Lennox, a Scottish nobleman

[This is an annotated list of all appearances and all mentions of Lennox.]



John Rowe (left) as Lennox.

1983 BBC TV movie: Macbeth

"What a haste looks through his eyes! So should he look / That seems to speak things strange." (1.2.46-47), says Lennox about Ross, as Ross comes to tell the rest of the story of Macbeth's heroic victory over Scottish rebels and the King Norway. These are Lennox's only words in this scene.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




Lennox is present, but says nothing in Act 1, Scene 4. This is the scene which begins with Duncan asking "Is execution done on Cawdor?" (1.4.1) Lennox hears the King praise Macbeth and then name Malcolm heir to the throne.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




"Hoboys and torches. Enter King Duncan, Malcolm, Donalbain, Banquo, Lennox, Macduff, Ross, Angus, and Attendants " (1.6.1, s.d. ). Lennox is in King Duncan's entourage when the King arrives at Macbeth's castle and is greeted by Lady Macbeth.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




"Enter MACDUFF and LENNOX" (2.3.21, s.d. ). Very early in the morning, Macduff and Lennox enter Macbeth's castle. Their knock at the castle gate had been heard in the previous scene, so we know that they enter only a few minutes after Macbeth and his wife go to wash King Duncan's blood off their hands.

Macbeth appears and directs Macduff to the King's room. In the few moments that Macduff is out of sight, Lennox remarks that it's been a terrible night, that "Lamentings [were] heard i' the air; strange screams of death" (2.3.56). He ends by saying that "My young remembrance cannot parallel / A fellow to it" (2.3.62-63), so it seems that he may be a younger man.

When Macduff comes with the news of the King's murder, Lennox and Macbeth go to see for themselves. When they return, it's Lennox who answers when Malcolm asks who has done the murder: "Those of his chamber, as it seem'd, had done 't: / Their hands and faces were all badged with blood" (2.3.102). It's hard to tell if there's some shadow of doubt in Lennox's "as it seem'd." Next, Macbeth reveals that he killed the grooms. He must have done it right in front of Lennox, and we may wonder just what Lennox is thinking about that.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




After he becomes king, Macbeth gives a banquet for his nobles, among whom is Lennox. To show what a humble king he is, Macbeth is going to sit among his guests, but just as he is about to do so, his place is taken by The Ghost of Banquo. No one but Macbeth can see the ghost, so Lennox doesn't know what he's pointing at when he shows Macbeth a stool and says, "May't please your highness sit" (3.4.38).

Near the end of the scene, when Lady Macbeth is doing her best to get rid of all the guests as quickly as possible, Lennox is the only guest who gets a chance to say goodbye: "Good night; and better health / Attend his majesty!" (3.4.119-120).      [Detailed Scene Summary]




Sometime -- either during Macbeth's banquet or shortly thereafter -- a light dawned on Lennox. Even though he was at the scene when Macbeth killed King Duncan's grooms, Lennox has seemed to be a loyal follower of Macbeth. But now, speaking with "another Lord," Lennox ridicules Macbeth's version of everything that has happened to this point. Lennox says, "The gracious Duncan / Was pitied of Macbeth: marry, he was dead" (3.6.4). This bitter joke describes both Macbeth's facade -- that he was sorry for King Duncan -- and the truth about Macbeth, which was that he was sorry for King Duncan only after he killed him.

Lennox also learns that Macduff has gone to the English court to get aid in freeing Scotland from Macbeth's tyranny. Lennox wishes Macduff well, and hopes that Scotland may soon be rid of Macbeth.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




After Macbeth hears the prophecies of the apparitions, they vanish, and so do the Witches. Macbeth then calls for whoever is standing outside the door to come in, and in comes Lennox. It's not clear whether he has just arrived, or has been waiting for Macbeth all along. In either case, he is still pretending to be a loyal follower, even though he previously described Macbeth as a murderous tyrant. He asks Macbeth, "What's your grace's will?" 4.1.135), then tells him that Macduff has fled to England, and says nothing when Macbeth announces that he will put Macduff's wife and children to the edge of the sword.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




Lennox is among the Scottish forces that are marching to join Malcolm and the English army in Birnam wood before Macbeth's castle. Caithness asks if Donalbain is with Malcolm, and Lennox answers, "For certain, sir, he is not: I have a file / Of all the gentry: there is Siward's son, / And many unrough youths that even now / Protest their first of manhood" (5.2.9-11). Lennox's companions talk of Macbeth's desperate situation, and Caithness pledges "each drop of us" to cure Scotland's sickness. Lennox replies, "Or so much as it needs, / To dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds. / Make we our march towards Birnam" (5.2.29-31). To "dew the sovereign flower" is to make it grow, and the sovereign flower is Malcolm. Macbeth and his supporters are the weeds that will be drowned in the blood of these soldiers. Thus the scene ends.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




Drum and colours. Enter MALCOLM, SIWARD and YOUNG SIWARD, MACDUFF, MENTEITH, CAITHNESS, ANGUS, LENNOX, ROSS, and Soldiers, marching(5.4.1, s.d.). He says nothing, but Lennox is with the joint Scottish and English forces that enter Birnam wood before Macbeth's castle.      [Detailed Scene Summary]




Although he is not named in the stage directions, Lennox is probably among the thanes who are present at the end of the play, and who honor the victorious Malcolm by shouting "Hail, King of Scotland!" (5.8.60).      [Detailed Scene Summary]