A Scottish general and the thane of Glamis who latter murders the King of Scotland, Duncan, and takes over the throne. As a general, Macbeth is brave and valiant. As a king, nevertheless, Macbeth is easily provoked and suspicious.  With his wife's plan, Macbeth successfully becomes the king, but he latter conducts series bloody murders to secure his throne, which is the direct cause for his failure. Macbeth is finally slain by Macduff, whose family is brutally killed by Macbeth's murders.
　

Macbeth's wife, who strongly encourages Macbeth to murder Duncan for seizing the throne. She seems to be stronger and more ambitious than her husband when she firstly appears in the play. However, she gradually suffers from her guilt of killing the formal king, and acts in madness. Near the end of the play, she commits suicide, and after hearing her death, Macbeth utters the famous soliloquy "Tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow..."
　

A Scottish nobleman hostile to Macbeth's kingship from the start. He eventually becomes a leader of the crusade to unseat Macbeth. The crusade's mission is to place the rightful king, Malcolm, on the throne, but Macduff also desires vengeance for Macbeth's murder of Macduff's wife and young son. He is also the only one who is able to kill Macbeth because of  his caesarian birth as the three witches has prophesied, "For none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth." (IV, i, 80-1)

The brave, noble general whose children, according to the witches' prophecy, will inherit the Scottish throne. Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action. In a sense, Banquo's character stands as a rebuke to Macbeth, since he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in which ambition need not lead to betrayal and murder.