November 22, 2012

Banquo from The Tragedy of Macbeth

Why is this picture here again?
Because it's awesome, of course!
When we say "Macbeth" we probably think of Macbeth himself or his wife or the witches. We don't usually remember Banquo. Who is he anyway? He even dies in the third act.

However, his role is crucial in the play. His name is first mentioned in the play in scene two of act one, and together with the Macbeth's name:
DUNCAN
Dismay’d not this
Our captains, Macbeth and Banquo?
And this makes us understand, that they are compared throughout the play. This is confirmed in the scene of predictions. See how the witches hail Macbeth:
FIRST WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!
And Banquo:
FIRST WITCH
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
SECOND WITCH
Not so happy, yet much happier.
THIRD WITCH
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
And it is Banquo who first warns Macbeth to beware the predictions of witches:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequence.
When Macbeth becomes king, he starts to fear Banquo. I think, that apart from Banquo suspecting Macbeth of "playing foul", there is an issue of fertility/infertility between them. Banquo is promised to have his sons on the throne, and his name will continue in the generations, while Macbeth will perish, and all his treacherous deeds have been for nothing.

Banquo is not only the opposite of Macbeth, staying faithful and not seduced by the promises of future. His death takes place in the very middle of the play (scene three of act three) and marks the "point of no return" for Macbeth. There still was hope for the new king if he hasn't continued to kill, but he does. And after Banquo killing is easier and easier for Macbeth.

So Banquo, a nobleman of Scotland, is Macbeth's doppelgänger, a symbolical character that helps the reader get some important ideas of the play

9 comments:

  1. ...and I'm more and more interested in reading Macbeth. Should I alter my tragedy in the list? Hmmm...

    Thanks Arenel for joining my Character Thursday! I'm looking forward to your next characters. Have fun... :)

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    1. Read it as a second play for some suiting month! =)
      Well, I'm usually too lazy to write something detailed about a character, but I've thought a lot about Banquo, so all that I had to do was just to put it down =)

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  2. I will certainly read Macbeth one day. This character makes me interested in the play. I always thought that Macbeth is very dark and gloomy, but it's good to see at least somebody stay true to what he should be. (And I love the text that you quote in the article, about the danger of the witches words.)

    Thanks for the excellent article.

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    1. Thanks =) Well, Banquo had some moment of doubt, but who hasn't? And there are a lot of faithful characters there, and they triumph =) What can be better? =)

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  3. I first read Macbeth when I was 12 and loved it. I still love it. I tried to watch the BBC production starring Patrick Stewart but every time I would sit down to watch it, someone would drop by unexpectedly or call after not hearing from them for weeks if not months. I finally gave up altogether. I still want to watch it but I think I'll have to really plan to do so--turn off the phone after telling everyone I'm contagiously sick and they should all stay away.

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    1. Never heard about this adaptation, so thanks for mentioning it - I'll check it out! And we'll see who'll be the first to watch it :-P

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  4. Oh, I like this, and I was just thinking that the witches gave that lying prophecy to Banquo because he was true, and they wanted Macbeth to murder him. And I love the "keep calm" image!

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    1. Actually they were not lying, I've read something that king James claimed to be a descendant of Banquo... So he actually WAS a father of a line of kings. But I'm not sure where I've seen this. Keep calm is my absolute favourite, yes =)

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    2. Oh,okay I didn't know that and I had forgot about Banquo's son that escaped when he was murdered...it just came back to me...I'm going to have to take better notes on each scene while reading these plays. :) Thanks!

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