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Banquo In Macbeth

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Macbeth Essay Banquo's significance as a character shapes the plot of the play, even after he leaves the world Macbeth resides in. In the tragedy of Macbeth, By William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth is told of his fate and his actions are then controlled by his knowledge of it. He kills the King and ascends to the throne, and becomes paranoid. Banquo plays an equally important role in Macbeth's decisions before he dies, as he does in the Lords’ conclusion that Macbeth has unfairly come to power after he dies. While Banquo still lives, Macbeth makes many decisions as the result of Banquo's existence in the play. Early in the play, Banquo encourages Macbeth to think nothing of the encounter with the witches, "to win us to our harm, The …show more content…

During the dinner with the lords, Macbeth hallucinates the ghost of Banquo and screams, "Thou canst not say I did it. Never shake Thy gory locks at me"(IIV.iv.55-56). Macbeth's mental state begins to falter as shown in this scene, demonstrating the power Banquo's character has on Macbeth even after he has passed. As a result of Macbeth's episode, the lords become suspicious of Macbeth. Macbeth becomes extremely paranoid after he kills Banquo, and his son escapes death. He goes to see the witches and demands, "answer me To what I ask you"(IV.i.62-62). The witches respond with insight and explain that MacDuff is a powerful threat to him. Based on this information, he decides, "The castle of Macduff I will surprise, Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls"(IV.ii.157-159), and he carries through with the action. The murder of innocent children and a woman is completely unnecessary, but because Macbeth sought out the wisdom of the witches due to his paranoia from the vision of Banquo's unliving character, it occurred. As a result, MacDuff seeks revenge for the murder of his family, and eventually murders Macbeth, and Banquo's name takes the throne, just as the witches have suggested. In summary, due to the lack of a positive influence, like Banquo while he lives, and to the mental stress and negative influence

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He hallucinates Banquo in the chair he was going to sit on. Macbeth starts to act crazy and Lady Macbeth tries to tell the other men in the room how he is acting is normal. After the dinner Macbeth hears that Macduff went to England to reunite with Malcolm, Duncan 's son, to try for him to own the throne. Macbeth decides to take action and send some men to murder Macduff 's family. When Macduff comes back he finds out of his family 's death and joins Malcolm and his army to defeat Macbeth.

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Macbeth was a noble man turned evil, who turned evil once he decided to take his fate in his own hands. Banquo and Macbeth bot learned of their fate from the three witches. Macbeth ordered for the family of Macduff to be murdered. Macduff did not want to accept his fate as it was. He decided to attempt to change his fate by doing his own free will.

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In search for power with the help of the witches’ foreshadowing predictions, Macbeth realizes that Banquo is a true threat to his pathway to power, so he concludes: “Banquo, thy soul’s flight/,if it find heaven, must find it out tonight” (3.1.146-147). Influenced by his aspiration for power, “Macbeth forgets about his friends and the value of their friendships and is willing to, and does kill them if it means his position as king isn’t secure, or won’t be secure” (Kesur). As a fellow companion of Macbeth’s, the readers view Banquo as a trustworthy friend but the ambition that Macbeth obtains from this situation reaches its height when he decides to kill his noble and trustworthy friend. To continue this determination for power, the witches use repetition to reassure Macbeth of the colossal amount power he obtains when they all say, “All hail Macbeth!

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A foil to Macbeth, Banquo is seen entering the banquet as a ghost, ”[Enter the Ghost of Banquo and sits in Macbeth’s place]” (Shakespeare 3.4.36). Inflicting an individual vs. supernatural and self conflict, Banquo’s apparition is apart of a dramatic irony. Macbeth is fed up with guilt as he realizes that his actions have consequences; Banquo’s presence indicates that he would have been in Macbeth’s position if it weren’t for Macbeth himself that killed him. Guilt has been introduced into Macbeth’s brain as a consequence of his murderous behavior by visions, therefore affecting his character by means of corruption and fueling an

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With their insight, he hopes to know more about his destiny and acquire even just a bit of reassurance that his future is safe. As he wished, Macbeth was given foresight into his undoing. When he learns about the rising suspicion toward his rule and the dissidence coming from Banquo's descendants, he decides to use and abuse this knowledge to slaughter his enemies, which means their families are first. Macbeth decides that the best way to dissuade the Macduffs from acting on anything is by ending their entire family line. Macbeth, now with the remorse for murder being drowned out by his mental instability, sends the murderers who ended Banquo on another mission to kill Macduff's wife and children.

