Skip to the article
  • Stories
  • Play
  • Shakespeare, printed 1623

Macbeth family tree

This Macbeth family tree sets out the five families of the play by Shakespeare. Duncan and his sons, Macbeth and his wife, Banquo and Fleance, the Macduffs of Fife and the Siwards of Northumberland are drawn as one story chart that changes act by act.

The Macbeth family tree as a story chart

The chart is being opened in the editor.
Open in the editor

Go to
The Macbeth family tree as a story chart, with Duncan over Malcolm and Donalbain, Banquo over Fleance and the eight kings, Macbeth married to Lady Macbeth, Macduff with his wife and son, and Siward with his son.

Select a person on the chart, and the row about them opens from here.

The chart opens before the play, while Duncan is king. Move Story position under the chart to read Scotland at the end of each act.

The families of Macbeth, drawn by the editor as a story chart. A cross marks a death.

Families
5
Characters on the chart
14
Story points
6
Deaths in the play
7
Family I

Duncan, Malcolm and Donalbain

The Macbeth family tree begins with a king and his two sons. Duncan is King of Scotland, and Malcolm and Donalbain are his sons. No queen is named. Duncan calls Macbeth “valiant cousin”, so a line of kinship joins the two men.1

Duncan names Malcolm, his eldest, Prince of Cumberland and heir to the throne.3 After the murder Malcolm flees to England and Donalbain to Ireland.67

Family II

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Macbeth is Thane of Glamis, and Duncan makes him Thane of Cawdor.23 The couple has no child on the Macbeth family tree. Lady Macbeth says “I have given suck” when she urges the murder, but no child of hers is named, and Macduff says of Macbeth “He has no children”.412 Macbeth is crowned at Scone, and his wife dies at Dunsinane in Act V.714

Duncan’s sons lose the crown by running. Their flight puts on them “suspicion of the deed”, and Macbeth is named king at once.7 Yet his own branch of the Macbeth family tree has no heir. He complains that the witches placed on his head “a fruitless crown” and “a barren sceptre”, with “no son of mine succeeding”, and that he has murdered Duncan to make the seed of Banquo kings.8 Malcolm restores his father’s line at the end and makes his thanes and kinsmen earls, the first that Scotland ever named.16

Family III

Banquo, Fleance and the line of kings

Banquo is Macbeth’s fellow general, and the witches tell him “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”.2 Macbeth sends murderers after him, and a Third Murderer whom the play never names joins them. Banquo dies, and his son Fleance escapes.9 In Act IV the witches show Macbeth eight kings, and the ghost of Banquo points at them as his own.10

Macbeth and Banquo Meeting the Witches on the Heath by Théodore Chassériau. Two armoured riders on horseback stop before three wild-haired women who raise their arms in the wind.
Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches on the heath in Act I. Théodore Chassériau, 1855. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Families IV and V

Macduff of Fife and Siward of Northumberland

Macduff, Thane of Fife, will not go to Scone and later joins Malcolm in England.712 Macbeth’s murderers kill Lady Macduff and their son Young Macduff at Fife.11

Siward, Earl of Northumberland, leads the English army, and a Scottish lord calls him Malcolm’s uncle.13 Macbeth kills his son Young Siward in single fight. Macduff, who was “from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d”, then kills Macbeth, and Malcolm is hailed King of Scotland.1516

The play

The Macbeth family tree act by act

  1. Act I

    The witches and the heir

    Spoiler note. The prophecies are told.

    • Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor, and Lady Macbeth urges the murder.

    Sources24

  2. Act II

    The murder of the King

    Spoiler note. Duncan dies.

    • Macbeth stabs Duncan in his sleep, and the sons flee.

    Sources56

  3. Act III

    Banquo dies

    Spoiler note. Banquo dies.

    • Murderers kill Banquo, and Fleance escapes.

    Sources9

  4. Act IV

    The killing at Fife

    Spoiler note. The Macduffs die.

