Banquo Flashcards
Can the devil speak true?
After he hears of the witches prophecies, once their first has come true of Macbeth becoming Thane of Cawdor. Here Banquo is shocked that what they said is true, he uses the metaphor of the witches being devils and the use of a rhetorical question to illustrate that he still has distrust in the supernatural; in contrast to Macbeth who has his ambitions instilled in him already, whilst Banquo is still wary of whether the witches are correct. We can see that the supernatural are agents of chaos in the play, reflecting the Jacobean distrust towards witches at the time
‘The instruments of darkness tell us truths
He is telling Macbeth to be careful of the witches by using the metaphor ‘instruments of darkness’ to show that they are dangerous and evil; foreshadowing how the witches mislead Macbeth with half truths which eventually lead to his downfall. Banquo illustrates the approach that Macbeth should have had towards the witches prophecies.
In heaven their candles are all out
The night of the murder of Duncan, Banquo has realised that supernatural things are happening to their surroundings, foreshadowing something against God will happen - the death of Duncan. The use of hyperbole in ‘candles are all out’ emphasises this. This ties into the theme of supernatural as Macbeth is about to turn the natural order of the divine right of kings into chaos.
In the great hand of God… I fight of treasonous malice
This is when he discovers the dead body of king Duncan, this declarative sentence shows Banquo shock and also shows the audience that Banquo is the opposite of Macbeth as he has not been corrupted by the witches. This ties into the theme of ambition and how it has led macbeth down the wrong path, however, Banquo never develops this temptation. Banquo is horrified that someone violated the Divine right of kings as they are going against the will of God
I fear thou play’dst most foully for it
When Banquo starts to have beliefs that Macbeth has done this, alliteration of ‘f’ shows that he is echoing the inversion of ‘fair is foul, foul is fair’, implying that he is confused and that he thinks it could be Macbeth’s doing; however he has too much trust in him to do anything about it. This links to ambition, Banquo is shocked to even think that Macbeth has developed enough ambition to even kill Duncan, showing that Banquo is also beginning to question appearances of Macbeth. This is reflective as to how at the time, ambition was seen as corruption as it made people bypass their place in hierarchy within the Great Chain of Beings.