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Moreover, Macbeth will continue to commit even more heinous crimes, as a result, Macbeth’s loses sight of humanity and sanity. Once he realizes that Macduff is a potential threat, he says “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; / Seize upon Fife, give to th' edge o' th' sword / His wife, his babes” (4.1.164-166). Macbeth has finally lost all sense of guilt and humanity. His decent into evil made him obsessed to maintain his throne to the extreme point of insanity. He decides to murder the wife and child of his potential threat, Macduff.

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But he can’t let Macduff live, so he sends murderers after the guy and some others who saw him kill the king. The murderers kill the 2nd in line but cannot kill Macduff so kill his wife and kid. So Macduff hates Macbeth and later fights and kills him. Macbeth is trying to bury his past.

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But he can’t let Macduff live, so he sends murderers after the guy and some others who saw him kill the king. The murderers kill the 2nd in line but cannot kill Macduff so kill his wife and kid. So Macduff hates Macbeth and later fights and kills him. Macbeth is trying to bury his past.

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To begin, Banquo is along with Macbeth when Macbeth’s prophecies. Banquo’s existence at that scene already became a threat to Macbeth because firstly, Banquo asks for his prophecies and secondly, Banquo knows about macbeth’s prophecies. Since Banquo is called to be the ‘father of a king’, Macbeth begins to fear in which he is fear of Banquo’s children taking over his power. When Macbeth is fearful of Banquo and says ‘to be thus is nothing./ But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep and his royalty of nature/...when first they put the name of king upon me/

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They mock him, taunting him about how far he has fallen. He responds in anger, wanting to hear more prophecies. He obviously feels more entitled now, and his ambition has thoroughly succeeded in corrupting him to the point of no return. He is now king; his friend (though, in his eyes as of late, his enemy,) Banquo, is dead and out of the way; and he is on a mission to kill any others who stand in his way and jeopardize his crown. The witches inform him that none of women born will kill him, but Macbeth still insists that he will kill not only Macduff, but his entire family and staff, just to be on the safe side of things.

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Banquo continues to be a foil of Macbeth, as even in his suspicious thoughts, his values remain important to him. His suspicion towards Macbeth and how he gains kingship does not weaken his loyalty to his friend. Macbeth’s solution is to murder those he suspects, but Banquo simply voices his opinion, allowing it to be known. He says, “Thou hast it now, king, Cawdor, Glamis, all, /… and I fear /

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In this, Banquo shows a lower level of seriousness and rather skeptical that Macbeth does not possess. Moreover, Banquo tells Macbeth to be careful of what the witches tell

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However, he then quickly begins to show the dark side of power. In the beginning when the witches prophesized to Macbeth and Banquo, they both had similar fortunes yet only Macbeth acted upon them. I believe Macbeth and Banquo are but two sides to a coin, Banquo is the path Macbeth didn’t take. We see how Lady Macbeth instigated a fire in Macbeth that led him to take action, while Banquo stayed dormant and didn’t act upon the prophecy even though he also thought deep about it. Lady Macbeth represents the society at the time and how they were hungry to see a bloodbath and how the pressure they put on lords and knights made them act rash.

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Unlike Macbeth, Banquo, from the beginning of this encounter, continues to doubt the witches, “I’th’name of truth are ye fantastical, or that indeed which outwardly ye show?” (1.3.51-52) Banquo didn’t believe what the witches were saying, he questions their intentions and accuses them of raising Macbeth’s hope. Throughout this whole encounter, Banquo continues to protect Macbeth while staying loyal. He never once acted on his prophecies, he simply disregarded what the witches were saying and remained the noble man he is. Even to his death, Banquo has not once acted without honour and

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