    • The witches show eight kings, and murderers kill Lady Macduff and her son.

    Sources1011

  5. Act V

    Dunsinane

    Spoiler note. The ending is told in full.

    • Lady Macbeth dies, Macduff kills Macbeth, and Malcolm is hailed king.

    Sources1416

History, apart from the play

The historical Macbeth beside the Macbeth family tree

This section is history, apart from the play. Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, son of Findláech of Moray, was King of Scotland from 1040 to 1057.1817 Duncan I was killed in battle near Elgin by the men of Moray led by Macbeth, probably on 14 August 1040. The murder of a sleeping guest is Shakespeare’s invention.1817

The real Macbeth married Gruoch, widow of Gille Coemgáin, and made her son Lulach his heir. Forces loyal to the future Malcolm III killed Macbeth in 1057, and Malcolm killed Lulach in 1058.18 Most accounts place Macbeth’s death at Lumphanan, but the Prophecy of Berchán has him die days later at Scone.18

Banquo has no record from his time. Hector Boece first names him and Fleance in his history of 1526 and 1527, and scholars treat both as inventions.19 The sources disagree on Holinshed, read by one as killing Duncan in battle and by the other as making Banquo an accomplice to the King’s murder.1719 James VI and I traced his descent from Banquo, and John Leslie printed a tree of that line in 1578.1920

An imagined portrait of Macbeth by Jacob de Wet. A bearded man with long brown hair in armour, framed in an oval, with the words Macbethus and 1040 painted below.
Macbeth as Jacob de Wet imagined him for Holyroodhouse about 1684. Jacob de Wet II, 1684 to 1686. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
How to read it

How to read this Macbeth family tree

A square is a man and a circle is a woman. A double line is a marriage, and a line down is a child. Dashed lines join Duncan and Macbeth as cousins and Siward to Malcolm as his uncle.

To build a Macbeth family tree of your own, open this chart in the editor or start from the story charts. The notation is set out in the genogram symbols.

The characters

Everyone on the Macbeth family tree

The people on the chart, in the order of its rows.
PortraitPersonIn the storyLifeOn the chart
Portrait of DuncanDuncanKing of ScotlandDies in Act IIMurdered in his sleep by his host.

Sources5

MMalcolmPrince of CumberlandActs I to VHe ends the play as king.

Sources316

DDonalbainSon of DuncanActs I to IIHe flees to Ireland.

Sources6

Portrait of MacbethMacbethThane, then kingDies in Act VKilled by Macduff.

Sources16

Portrait of Lady MacbethLady MacbethWife of MacbethDies in Act VShe urges the murder.

Sources414

BBanquoGeneralDies in Act IIIKilled by Macbeth’s murderers.

Sources9

FFleanceSon of BanquoActs II to IIIHe escapes the murderers.

Sources9

TMThird MurdererSent by MacbethAct IIINever named.

Sources9

EEight kingsA show of the witchesAct IVBanquo’s promised line.

Sources10

MMacduffThane of FifeActs II to VHe kills Macbeth.

Sources1216

LMLady MacduffWife of MacduffDies in Act IVKilled at Fife.

Sources11

YMYoung MacduffSon of MacduffDies in Act IVKilled at Fife.

Sources11

SSiwardEarl of NorthumberlandAct VMalcolm’s uncle.

Sources13

YSYoung SiwardSon of SiwardDies in Act VKilled by Macbeth.

Sources15

Asked often

Questions about the Macbeth family tree

Do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have children

No child of theirs appears in the play. Lady Macbeth says that she has given suck, and Macduff says of Macbeth “He has no children”.412

How is Banquo related to King James

James VI and I traced his descent from Banquo through Fleance, and the play shows that line as eight kings in Act IV.1019

Reference

People and sources

A page of its own lists the 20 numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the pictures and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.

Open the people and sources

Draw a family tree of your own.

The editor that drew this chart is free to try. Start from a blank page, a template or one of the story charts.

Open the editorAll story charts