Does Fleance die in Macbeth?

This is a little bit of a mystery because in the play, Fleance escapes his father's murderers and then he is never heard from again.

In Act III scene I, Macbeth asks Banquo if his son Fleance is going with him, and then he orders the murderers to kill both Banquo and Fleance:

and with him--

To leave no rubs nor botches in the work--

Fleance his son, that keeps him company,

Whose absence is...

This is a little bit of a mystery because in the play, Fleance escapes his father's murderers and then he is never heard from again.

In Act III scene I, Macbeth asks Banquo if his son Fleance is going with him, and then he orders the murderers to kill both Banquo and Fleance:

and with him--

To leave no rubs nor botches in the work--

Fleance his son, that keeps him company,

Whose absence is no less material to me

Than is his father's, must embrace the fate

Of that dark hour. 

In Act III scene III, the murderers wait in a park for Banquo and Fleance, who soon approach with a torch. The murderers set upon Banquo, but he shouts to his son to flee, and Fleance escapes as his father dies:

BANQUO: O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!

Thou mayst revenge. O slave!

Dies. FLEANCE escapes

The murderers decide to go back and report Banquo's death to Macbeth.

The last mention of Fleance is made in Act III scene VI, when Lennox is talking to another lord. Lennox mentions the widespread belief that it is Fleance's fault his father is dead. But this is the last time Fleance is mentioned and so the audience must assume that Fleance escaped with his life and was never heard from again.

In Act IV, scene I, Macbeth is again talking with the witches, and he asks if Banquo's son will be the king, but the witches refuse to answer him. Instead, they show him an enigmatic vision of eight kings, the last with a glass in his hand, followed by the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth cannot figure out what this vision means. He assumes that it is an affirmation that Banquo's offspring will inherit the throne, because Banquo's ghost smiles at him: "Now, I see, 'tis true; / For the blood-bolter'd Banquo smiles upon me, / And points at them for his." Fleance is Banquo's son, so the witches seem to be saying that Fleance will become the king, which means that Fleance is still alive and will return to take the crown once Macbeth is dead.

You can read all these scenes in Macbeth with modern English translations and annotations to help you understand by .