Seyton

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



Noel Davis as Seyton

Source: aveleyman.com


After a very frightened servant delivers the news that the English army is approaching, Macbeth angrily sends him away and calls out: Seyton!--I am sick at heart, / When I behold--Seyton, I say!" (5.3.19-20). When Seyton appears, Macbeth tells him to bring his (Macbeth's) armor. Macbeth also orders Seyton to "Send out more horses; skirr [scour] the country round; / Hang those that talk of fear" (5.3.35-36). Thus it appears that Seyton is a combination of butler and military officer. Seyton doesn't have much character, but his name sounds like "Satan." [Scene Summary]




As the forces under Malcolm approach, Macbeth makes a speech about how safe he will be behind the castle walls. The speech is interrupted by a terrible noise. Macbeth asks what the noise is, and Seyton answers, "It is the cry of women, my good lord" (5.5.8). Seyton's only other line in the scene is "The queen, my lord, is dead" (5.5.16). [Scene Summary]




In the last speech of the play, after Macbeth's head has been brought in on a pole, Malcolm promises to find and punish the "cruel ministers / Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen" (5.8.69-70). The "ministers" are those who administered Macbeth's punishments to his enemies. Presumably, Seyton is among them. [Scene Summary]