What Is Macbeth's Reaction To Banquo

1236 Words5 Pages
Banquo is a brave, noble and loyal general, who fights beside his fellow general, Macbeth, to protect his King, Duncan, and his people. He is a man who keeps his promise and does not betray trust given to him. His close relationship with Macbeth and King Duncan and his encounter with the three witches prove to be important in the course of the play and gives us insight on how he is important dead as he is alive. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Banquo had a chance meeting the three witches on their way back to their kingdom from a hard-fought battle with the Scottish. In their encounter, the three witches gave each their own prophecies. To Macbeth, his prophecies were, in addition to being Thane of Glamis, he would become Thane of Cawdor and the future king. To Banquo, his prophecy was although he would not become king, his heirs would. After hearing these, Macbeth and Banquo had very different reactions despite practically being brothers,…show more content…
Upon hearing this, Macbeth and Banquo had very different opinions. Macbeth’s reaction was to believe the rest of the prophecies and start plotting how he would become King while Banquo became wary because, for him, nothing good could come from “instruments of darkness”, which can be seen in Act 1 Scene 3 of the play. This shows Banquo’s importance as a reference for Macbeth’s character - Banquo has firm beliefs of good and evil, whereas Macbeth does not care for good or evil, only what is good for himself. In a way, it can be said that Banquo mirrors Macbeth - they both have the same circumstance (both are Thanes, subjects to King Duncan) but have very different values/morals. This shows how Banquo is important alive as he gives readers premise to Macbeth’s character in the
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    written by Shakespeare, Banquo is seen as honorable for Scotland citizens and an enemy for Macbeth. Banquo changes identities based on who surrounds him and always strives for what he believes is better. Constantly recognized as noble due to his success in the war. Perceived as ambitious because he questioned the witches prophecy about his kids’ future. Lastly, identified as an enemy due to the King of Cawdor’s fear to his courageous plans. An initial reading of Banquo would make it seem that Shakespeare

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