Banquo's Death Influence In Macbeth

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Death’s Influence in Macbeth While in most stories readers pay particular attention to the living, in Macbeth readers can truly analyze the influence of the dead among a story. Focusing an analysis on the dead may seem strange, as it is usually the living who move the events of a play along. While this is true even in Macbeth, there is a large amount of death driving the play. From early on with the death of King Duncan, to the pivotal death of Banquo, and finally the death of Macbeth, death is around every corner. By analyzing these deaths (particularly those of Lady Macbeth and Banquo), readers can see just how important death is in both influencing the story and showing aspects of what characters have become in Macbeth and stories overall. The earliest example of how influential death is in Macbeth is the death of King Duncan. Macbeth has fallen victim to prophecy and ambition, and…show more content…
There are several reasons why Banquo's death is important to the story, beginning with how his life was. In his book, "A Note on Banquo," S. Nagarajan says, The crux of Banquo's character is his inaction after Duncan's murder. Before the murder he is determined to lose no honor in seeking to augment it; and after the murder with suspicion of Macbeth in his mind he declares: “ In the great hand of God I stand' and thence Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight Of treasonous malice.” Yet at the beginning of the third act we find that he has done nothing to implement his vow. Nagarajan goes on to argue that while true, Banquo does carry his influence into his death. It is this fact that shows readers that the dead can be just as influential in a story as the living, if not more so. This is evidently true in Banquo, as his main contribution's come in death rather than life, through the fear of Fleance's survival and most importantly Banquo’s ghost

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