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Duncan And Banquo's Death In Macbeth

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Murder in Macbeth is written in a peculiar way. Many times Shakespeare uses rhyming and themes to create imagery for the characters in the play. The murders that are going to be analyzed with rhyming schemes is when Macbeth is plotting both King Duncan’s murder and his closest friend Banquo. As Macbeth slowly regresses into madness from his bloodlust and paranoia, he foresees their death. The descriptive writing describing their doom is similar in meaning and rhyming but different in wording and subjects.
As Macbeth is plotting to become king, the main obstacles in his way is King Duncan and Banquo. From here the language Macbeth uses is very peculiar, the way he decides to become king is to kill him and he describes it like this “… The bell invites me. / Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to Heaven, or to Hell”(2.1 64-5). Comparing that to Banquo’s death Macbeth says “… Banquo, thy soul’s flight, / If it find Heaven, must find it out tonight”(3.1 141-142). There is a difference in showing their death. Macbeth stating “The bell invites me”(2.1 64-5) means Macbeth himself will do the deed comparing that to Banquo’s “soul’s flight”(3.1 141-142) based on that alone suggests that Macbeth will not kill Banquo himself. Both mention the word “Heaven”(3.1 141-142)(2.1 64-5) but only in Duncan’s murder does Macbeth mention “Hell”(2.1 64-5) suggesting that to Macbeth Banquo is noble and good in the eyes of god while Duncan has done both good and bad things. Another small difference is that each show a different …show more content…

In the two passages, each had contained rhymes and the same meaning but, each of them had a separate context. King Duncan’s murder, Macbeth described it as a large commotion whereas banquo’s murder would be quick and maybe not as well known. These context clues show what the writer intends and wants to

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With Macbeth being a general in the Scottish military, he had major influences on people and their daily lives. After the murder of King Duncan, Banquo’s suspicion of who committed the murders arose around a single suspect, Macbeth. Knowing that Banquo most likely knew the truth that Macbeth killed King Duncan, Macbeth went back to his evil ways with ease. Through his attendant, Macbeth summons three murderers. Shakespeare introduces the murders with stage direction “[Re-enter Attendant, with two Murderers]” (Shakespeare, 363), in which Macbeth he uses Banquo as bait in order to gain their graces and loyalty “That it was he in the times past which held you so under fortune, which you thought had been our innocent self: this I made good to you in our last conference, pass'd in probation with you, how you were borne in hand, how cross'd, the instruments, who wrought with them, and all things else that might, so half a soul and to a notion crazed, Say 'Thus did Banquo.'”

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Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature” (Act 3. Scene1. Lines 47-49. Page44). To Macbeth, becoming king is worthless unless his position as king is safe. He fears that Banquo’s murder will be revenged by his own murder, and it may reveal the hidden knowledge of his guilt.

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After the murder of Banquo, Macbeth confronts the murderer at the door and says, “there’s blood upon thy face” (3.4.12). The murder tells Macbeth that Banquo is dead. After Macbeth was haunted by Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth says, “blood will have blood” (3.4.122). Macbeth believes he will be caught for his murder of Banquo. When Lennox discovers that Macbeth is abusing his power as king, Lennox meets with a Scottish Lord that wants to kill Macbeth.

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After being told that he “shalt be king hereafter”(1.3.53), Macbeth plans to murder Duncan, his friend and a Loyal king. He not only betrays his king but he also betrays Scotland. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth betrayed duncan by inviting him to their house as their king only to be murdered by his hosts. When Macbeth hears Banquo’s fate “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.”(1.3.70) he gets scared that Banquo will become a threat and therefore decides that his best friend and his innocent son shall be murdered.

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(2.1.4-5). Banquo, although experiencing the same things as Macbeth and generally possessing the same characteristics of Macbeth has more control and restriction on his mind and actions than Macbeth does. Macbeth, being Banquo’s friend, eventually sees him as a threat to his mission and kills him off.

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The scene Act 3 scene 2, conveys the theme that killing someone isn't the most proficient way in dealing with problems nor does it make life simpler, instead it creates more complications. Ironically, In this scene Lady Macbeth and Macbeth discuss the death of Banquo; both of them begin to show signs of fear & guilt. Both of them realize the troubles that come with killing Banquo, and recognize that troubles follow; his son Fleance can still cease the prophecy. This is demonstrated in the metaphorical quote “We have scorched the snake, not killed it.” Macbeth refers to Banquo as a snake, who has not yet been killed and is still able to “attack” them.

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Similarly, he sent murderers to kill him as he was fearful of the loss of his kingship. Macbeth’s relationship with Banquo has more significance to him than his relationship with Duncan, thus, him betraying Banquo affected him with a greater impact than his betrayal of Duncan. This is evidenced by how his guilt takes the form of Banquo and not

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i. 121-126, 137-138). Macbeth tells the murderers that since him and Banquo have the same friends Macbeth cannot use his powers to execute Banquo, because people will overthrow Macbeth if they find out Macbeth to be the

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This demonstrates that rather let Banquo be king, he is going to challenge and fight him for his crown. Banquo is the only person that knows about the prophecy and he is also suspicious of Macbeth killing Duncan. Instead of letting Banquo's’ son receiving the crown easily, Macbeth is going to challenge him for the crown. In order that Macbeth can be king, he has to kill Banquo and his son, so they don’t take crown from

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Lady Macbeth orders a servant to fetch Macbeth and before he arrives, she bemoans “Naught’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content,” indicating that even though she has gotten everything she wants, Lady Macbeth is still not happy because she had to kill to get what she wanted. According to Edith Whitehurst Williams, Lady Macbeth has “a conscience far from dead” that is seen in how she is not happy despite having the power she wanted, since the means of obtaining that power were unsavory (Williams 222). Once Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth consults him, advising that “what’s done is done,” meaning that Duncan is dead and their plan is through, so he does not need to do anything more or kill anyone else (3.2.12). Macbeth can sense that Lady Macbeth will not advocate for any more murders and therefore he “does not make her a party to the murder of Banquo” (Williams 222) and so when Lady Macbeth tells him to “sleek o’er your rugged looks”(3.2.27) in order to stop him from his planning of further murders, he simply agrees. At the banquet where Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost, after everyone has left, Macbeth is talking about how he has more schemes to kill people, it is seen that Lady Macbeth’s “dedications to evil… [are] not going to sustain her”(Williams 222).

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Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to kill Duncan, but he continues to have second thoughts about it (i.vii.31-34) and feels terribly guilty afterwards (II.ii.63-66). However, following the murder of Duncan, Macbeth loses any ethics he had left. Macbeth kills the servants, Banquo, and Macduff’s whole family in cold-blooded murder. On the other hand, when Banquo ponders the witches prophecy for him, he contemplates the thought of having to kill someone to get power, but he quickly shuts it down (III.i.9-11).

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Macbeth and Banquo were seen as relatively similar individuals who acted with nobility. At the beginning, they both were loyal military leaders who fought hard for their king and their country. However, after their encounter with the Three Weird Sisters, they began to show their differences through the actions they make in regards to prophecies they were given. Macbeth and Banquo were both heroic, noble and brave leaders who led their armies to victory numerous of times. They were loyal subjects to the king, and they lived their lives continuously fighting for him as well as the country.

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