Macbeth Vs Banquo Essay

In 1606 Shakespeare wrote the play "Macbeth" for king of Great Britain, James I, descendant of Scottish nobleman Banquo. James I was the son of Mary queen of Scots, a catholic who tried to assassinate her cousin Queen Elizabeth. Mary was executed for her attempt and her son was taken into the royal home and raised Protestant. Since Elizabeth had no children when she died James was named heir, the Catholics were excited at the prospect of a catholic ruler, but despite his mother 's religion he was raised protestant and he ruled protestant. The Catholics were very angry about this and there had been an assassination attempt by Guy Fawkes that left him and his people aware of his mortality. Protestants weren 't happy either, James was still the son of one of the most prominent Catholics of the time and was not of direct decent. No one accepted him as king.

The first parallel is in act one scene three, Macbeth and his friend, Banquo are walking back from battle and encounter three witches. Banquo asks them to tell him his future and one of them tells him, "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!" The similarities between Mary and Banquo begin here. Now while Banquo never plans Macbeths murder like Mary plans Elizabeth 's they both end up being killed for the crime. Macbeth does so because he suspects Banquo will try and kill him to have his son become heir and gain extensive power over the country. Elizabeth does so, because Mary is trying to kill her for power and Catholic rule. Both characters oppose what they perceive as unjustly rule and both characters are murdered. Another similarity would be how their sons got away unscathed, making the character of Banquo 's son, Fleance parallel to James. It could be assumed that Shakespeare made Banquo 's character innocent to further please the king and sway the public in his favor by making the implication that Mary, like Banquo was killed in a jealous rage and was in fact,