Macbeth Banquo Turning Point

In act III of William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Macbeth, Macbeth plans the murder of Banquo and his son, Fleance, outside the royal castle at Forres in order to end the prophecy of Banquo’s sons taking control of Macbeth’s newfound throne. Macbeth hired three murderers to do this deed, as he was not man enough to do it himself as Lady Macbeth had said time and time again, and was able to convince them to do this by making them believe that Banquo is their enemy. He reminded them, “that it was he [Banquo], in the times past, which held you so under fortune, which you thought had been our innocent self…Do you find your patience so predominant in your nature that you can let this go?” (Shakespeare 3.1.85) Macbeth made Banquo appear to be their enemy, when reality he is not, showing

The murder of Banquo, the first turning point of this act, further destroyed the chain of creation that, as seen by erratic behavior in animal imagery of horses eating each other, is steadily falling apart. Later in the act, another turning point appears in the form of Banquo’s ghost. Banquo’s ghost haunts Macbeth all during a feast that he and Lady Macbeth held at the royal castle in Forres, causing Macbeth to spurt out nonsense such as, “the table is full,” (Shakespeare 3.4.44) and later, “[to the ghost] thou canst not say I did it. Never shake thy gory locks at me.” (Shakespeare 3.4.60) As Macbeth was the only one who could see the ghost, the others began to question his sanity and wonder what he was saying. His ghost truly did symbolize Macbeth’s conscience that plagued him, and shows that Macbeth is both afraid and insane. Eventually, it was Macbeth’s own conscience that brought about his downfall, as this outburst and others from Lady Macbeth, led others to question the actions of their newfound king and