In the second scene, King Duncan is told of the success of the battle and how brave Banquo and Macbeth were. A captain arrives from the battle and tells him what had happened. He describes Macbeth as being brave, and describes him as being a great fighter, .
"But all's too weak, for brave Macbeth Disdaining Fortune, with his brandish"d steel, which smok"d with bloody execution." .
On line 34 of the same scene King Duncan describes him as a valiant cousin and a worthy gentleman.
"O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman" .
And on the last line of the scene he is described as "noble Macbeth" by the king again. Shakespeare uses other characters to talk about and present Macbeth. It is effective because it makes the audience believe that Macbeth is noble and worthy as they are hearing opinions about him from different people, who know him well.
Another way that Macbeth is presented to the audience is when he and Banquo meet the three witches. In this scene, Banquo and Macbeth are walking from the battle when they suddenly see the witches in the heath. The witches and the way they look surprise them. Shakespeare presents Macbeth to the audience as being less talkative than Banquo is. This might influence the audience in thinking that Macbeth is wise or at least wiser than Banquo. It might also make the audience think that Macbeth is less surprised to see the witches than Banquo which could mean he has dealt with similar species before. At the start Macbeth speaks short sentences: .
"Speak if you can: what are you?".
But when the witches tell him that he's going to be "Thane of Cawdor" and "be king hereafter", he starts talking more as the matter concerns him, "Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more- This can show the audience that Macbeth is the type of person that doesn't care or pay attention to a lot of things but only the things that concern him. He is self-centred.
Another way that Shakespeare uses to present Macbeth is by showing the audience Macbeth's reactions.
