Character Overview
Macbeth
(Thane of Glamis, then Cawdor)
Macbeth is an intensely troubled character. He begins the play with a moral conscience that slowly disappears as he gains more power. The play begins with his return from a victorious war where he is a most trusted general in Queen Duncan's army, and ends as a murdering tyrant with an obsession for power. The seed of this obsession is planted by the Three Witches who tell him he will be king, and by his wife who convinces him to kill the Queen. He initially struggles with the thought of killing Queen Duncan, and is deeply upset by the act, but ultimately is given his reward when he is granted power. He experiences feelings of guilt, but slowly these feelings fade as his power grows.
It is Macbeth's 'vaulting ambition' that drives the action of this play; everything seems as a consequence of is decision to act upon the prophecies imparted by the Witches. He is at first a hero, and then a villain in this play; his actions have prevented him from being a heroic figure, yet his moral sensitivity sets him apart from other villains in dramatic literature. Villain or not, his actions have upset the natural order of the kingdom and until the order is restored, he must be held responsible. His journey from heroic warrior to a murder is perceived in his dragon-like representation used in our production. His dragon features represent the cold, reptilian nature of this powerful mythological creature which paradoxically breathes fire. Macbeth's rage against his guilt and lust for power grows and becomes more monstrous throughout the play.
Discussion
What makes a person a villain? Compare Macbeth to other villains in Shakespeare's plays: Edmund, Goneril or Regan (King Lear), Titus (Titus Andronicus), Brutus (Julius Ceasar), Claudius (Hamlet), Petruchio (Taming of the Shrew) and many more.
Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is often seen as the villain, because she convinces her husband to kill Queen Duncan; what he lacks in indeciveness, she makes up for in raw confrontation of the crime. She's frustrated by her lack of power as a woman, and uses this idea of power in sex when she tells her husband the ‘manly' thing to do would be to commit the murder.
Take a look at the following sections of text from Act I; she is clear that she feels as though she has more masculine will and energy to commit murder than her General husband.
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more than the man.
(Act I, Scene VII)
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
(Act I, Scene V)
Lady Macbeth wishes she were not a woman so she could kill Duncan herself, and uses this argument manipulates her husband. She is a frighteningly manipulative, ambitious and powerful character whose guilt eventually gets the better of her, as she experiences her downfall into madness. As Macbeth grows more cold and unfeeling, she begins to feel guilt about her part in the murder and in a fit of madness.
Activity
Notice that the journey of these two major characters differs. In the beginning Macbeth has feelings of guilt, which disappear and change into a lust and ambition for power. Lady Macbeth uses her initial lust and ambition for power to manipulate her husband, and then develops feelings of guilt. Use the following activity to have your students experience the development and change of the two characters.
Two students start talking or arguing. Have one imitate the how they think Lady Macbeth would express herself through movement, and the other doing the same for Macbeth. Each has their own team of ‘followers' who begin to imitate or create the movement of their respective master. After a few minutes, the two masters initiate their metamorphosis into each other: each master imitates the other, so that each follower will end up imitating the other side.
Did it feel as though the person being followed was the most powerful? Or was it the person they were imitating? Why?
Repeat the activity with the student expressing either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth as the most dominant Leader. If Lady Macbeth has the strongest actions and movements, how does this affect the student trying to express and imitate Macbeth and vice versa? (This activity was taken from Games for Actors and Non-Actors by Augusto Boal).
The Witches
Who are these three weird sisters that speak in rhyme and seem to foretell the future; they are central to the play as they begin Macbeth's tragic journey with the prophecy. But the prophecy is full of paradoxes that are interpreted by Macbeth, and ignored by Banquo. Are they real or imaginary? Men or Women? The old English translation for Wyrd (weird) is 'fate', so the sisters represent the fate of the play (Cohen et al. 2560), although it is Macbeth's actions that make manifest the prophecies.
In USQ's production, they are Witches that are born of the earth, land and sea. A magnificent aquatic creature, a clawed feathered being, and a man labelled by our production team as 'Stick man'. When these three witches unite there seems to be another force baiting Macbeth's greed for power. They are onstage for a great deal of production, and their presence is definitely a strong one.
Queen Duncan
Queen Duncan's presence literally fills the entire stage in this production to represent the overarching power of the monarch. She is seen as the mother of all things good and pure, and represents life and beauty. This character was originally a King, but was changed in this production for both casting and interpretive purposes. She comes across as somewhat of a Mother Nature figure which is why her slaughter is such a devastating act. It's this evil deed done by Macbeth that disrupts the order of the entire kingdom, and sends everyone into a spectacular frenzy.
Banquo
(Thane of Lochaber)
Banquo is a warrior of the earth who is killed early on in the play, and comes back as a ghost to haunt Macbeth. He is with Macbeth when they first meet the three Witches, and they reveal that Banquo will father a line of Kings. Banquo instantly becomes a target for Macbeth's jealousy; consequently his ghost may not be a sprite at all, but a guilty figment of Macbeth's imagination. Banquo is also a representation of the path that Macbeth chose not to take, that is, the path of goodness and virtue. Of course, when Malcolm supposedly inherits the throne by the end of the play, it is Fleance (Banquo's son) whom we wonder about: will he somehow become the heir to that throne and will it also be through devious means?
Macduff
The wolverine-like hero who slays the tyrant Macbeth in our production. He is the first to suspect the Macbeth as having a part in Queen Duncan's murder, and launches an attack on the Kingdom. Macbeth begins to be wary of him when the witches tell him to "beware Macduff", so Macbeth panics and has Macduff's entire family slaughtered. Macbeth's arrogance won't let him fully believe Macduff can really harm him though, because the Witches have told him he can't be harmed by anyone of "not of a woman born", which to Macbeth means anyone alive; this only increases his feelings of invincibility.
The Porter
The porter is the gatekeeper to Macbeth's castle, and is used as comic relief. This was a very popular tool used in Shakespeare's plays to relieve the tension. She appears just after the slaughter of Queen Duncan, and has just come from a night of drinking. She is an eccentric creature whose costume is filled with bits and pieces of trinkets she would have collected over her many years of work where she describes "hell-portering"; an ironic aside to the previous action of Duncan's murder.
Hecate
Queen and ruler of the witches, Hecate is a very powerful supernatural force, and her power and presence is magnified in this production as her apparition is shown on a large Audio visual screen. This helps to enhance the ethereal quality of the character and her presence in the play.
Malcolm
Daughter to Queen Duncan, Malcolm is the rightful heir to the throne. She too represents the same beauty and life as her mother, though she doesn't yet carry as much power and glory in her. This role was also originally a male role.
Donalbain
Donalbain is another warrior, who is also the son of Duncan. When he learns of Queen Duncan's murder he flees to Ireland in fear that he will be targeted next.
Ross
Ross is not a warrior, nor a mythical creature, but a soldier and a Thane who acts as a messenger throughout most of the play.
Vampires
"Witches and Dragons and Vampires, Oh my!", to quote Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz; this show features creatures that are not present in the original Shakespearean text. The Director has taken various roles of Lords, Ladies and Murderers and has made them into mythical creatures who appear on stage throughout the play.