Ross: The Messenger Who Survives Every Regime
First appears: Act 1, Scene 2
Ross is Shakespeare's consummate political survivor. He appears in Act 1, Scene 2 bearing good news for Duncan. By Act 3 he is at Macbeth's court. By Act 4 he is in England with Malcolm and Macduff. He is the play's messenger, the character who travels between every faction, carries every piece of terrible news, and emerges alive at the end.
His role is partly functional: someone has to deliver news of the battle in Act 1, of Macduff's family's murder in Act 4, of Lady Macbeth's death in Act 5. But Shakespeare gives him a character too: a man skilled at managing information, careful about what he reveals and to whom, perpetually on the right side of whatever power currently holds Scotland.
In the scene where he tells Macduff that his wife and children are dead (Act 4, Scene 3), his reluctance is specific and human. He has carried worse news more smoothly before. This one clearly costs him.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Alas, poor country! Almost afraid to know itself. It cannot be called our mother, but our grave.”
Ross — Act 4, Scene 3
Themes
Other Characters in Macbeth
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