banquo

Question 1

characterisation of banquo

Question 2

‘oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
the instruments of darkness tell us truths…to betray us’ [A1S3]

Answer 2

verb: ‘win’
↳ a challenge/game, to the witches, tempting humans is like an enjoyable game
↳ seen as something good and enjoyable

noun: ‘harm’
↳ deliberately inflicted

metaphor: ‘instruments of darkness’
↳ instruments connotates to something euphonious & alluring, shows how the witches prophecies are hard to resist
↳ instruments also allude to a sense of being played, there is a higher power that they answer to
↳ darkness connotates to evil, in macbeth, all evil things happen at night, darkness is a cover for evil
↳ in jacobean era, ppl though God was absent in the dark, suggests that macbeth & banquo are vulnerable to the witches

juxtaposition: ‘truths’, ‘betray’
↳ the idea that the truth can ruin someone is confusing & emphasises the disorder of society
↳ the witches only say the truth and people take that how they want
↳ banquo’s distrust of the witches does not prevent their prophecies on him from coming true, suggests that macbeth could have ignored the prophecies & still become king (regicide = free will)
↳ the witches uses equivocation

Question 3

‘in heaven, their candles are all out’ [A2S1]

Answer 3

‘stars’ are close to heaven
↳ reference to how duncan sees stars as signs of nobleness and how macbeth states that he doesn’t want the stars to shine as it would illuminate his evil

metaphor: ‘candles are all out’
↳ symbolise warmth & hope, if candles are out then the nature is inverted
↳ the inversion of nature shows that justice is not in order as God’s power isn’t in full effect, the divine right of chains is imminently going to be disordered
↳ in the absence of light, evil occurs

banquo is intelligent and and astute as he is able to both be doubtful of macbeth and also understand that the world is not in its correct order

Question 4

relationship between macbeth and banquo in A2S1

Answer 4

-banquo and macbeth are very tense, -shakespeare creates an uneasy atmosphere by creating tension
-when macbeth is asked if he has dreamt of the witches, he lies and says ‘I think not of them’
this is dramatic irony as the audience are aware that he has been having visions
-when banquo asks this, he is testing MB

Question 5

‘in the great hand of God…I fight of treasonous malice’

Answer 5

fyi