would not have
happened automatically, since his position was elected and not inherited). Duncan
then states that he plans to visit Macbeth at his home in Inverness. Macbeth leaves
to prepare his home for the royal visit, pondering the stumbling block of Malcolm
that now hinders his ascension to the throne. The king follows with Banquo.

Act 1, Scene 5
At Inverness, Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth that describes his meeting
with the witches. She fears that his nature is not ruthless enough-- he's "too full o'
th' milk of human kindness” (15)—to murder Duncan and assure the completion of
the witches' prophesy. He has ambition enough, she claims, but lacks the gumption
to act on it. She then implores him to hurry home so that she can "pour [her]
spirits in [his] ear" (24)—in other words, goad him on to the murder he must
commit. When a messenger arrives with the news that Duncan is coming, Lady
Macbeth calls on the heavenly powers to "unsex me here" and fill her with cruelty,
taking from her all natural womanly compassion (39). When Macbeth arrives, she
greets him as Glamis and Cawdor and urges him to "look like the innocent flower, /
but be the serpent under’t" (63-64). She then says that she will make all the
preparations for the king's visit and subsequent murder.

Act 1, Scene 6
Duncan arrives at Inverness with Banquo and exchanges pleasantries with Lady
Macbeth. The king inquires after Macbeth's whereabouts and she offers to bring him
to where Macbeth awaits.

Act 1, Scene 7
Alone on stage, Macbeth agonizes over whether to kill Duncan, recognizing the act
of murdering the king as a terrible sin. He struggles in particular with the idea of
murdering a man—a relative, no less—who trusts and loves him. He would like the
king's murder to be over and regrets the fact that he possesses “vaulting ambition"
without the ruthlessness to ensure the attainment of his goals (27).
As Lady Macbeth enters, Macbeth tells her that he "will proceed no further in this
business" (31). But Lady Macbeth taunts him for his fears and ambivalence, telling
him he will only be a man when he carries out the murder. She states that she
herself would go so far as to take her own nursing baby and dash its brains if
necessary. She counsels him to "screw [his] courage to the sticking place" and
details the way they will murder the king (60). They will wait until he falls asleep,
she says, and thereafter intoxicate his bodyguards with drink. This will allow them
to murder Duncan and lay the blame on the two drunken bodyguards. Macbeth is
astonished by her cruelty but resigns to follow through with her plans.

Analysis
Fate, Prophecy, and Equivocation
Just as the Porter in Act 2 extemporizes about the sin of equivocation, the play
figures equivocation as one of its most important themes. Starting from the Weird
Sisters' first words that open the play, audiences quickly ascertain that things are
not what they seem. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word
"equivocation" has two different meanings—both of which are applicable to this
play. The first is:
“The using (a word) in more than one sense; ambiguity or uncertainty of meaning
in words; also . . . misapprehension arising from the ambiguity of terms.”

This definition as simple verbal ambiguity is the one that audiences are most
familiar with—and one that plays an important role in the play. The Porter’s speech
on equivocation in Act 2, however, refers to a more active type of equivocation. The
second definition in the OED: reads:
The use of words or expressions that are susceptible of a double signification, with
a view to mislead; esp. the expression of a virtual falsehood in the form of a
proposition which (in order to satisfy the speaker's conscience) is verbally true.

This kind of equivocation is similar to lying; it is intentionally designed to mislead

