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Banquo's Quest For Power In Macbeth

543 Words3 Pages

How far would you go to achieve power and control a domain? Would you go so far as to murder your king in your own castle? In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth the protagonist Macbeth undergoes a violent lust for power after three mysterious witches disclose a prophecy in which he will be made Thane of Cawdor and then eventually King of Scotland. Though he doesn’t believe it at first, after being made Thane of Cawdor Macbeth is convinced that the prophecy is true and becomes hungry for kingship. Macbeth does everything he can including spilling blood to gain and preserve his supremacy. Throughout Macbeth’s quest for power Shakespeare employs character foils and symbolism to create a recurring theme of the effect that motivation and desire for power on people. …show more content…

When his companion Banquo, also described as valiant as Macbeth, hears the Weird Sister’s prophecy alongside Macbeth, Banquo has a very different reaction. Banquo is skeptic about the witches’ foretelling. After Macbeth is crowned Thane of Cawdor he asks Banquo if he looks forward to seeing his sons on the throne, as foretold in the prophecy, to which Banquo states that evil sometimes tells half truths to “win us our harm” (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 121). Macbeth, easily motivated by the temptation of power, chooses to force the prophecy to come true; Macbeth murders King Duncan. Banquo doesn’t act upon the prospect of making the predicted events come faster. Banquo serves as a character foil to Macbeth by contrasting Macbeth’s blindness from his hunger for power with Banquo’s reason and morality. Because of this, Banquo could be considered as Macbeth’s

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