Duncan's conspirators

Duncan's conspirators are Macbett, Banco, and Lady Duncan, a coalition that moves from declaring a need for self-rule to plotting Duncan's overthrow and attacking him during a healing rite. Its defining tension is present from the start: the conspirators speak in the language of collective independence, yet Macbett proposes that he take the throne and assigns the others subordinate positions. Their alliance is at once political, intimate, and armed, and its oath becomes action when they confront Duncan in disguise.

Formation and Political Program

The conspirators begin by framing their opposition as a demand to run their own affairs. Macbett insists that Duncan must be driven out; Banco intensifies the proposal into a complete overthrow, and Macbett joins him in calling for Duncan's removal. The exchange establishes a shared objective, but it does not establish a shared vision of what should follow. Their language of collective rule gives way almost immediately to a contest over who will hold power.

Macbett proposes dividing the kingdom, taking the throne for himself, and making Banco his chamberlain. Banco describes that office as second-in-command, but Macbett corrects him: Banco would actually rank third, because Lady Duncan is also part of the conspiracy. The correction exposes the coalition's internal structure as Macbett imagines it. The plan is not simply a joint effort to replace Duncan; it already places Macbett at the top and distributes authority below him. Lady Duncan, meanwhile, is not an incidental supporter: Macbett calls her indispensable, making her presence essential to the project even as the proposed hierarchy remains his to announce.

Alliance and Oath

The political plot is bound to a personal alliance. Macbett tells Banco that he and Lady Duncan are engaged; Banco responds with congratulations and kisses Lady Duncan's hand. The scene thus joins the announcement of a future marriage to the practical business of conspiracy. Banco's gesture acknowledges the engagement, while the surrounding exchange makes clear that the three are also partners in a dangerous undertaking.

Lady Duncan gives the alliance its starkest pledge when she calls for an oath to the death. The three draw their daggers and cross them at arm's length, turning an agreement into a visible, shared weapon-sign. Lady Duncan then calls for them to swear to exterminate Duncan, and all three repeat the vow together. The synchronized response gives the conspiracy a collective voice, but it does not erase the unequal succession plan Macbett has just described. Its unity is real as an agreement to act against Duncan; the evidence does not show that the conspirators have resolved how power will be shared after his fall.

Their contempt is expressed in blunt insults: Macbett calls Duncan a goose, Banco a louse. The language reduces the ruler they plan to remove, while the dagger oath makes the threat materially immediate. Fanfares accompany the conspirators as they leave quickly, a theatrical exit that closes their declaration and leads into a scene whose opening gives Duncan real majesty. That juxtaposition places the conspirators' subversive plan beside the authority they intend to destroy.

From Plot to Attack

The later assault during Duncan's healing rite shows the conspiracy operating through disguise and coordinated violence. Two final patients approach in long capes with hoods over their faces; the officer overseeing the patients fails to notice one creeping up behind him. When the music abruptly stops, the monk throws back his hood or removes his mask, revealing Banco in disguise, and draws a long dagger. Duncan recognizes him. At the same moment, Lady Duncan casts off her disguise and stabs the officer in the back, while Macbett, disguised as the other beggar, also draws a dagger.

The three turn their accusation against Duncan, each calling him a murderer. This repeated charge accompanies a reversal in the action: those who had sworn to kill the ruler now confront him with weapons, while Duncan attempts to escape. He dodges Banco and faces Macbett, but Lady Duncan blocks his route with outstretched arms and a dagger in her hand. The staged positions make the earlier oath legible as a coordinated operation: Banco and Macbett threaten Duncan directly, while Lady Duncan closes off his escape and attacks the officer who might obstruct them.

Structure and Significance

Duncan's conspirators are defined by both their declared cause and the power arrangement embedded in their plan. The language of self-rule supplies a collective justification for resistance, but Macbett's proposal to become king reveals a personal claim at its center. Banco is offered a subordinate office, and Lady Duncan's indispensable role is recognized within a hierarchy Macbett himself sets out. The group's common purpose therefore coexists with an unresolved question of who will command the new order.

The play links this political tension to physical stage action rather than leaving the conspiracy at the level of discussion. Crossed daggers make the oath visible; disguises carry the conspirators into Duncan's healing rite; the sudden exposure of Banco and the simultaneous movements of Lady Duncan and Macbett turn their earlier words into an attack. The evidence establishes the assault and Duncan's blocked escape, but not the outcome of the confrontation. What it does establish is the change in the conspirators' role: they pass from planning Duncan's overthrow to confronting him together, with their coalition expressed in both a shared accusation and coordinated violence.