Plays / Macbeth

Macbeth: who’s in each scene

William Shakespeare · 1623

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Scenes

Speaking roles

Groups / ensemble

Scene × character grid

● speaks · ○ on stage, no lines. Weight compares each scene’s length to the play’s typical scene.

Scene	Weight	First Witch	Second Witch	Third Witch	Duncan	Malcolm	Donalbain	Lennox	Ross	Angus	Captain	Attendants and Servants	Macbeth	Banquo	Lady Macbeth	Messengers	Macduff	Fleance	Porter	Old Man	Lords and Thanes	Murderers	Hecate	A Lord	Apparitions	Show of Eight Kings	Lady Macduff	Son	English Doctor	Doctor	Gentlewoman	Menteith	Caithness	Soldiers	Seyton	Siward	Young Siward
Act 1 Scene 1An open Place	light	●	●	●
Act 1 Scene 2A Camp near Forres	normal				●	●	○	●	●	○	●	○
Act 1 Scene 3A heath	heavy	●	●	●					●	●			●	●
Act 1 Scene 4Forres. A Room in the Palace	normal				●	●	○	○	○	○		○	●	●
Act 1 Scene 5Inverness. A Room in Macbeth’s Castle	normal												●		●	●
Act 1 Scene 6The same. Before the Castle	light				●	○	○	○	○	○		○		●	●		○
Act 1 Scene 7The same. A Lobby in the Castle	fuller											○	●		●
Act 2 Scene 1Inverness. Court within the Castle	normal											○	●	●				●
Act 2 Scene 2The same	normal												●		●
Act 2 Scene 3The same	heavy					●	●	●	○				●	●	●		●		●
Act 2 Scene 4The same. Without the Castle	normal								●								●			●
Act 3 Scene 1Forres. A Room in the Palace	heavy							○	○			●	●	●	●						○	●
Act 3 Scene 2The same. Another Room in the Palace	normal											●	●		●
Act 3 Scene 3The same. A Park or Lawn, with a gate leading to the Palace	light													●				○				●
Act 3 Scene 4The same. A Room of state in the Palace	heavy							●	●			○	●	○	●						●	●
Act 3 Scene 5The heath	light	●	○	○																			●
Act 3 Scene 6Forres. A Room in the Palace	normal							●																●
Act 4 Scene 1A dark Cave. In the middle, a Cauldron Boiling	heavy	●	●	●				●					●	○									●		●	○
Act 4 Scene 2Fife. A Room in Macduff’s Castle	fuller								●							●						●					●	●
Act 4 Scene 3England. Before the King’s Palace	heavy					●			●								●												●
Act 5 Scene 1Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle	normal														●															●	●
Act 5 Scene 2The Country near Dunsinane	light							●		●																						●	●	○
Act 5 Scene 3Dunsinane. A Room in the Castle	normal											●	●																	●					●
Act 5 Scene 4Country near Dunsinane: a Wood in view	light					●		○	○	○							●															●	○	●		●	○
Act 5 Scene 5Dunsinane. Within the castle	normal												●			●																		○	●
Act 5 Scene 6The same. A Plain before the Castle	light					●											●																	○		●
Act 5 Scene 7The same. Another part of the Plain	light					●							●				●																			●	●
Act 5 Scene 8The same. Another part of the field	fuller					●			●				●				●				●													●		●

Cast size and doubling

29 speaking roles plus 7 groups.

Duncan never shares a scene with Siward, Seyton, the Doctor or the Porter.
The Captain, the Porter and the Old Man never share a scene with one another.
Lady Macduff never shares a scene with Lady Macbeth, the Gentlewoman or the Witches.
Donalbain never shares a scene with Fleance, Young Siward, Menteith or Caithness.
The English Doctor (Act 4 Scene 3) and the Doctor of Act 5 never share a scene and can be played by one actor.

Heaviest scenes

Work these early and often:

Act 4 Scene 3 — 4 speaking, about 278 lines
Act 1 Scene 3 — 7 speaking, about 169 lines
Act 2 Scene 3 — 8 speaking, about 159 lines

Characters

First Witch — One of the three witches
Second Witch — One of the three witches
Third Witch — One of the three witches
Duncan — King of Scotland
Malcolm — Duncan's elder son
Donalbain — Duncan's younger son
Lennox — Scottish nobleman
Ross — Scottish nobleman
Angus — Scottish nobleman
Captain — Wounded soldier reporting the battle
Attendants and Servants — Servants of the royal households
Macbeth — Scottish general, later king
Banquo — Scottish general
Lady Macbeth — Macbeth's wife
Messengers — Messengers
Macduff — Thane of Fife
Fleance — Banquo's son
Porter — Gatekeeper at Macbeth's castle
Old Man — Speaks with Ross
Lords and Thanes — Scottish nobles
Murderers — Murderers hired by Macbeth
Hecate — Goddess of witchcraft
A Lord — Speaks with Lennox
Apparitions — Three apparitions conjured by the witches
Show of Eight Kings — Silent procession of kings
Lady Macduff — Macduff's wife
Son — Macduff's young son
English Doctor — Doctor at the English court
Doctor — Scottish doctor attending Lady Macbeth
Gentlewoman — Attends Lady Macbeth
Menteith — Scottish nobleman
Caithness — Scottish nobleman
Soldiers — Soldiers of both armies
Seyton — Officer attending Macbeth
Siward — Earl of Northumberland, English general
Young Siward — Siward's son

Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #1533: modern-spelling text prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team (release 1998, revised 2025); no print source edition is named. Breakdown derived from this text. Public domain in the United States. Breakdown only — no text of the play is reproduced here.