and confuse.
The intentional ambiguity of terms is what we see in the prophesies of the Weird
Sisters. Their speech is full of paradox and confusion, starting with their first
assertion that "fair is foul and foul is fair" (I i 10). The witches' prophesies are
intentionally ambiguous. The alliteration and rhymed couplets in which they speak
also contributes to the effect of instability and confusion in their words. For many
readers, more than one reading is required to grasp a sense of what the witches
mean. It is not surprising, therefore, that these "imperfect speakers" can easily
bedazzle and confuse Macbeth throughout the course of the play (I iii 68).
Just as their words are confusing, it is unclear as to whether the witches merely
predict or actually effect the future. Banquo fears, for example, that the witches'
words will "enkindle [Macbeth] unto the crown"—in other words, that they will
awaken in Macbeth an ambition that is already latent in him (I iii 119). His fears
seem well-founded: as soon as the witches mention the crown, Macbeth's thoughts
turn to murder. The witches’ power is thus one of prophecy, but
prophecy through suggestion. For Macbeth, the witches can be understood as
representing the final impetus that drive him to his pre-determined end. The
prophecy is in this sense self-fulfilling.
The oracular sisters are in fact connected etymologically to the Fates of Greek
mythology. The word "weird" derives from the Old English word "wyrd," meaning
"fate." And not all fate is self-fulfilling. In Banquo's case, in contrast to Macbeth’s,
the witches seem only to predict the future. For unlike Macbeth, Banquo does not
act on the witches' prediction that he will father kings—and yet the witches'
prophesy still comes true. The role of the weird sisters in the story, therefore, is
difficult to define or determine. Are they agents of fate or a motivating force? And
why do they suddenly disappear from the play in the third act?
The ambiguity of the Weird Sisters reflects a greater theme of doubling, mirrors,
and schism between inner and outer worlds that permeates the work as a whole.
Throughout the play, characters, scenes, and ideas are doubled. As Duncan muses
about the treachery of the Thane of Cawdor at the beginning of the play, for
example, Macbeth enters the scene:
KING DUNCAN: There's no art 
To find the mind's construction in the face. 
He was a gentleman on whom I built 
An absolute trust. 
Enter  MACBETH, BANQUP, ROSS,  and  ANGUS. 
To  MACBETH: O worthiest cousin, 
The sin of my ingratitude even now 
Was heavy on me! (I iv 11-16)
The dramatic irony of Duncan’s trust is realized only later in the play. Similarly, the
captain in Scene 2 makes a battle report that becomes in effect a prophecy:
For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name!— 
Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel 
Which smoked with bloody execution, 
Like valour’s minion 
Carved out his passage till he faced the slave, 
Which ne’er shook hands nor bade farewell to him 
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’chops, 
And fixed his head upon our battlements. (I i16-23)

The passage can be interpreted as follows: Macbeth “disdains fortune” by

disregarding the natural course of action and becomes king through a “bloody
execution” of Duncan; Macduff, who was born from a Caesarian section (his mother
being “unseamed. . . from the nave to th’chops”) and who “ne’er shook hands nor
bade farewell” decapitates Macbeth and hangs his head up in public.
As in all Shakespearean plays, mirroring among characters serves to heighten their
differences. Thus Macbeth, the young, valiant, cruel traitor/king has a foil in
Duncan, the old, venerable, peaceable, and trusting king. Lady Macbeth, who casts
off her femininity and claims to feel no qualms about killing her own children, is
doubled in Lady Macduff, who is a model of a good mother and wife. Banquo's
failure to act on the witches' prophesy is mirrored in Macbeth's drive to realize all
that the witches foresee.
Similarly, much of the play is also concerned with the relation between contrasting
inner and outer worlds. Beginning with the equivocal prophecies of the Weird
Sisters, appearances seldom align with reality. Lady Macbeth, for example, tells her
husband to "look like the innocent flower, / but be the serpent under’t" (63-64).
Macbeth appears to be a loyal Thane, but secretly plans revenge. Lady Macbeth
appears to be a gentle woman but vows to be "unsexed" and swears on committing
bloody deeds. Macbeth is also a play about the inner world of human psychology,
as will be illustrated in later acts through nightmares and guilt-ridden
hallucinations. Such contrast between "being" and "seeming" serves as another
illustration of equivocation.
The Macbeths and The Corruption of Nature
One of the most ambiguous aspects of the play is the character of Macbeth himself. Unlike other
Shakespearean villains like Iago or Richard III, Macbeth is not entirely committed to his evil actions.
When he swears to commit suicide, he must overcome an enormous resistance from his conscience.
At the same time, he sees as his own biggest flaw not a lack of moral values but rather a lack of
motivation to carry out his diabolical schemes. In this he resembles Hamlet, who soliloquizes
numerous times about his inaction. But unlike Hamlet, Macbeth does not have a good reason to kill,
nor is the man he kills evil—far from it. And finally, while Macbeth becomes increasingly devoted to
murderous actions, his soliloquies are so full of eloquent speech and pathos that it is not difficult to
sympathize with him. Thus at the heart of the play lies a tangle of uncertainty.
If Macbeth is indecisive, Lady Macbeth is just the opposite—a character with such a single vision and
drive for advancement that she brings about her own demise. And yet her very ruthlessness brings
about another form of ambiguity, for in swearing to help Macbeth realize the Weird Sisters' prophecy,
she must cast off her femininity. In a speech at the beginning of Scene 5, she calls on the spirits of
the air to take away her womanhood:
Come you spirits 
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, 
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full 
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, 
Stop up th'access and passage to remorse, 
That no compunctious visitings of nature 
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between 
Th'effect and it. (I v 38-45)

