Macbett—Macol

Macbett—Macol is a relationship formed by concealed parentage, threatened succession, and a fatal struggle for the throne. At first Macbett regards Macol only as a possible future rival within the dynastic conspiracy he imagines around Banco. The connection becomes unmistakable when Macol returns as Duncan’s adopted son and Banco’s biological son: the heir Macbett tried to erase has survived in another line, and ultimately kills him.

A Rivalry Before They Meet

The conflict begins with Macbett overhearing Banco’s private hopes. Banco intends to marry the Lady in Waiting, have children, gain influence as chamberlain, and curb Macbett’s power from behind the throne. He has also heard the witches’ prediction that he will father a line of rulers. Macbett interprets these ambitions and predictions as evidence of a plot against his own kingship, asking whether he killed Duncan only to place Banco’s descendants on the throne. His fear turns a possible future succession into an immediate threat.

Macbett’s response is to attack the line at its source. He calls Banco over and stabs him in the heart, then taunts him that the promised kings will die with him, nipped in the bud. At this point Macol is not named as the object of Macbett’s attack: the immediate target is Banco, and Macbett believes killing the father will end the danger. The later revelation of Banco’s paternity gives the murder an unintended consequence. Macbett has not eliminated the succession; he has made its surviving heir an adversary.

Macol’s Return and the Contest for the Crown

When Macol returns from Carthage, the private threat Macbett feared becomes a public challenge. Lady Duncan tells Macbett that Duncan’s son has mustered a large and powerful army and that the whole country is against the king. Macbett dismisses the warning and orders the guests out, insisting that he needs no one’s help. The contrast is sharp: he presents his rule as secure even as the country’s opposition gathers behind Macol.

The two men meet openly amid fanfares. Macol attacks Macbett in a sustained catalogue of insults, calling him a murderer and a moral imbecile, among other names. Macbett answers with ridicule of his own, reducing Macol to a foolish boy and an inexperienced upstart. Their exchange makes the succession struggle a personal confrontation, but neither man’s insults settle it. Macol has the army and a growing public following; Macbett has the crown and confidence in the witches’ assurances.

Parentage and Prophecy

Lady Duncan’s disclosure changes the meaning of the conflict. Macol is not her biological son: Duncan adopted him, while Banco was his father. Lady Duncan secretly left the court before Macol’s birth so that no one would know she was not pregnant, and the court consequently took Macol for the child of Duncan and Lady Duncan. The political heir Macbett confronts is therefore also the surviving son of the man Macbett murdered. The concealed family history joins the two lines that Macbett had treated as separate threats.

Macbett nevertheless trusts the prophecy that no man of woman born can harm him, and tells Macol that he cannot be hurt. Macol counters that Macbett has been deceived. The revelation of Macol’s birth exposes the vulnerability concealed within Macbett’s certainty: the words that seemed to guarantee his safety do not protect him from this challenger. The scene makes their encounter a contest not only between king and claimant, but between Macbett’s reliance on prophecy and Macol’s ability to expose its limits.

Defeat and Reversal

Macol’s final victory follows the prophecy of the marching forest. He directs Macbett to look behind him; Macbett turns, and the staged forest advances, represented by people carrying placards with trees or branches, or by the set itself moving forward. As Macbett reacts, Macol stabs him in the back. Macbett falls, and Macol orders that his body be taken away.

The ending reverses the positions established in their first direct encounter. Macbett had treated Macol as an unimpressive boy and declared himself invulnerable; Macol proves capable of defeating him, and the prophecy that Macbett thought remote arrives as visible stage action. The shouts after the killing hail Macol as sovereign and declare the tyrant dead. Their relationship thus closes with Macol not merely surviving the succession crisis but taking power through Macbett’s death, while the public celebration makes the private rivalry the means of a political transfer.