In Macbeth, the porter who appears after King Duncan’s murder is called the Porter.
He appears at the opening of Act 2, Scene 3, after Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have killed Duncan in the castle. Repeated knocking wakes the drunken gatekeeper, who jokes that he is guarding the gates of hell. The speech briefly introduces comic relief into one of the play’s darkest moments.
The Porter’s remarks about drinking, sexual misconduct, and “equivocation” also echo major themes in the tragedy. His imagined hell-gate reflects the moral corruption inside Macbeth’s castle, while his reference to an equivocator connects with the witches’ misleading prophecies and Macbeth’s habit of interpreting words to suit himself.
A common mix-up is assuming that the Porter has a personal name, but Shakespeare’s character lists identify him only by his occupation. He is also sometimes called a clown, and he appears only briefly before admitting Macduff and Lennox to the castle.