Macbett and Duncan's Feudal Bond

Macbett and Duncan's Feudal Bond is a relationship of sworn obedience that Duncan uses to direct military violence and reward service, but whose unequal exchanges gradually expose the limits of feudal loyalty. Macbett presents himself as faithful by nature and by oath; Duncan treats that fidelity as an instrument of rule, distributing the spoils of rebellion in ways that enrich Macbett and leave Banco aggrieved. The bond therefore changes from a public affirmation of hierarchy into a tense bargain over service, land, titles, and power.

Oath, Loyalty, and Public Performance

Macbett first defines his allegiance through the oath he has sworn to Duncan. When Glamiss and Candor praise his loyalty, their compliments conceal political maneuvering: Glamiss privately urges Candor to act natural and keep Macbett unsuspecting. Macbett answers that his oath explains why he should be faithful. He then praises Duncan’s generosity and concern for the people, presenting the sovereign as a ruler whose virtues make loyalty seem not merely obligatory but deserved. In another exchange, Macbett says he would fight to the death against anyone who spoke against Duncan. These declarations establish the bond in the language of duty, admiration, and personal commitment, even as the scene around them signals that such praise can also serve as political performance.

The relationship becomes more concrete when Duncan demands that captured rebels be killed. Macbett explains that he has taken a prisoner but has not executed him because he was waiting for Duncan’s orders. Duncan gives the command to behead the captive and presses Macbett for the status of Glamiss. Macbett’s response makes the hierarchy unmistakable: he acts as a military subordinate awaiting authorization, while Duncan claims the right to determine both punishment and the campaign’s next steps. The oath is thus not abstract allegiance; it is the mechanism through which Duncan’s commands become action.

Military Service and the Distribution of Spoils

Duncan’s treatment of captured Candor reveals the material terms and severe inequalities of the bond. Candor acknowledges that the victor dictates the outcome and says that, had he won, he would have rewarded both Macbett and Banco with dukedoms, honor, and wealth. Duncan answers by promising Macbett Candor’s barony and lands, as well as Candor’s wife and daughter if Macbett wants them. The offer turns military victory into a transfer of property, rank, and family relationships controlled by the sovereign. Macbett immediately reaffirms that he is faithful to Duncan, comparing his natural obedience to the fidelity of a dog or horse toward its master.

Duncan also promises Banco that, once Glamiss is captured and beheaded, Banco will inherit Glamiss’s barony and property. The promise places both soldiers within a system where service may be repaid by titles and conquered estates, but where those rewards remain Duncan’s to allocate. Macbett and Banco express gratitude, and Macbett says that Duncan’s bounty satisfies their natural greed. Their words make the exchange explicit: feudal service is joined to appetite for material gain, even while the men continue to present service itself as a reward.

The difference between Macbett’s and Banco’s fortunes soon strains that arrangement. An officer tells Banco that Duncan considers the matter settled: Glamiss’s title has already been given to Macbett, and Duncan cannot easily take it back. Banco insists that he risked his life defending Duncan and killed Duncan’s enemies, yet he has received no reward. He points out that Duncan kept Glamiss’s lands and gave Macbett the title. Macbett, by contrast, acknowledges that Duncan has showered him with benefits, though he qualifies the payment as no more than a partial or imperfect recompense for services he was duty-bound to perform. The contrast shows how Duncan can invoke obligation to secure service while selectively converting that service into privilege.

The Bond Under Pressure

The First Witch challenges Macbett’s account of his relationship with Duncan by describing him as the sovereign’s instrument. She points to the campaign against Glamiss and Candor as evidence that Duncan used Macbett to suppress rivals, then notes that Duncan took Glamiss’s lands and half of Candor’s. Macbett replies with a theory of shared possession: everything belongs to the king, but the king and all he has also belong to the people, with Duncan holding the property in trust. The First Witch counters that the ruler’s subordinates are left to bear the consequences. Her argument exposes the gap between Macbett’s language of collective ownership and the unequal distribution he and Banco have just described.

The Witch also tells Macbett that his ambition has been kindled and that his explanations conceal his actual intent. Macbett insists that he wants only to serve Duncan, but she asks him to become his own master rather than continue taking another man’s orders. When she warns that Duncan discards tools once they are no longer useful, Macbett resists becoming another Glamiss or Candor. He argues that he acted honorably by obeying his sovereign and calls obedience a law of heaven. The Witch’s reply separates obedience from honor: fighting his peers, she says, was not honorable, though their deaths may prove useful to him. The bond is now contested as both a moral obligation and a means by which Duncan has cleared the way for Macbett’s advancement.

Competing Claims and an Uncertain Future

Banco’s unpaid reward gives the tension a practical form. He argues that Duncan should grant him the promised title or lands, if not both, and protests that the sovereign cannot treat him this way after his service. Macbett says that he and Lady Duncan have already intervened for Banco, but that they will use more compelling arguments and, if necessary, stronger ones. The exchange suggests that appeals within Duncan’s court have failed and that Macbett is prepared to press the matter beyond ordinary persuasion; it does not establish what those stronger arguments will be. For Banco, meanwhile, the discrepancy between the promise and its fulfillment is a direct breach in the exchange that was supposed to bind military service to reward.

Macbett’s relation to Duncan therefore carries two possibilities at once. He continues to speak in the language of feudal duty and has benefited from the sovereign’s patronage, yet the Witch’s challenge has made visible the ambition that the bond can no longer contain. Duncan’s power to command, punish, and distribute remains real, but so does the resentment produced by his selective rewards. What began as an oath-backed hierarchy ends in a precarious balance: Macbett is still negotiating on Duncan’s behalf, while recognizing that service, property, and allegiance can all become instruments in a struggle over who will command whom.