Glamiss’s drowning is an offstage death whose political consequences unfold in the Witches’ announcements: Duncan grants Glamiss’s title to Macbett but keeps the lands for the crown, disrupting Banco’s expectation of reward and turning a reported death into a test of loyalty, rivalry, and prophecy.

The Death Reported

The play does not show Glamiss drowning. The First Witch announces his death to Macbett and later repeats the news to Banco: “Glamiss is dead. Drowned. The torrent swept him and his horse away.” The blunt repetition establishes the manner of death, while the torrent’s carrying away both Glamiss and his horse gives the report a forceful, compressed finality. The event reaches the audience through the Witches’ speech rather than through a witnessed scene.

The announcement unsettles both men because Glamiss’s death does not simply leave a vacant title. Before hearing the news, Macbett objects that Glamiss is alive and recalls that Duncan had promised the title and lands to Banco. Banco, too, understands that the title had been expected to be his. The report therefore changes the situation from an anticipated transfer to a disputed settlement, even though the death itself occurs outside the visible action.

The Title and the Lands

The Witches describe Duncan as displeased with Banco for allowing Glamiss to escape, then predict that Duncan will exploit the circumstances: Macbett will receive the title, while the estates revert to the crown. In the later exchange, the Second Witch makes the allocation explicit: Duncan will give Macbett the title of Baron Glamiss and retain all the lands. The division matters. Macbett gains rank, but not the property that would have accompanied the full grant Banco expected; Duncan’s decision strengthens the crown’s control over the estates while elevating Macbett.

Macbett confirms that the prediction has become policy when he enters calling for Banco. A messenger from the Archduke has summoned him to court, and Duncan has told him Glamiss is dead and that he is to inherit the title, “but not his lands.” Thus the death’s immediate consequence is not merely succession: it rearranges the rewards among the ruler’s followers and creates a choice Macbett cannot treat as a simple honor.

Banco and Macbett’s Dilemma

Banco’s response reveals the personal cost of the transfer. He first questions how the Witches know what title was meant for him, then rejects their account of Duncan’s intentions. He insists that Duncan is loyal and keeps his promises, even as the Witches say Duncan is giving the title to Macbett. When they call Macbett his successful rival, the changed succession acquires an explicit personal dimension: Banco is not only denied a title but sees Macbett favored in his place.

Macbett, for his part, says he tried to persuade Duncan not to dispossess Banco. He recalls their friendship and Banco’s loyal service, but Duncan would not listen. Accepting the title may cost Macbett his comrade’s friendship; refusing it may incur the king’s displeasure. Macbett reasons that he obeys Duncan’s commands in war and therefore cannot easily reject a reward. His hesitation makes the political consequence of Glamiss’s death intimate: the settlement places loyalty to the sovereign against loyalty between comrades.

Prophecy and Plot Consequence

The death gives the Witches’ predictions a first apparent confirmation. Macbett says they are beginning to come true, while also wondering how they could know Duncan’s decision and what chain of cause and effect might lead from this title to his eventual elevation. The play presents Glamiss’s drowning as both a concrete political change and the opening link in a future the characters do not yet understand. Macbett leaves without speaking to Banco, preferring to wait despite wanting to explain himself; the succession dispute therefore remains unresolved between the two men even as Duncan’s award takes shape.