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Banquo Betrayal In Macbeth

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Flawlessly Tragic
How far would one go to attain certain, desired, goals? In 11th century Scotland, people went as far as murder to become king, and the prophecy from 3 witches lead Macbeth to do the same, but he didn't stop there. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the tragic flaw of betrayal to suggest how Macbeth’s distrust of others lead to his betrayal of friends and his eventual downfall.
Macbeth betrayed King Duncan to follow his prophecy of becoming king, and distrust began to grew between him and other characters in the tragedy. At the beginning of Act 3, Banquo has a soliloquy that starts with “Thou hast it now-King, Glamis, Cawdor, all as the weird women promised, and I fear thou hast played’st most foully for’t” (Shakespeare 3.1.1-3). Banquo has doubts about his …show more content…

After the endless bouts of tyranny, not excluding the murders throughout this short play, Macbeth’s actions are met with a consequence: an army of 10,000 was coming to overthrow him, an army that includes rebels and the English forces, along with his own friends and some of his soldiers, and his final prophecy is coming to happen. While preparing to face the army, Macbeth boasts that he would’ve personally met them to fight if “Were they not forced with those that should be ours”(Shakespeare 5.5.5). As a result of his conduct, his own soldiers ditched him in favor of trying to remove Macbeth from the throne that he’s worked so hard and inhumanly to keep. His betrayals lead his own friends and army to betray him. One might refer to it as karma, what goes around, comes around.
Throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth betrays numerous people due to his distrust that they might threaten his power. This tragic flaw showed how his distrust lead to betrayal and his downfall. While there may be certain shortcuts to get where one wishes to be, everything comes with a price at the end of the day. One might be lead to believe that foul was actually

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