Lady Macbeth sees "remorse" as one of the names for feminine compassion—of which she must rid
herself. Thus she must be "unsexed." This does not mean, however, that in rejecting her femininity
she becomes manly. Instead, she becomes a woman devoid of the sexual characteristics and
sentimentality that make her a woman. She becomes entirely unnatural and inhuman. Like the
supernatural Weird Sisters with their beards, Lady Macbeth becomes something that does not fit into
the natural world.
The corruption of nature is a theme that surfaces and resurfaces in the same act. When Duncan greets
Macbeth, for example, he states that he has “begun to plant thee and will labor / to make thee full of
growing" (I iv 28-29). Following the metaphor of the future as lying in the “seeds of time,” Macbeth is
compared to a plant that Duncan will look after (I iii 56). By murdering Duncan, then, Macbeth
perverts nature by severing himself effectively from the very "root" that feeds him. For this reason,
perhaps, the thought of murdering Duncan causes Macbeth's heart to "knock at [his] ribs / Against the
use of nature" (I iii 135-36). Just as the Weird Sisters pervert the normal course of nature by telling
their prophecy, Macbeth upsets the course of nature by his regicide.
Reflecting the disruption of nature, the dialogue between Macbeth and Lady in the scene following the
murder becomes heavy, graceless, and almost syncopated. Lady Macbeth, for example, says:
What thou wouldst highly, 
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false 
And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'd'st have, great Glamis, 
That which cries "Thus thou must do," if thou have it, 
And that which rather thou dost fear to do, 
Than wishest should be undone. (I v 28-23).

The repetition of the phrase "thou wouldst," in all its permutations, confounds the flow of speech. The
speech is clotted with accents, tangling meter and scansion, and the alliteration is almost tongue-
twisting, slowing the rhythm of the words. Just as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have corrupted nature,
the language Shakespeare uses in these scenes disrupts the flow of his usually smoothly iambic
meter.
Yet another part of the theme of corruption of nature lies in the compression of time that occurs
throughout the act. When Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter, she states: Th[ese] letters have
transported me beyond / This ignorant present, and I feel now / The future in the instant" (I v 54-56).
By telling the future to Macbeth and Banquo, the Weird Sisters upset the natural course of time and
bring the future to the present. Thus when Macbeth vacillates over whether or not to kill Duncan, he
wants to leap into the future: "If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well / It were done quickly"
(I vii 1-2). He wants the murder to be over quickly—indeed so quickly that it is over before the
audience even registers it. Just as equivocation twists the meaning of words, Macbeth's murderous
desires twist the meaning of time.
Thus beginning with the Weird Sisters, equivocation in all its permutations is threaded throughout the
fabric of the first act. Over the course of the play, the breach between the worlds of reality and illusion
that is the core of equivocation grows ever wider.

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