3 - Working with Ideas

Summary

The characters of Macbeth and his lady are so powerfully realized that they tend to dominate readings of the play. However, the work's overall structure juxtaposes their view of events with other perspectives that provide a sounding board for hearing the resonant significance of their tragedy. One of the key points of reference for those wider debates is the figure of Banquo. He is a shadowy presence in the play's action and is dead by the end of Act 3, but he looms large in Macbeth's eloquent imagination and his presence as a ghost. He is the focal point of the procession of kings and this gives him even greater theatrical power dead than alive.

As we have seen, the witches’ prophecy refers not only to Macbeth's future as king but also to Banquo:

FIRST WITCH. Lesser than Macbeth and greater.

SECOND WITCH. Not so happy, yet much happier.

THIRD WITCH. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.

So all hail Macbeth, and Banquo.

First witch. Banquo, and Macbeth, all hail.

(1.3.63-7)

The play gives Banquo scant opportunity to develop his thoughts on the implications of the witches’ message. On the night of Macbeth's banquet to welcome Duncan, he briefly suggests that he fears the dreams that sleep will bring:

A heavy summons lies like lead upon me,

And yet I would not sleep; merciful powers,

Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature

Gives way to in repose.

(2.1.6-9)

Here Banquo is briefly presented as a figure moved by the witches’ revelation but he is not given the complex of theatrical images, poetic elaborations and narrative events that, as we have seen, create character for Macbeth and his lady. His brief but suggestive speech about the effect the witches have had on him opens out the possibility of speculation about Banquo's motives and character: is his ambition as great as Macbeth's? How might he have dealt with power? It demonstrates, once again, the play's ability to spin off other stories and give tantalizing glimpses of a creative space in which the play might have had different emphases, or in which the contrast and conflict between Macbeth and Banquo fuelled the main narrative.