In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character and his wife are overwhelmed with the ambition to become King and Queen of Scotland. Their only opportunity to rise to the throne is to murder King Duncan, the kindhearted and rightful king. Macbeth struggles with this and isn’t sure he wants to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth attacks his manhood and tries to convince him to move forward with the plan. She goes as far as to tell him:

I have given suck, and know
How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this.

Here, Lady Macbeth is saying that no matter how horrible the action is, if she had promised Macbeth she would do something, she would keep her promise. The way she describes nursing a baby and the barbaric act of killing that baby while he innocently nursed makes it seem like Lady Macbeth has indeed had a child. However, later on, after Macbeth goes through with the plan, killing Duncan and is appointed king, he becomes obsessed with the idea that “Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown / And put a barren scepter in my grip.” He seems to lament that he has no child to pass the throne to and that it will end up going to Banquo’s line. The actual connotations of the words chosen for these metaphors, “fruitless” and “barren,” are associated with infertility.

The rest of the play seems to confirm Macbeth has no children. In fact, near the end of the play when Macduff has learned that Macbeth has had his family slaughtered, he yells to Ross and Malcolm, “He has no children.” Macduff seems to believe Macbeth can only commit this heartless act because he doesn’t have children of his own.

In the end, it is possible that Lady Macbeth had one or more children from before marrying Macbeth or that the couple had a child together who did not survive to become an adult. It is clear, though, that the fact that there is no one for him to pass the throne to weighs on Macbeth and makes the act he commits seem meaningless since the power he has gained will not last.

Did the Macbeths have any children?

In the text of Macbeth, an argument can be made either for them having children, or for them not having children. It is one of those lovely un-provables that adds to the richness and mystery of the pieces. There is no 'yes' or 'no' answer to this question that is legitimate. A case can be made for either. There is only, 'possibly' or 'probably not.'

No the Macbeths do not have any children, and this becomes a significant factor in the play.  The witches predict that Macbeth will be king, but they then predict that Banquo's children will be king.  Because of this, they say that Banquo will not be as great as Macbeth, but much greater.  After Macbeth follows through with killing King Duncan, he realizes that he has defiled himself for no reason - Banquo will get all the benefit, because Macbeth's line will end with himself.  This realization leads Macbeth to murder and attempt to murder Banquo and his son Fleance.  His failure to kill Fleance allows the witches prophecies to come true - Banquo's descendants will take the thrown, and Macbeth's line ends.

It's also interesting to note that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's inability to have children affects their relationship negatively.  Macbeth blames Lady Macbeth for not producing children.  It is one of the factors that plays a part in the decline of their relationship throughout the play.