Essay about Banquo as the True Hero of Shakespeare's Macbeth

Banquo's purpose in the play is the quintessential foil of Macbeth, both in acting, as well as in meaning. Shakespeare utilizes Banquo in order to create opposite moods to what is the drive of the play, which is Macbeth and his wife plotting, scheming, and murdering, by offering great solid blocks of integrity, passion, and goodness, that slightly descend into questioning. In contrast to Macbeth's ambitious state, his transformation into an immoral form of such a state, and his acting on such, Shakespeare creates Banquo in order to give the reader a feeling for contrasting points in order to augment, and practically create, the play.

In this play, the three equivocators have a resilient effect, not only on Macbeth but on the other characters too. ‘Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings though thou be none.' (Act 1 Scene 3) Banquo is directly involved with the three witches; he talks to them face to face. Being at first strongly contrasted with Macbeth, as an innocent man with a guilty one, it seems like this contrast must be continued to his death; while, in reality, though it is never removed, it is gradually diminished. Banquo in fact may be described much more truly than Macbeth as the victim of the Witches.

“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. Not so happy yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings though thou be none.” said Banquo while he was directly involved with the witches, when he talked to them in person. At first he was very different than Macbeth, he was an innocent person accompanied by a guilty man, this contrast lasted until his death. Although never fully changed it slowly went away as the play goes on. Banquo is actually described as a much better person than Macbeth as a chosen one of the witches. There were other characters besides Banquo who were affected by the prophecies. Duncan being one of the primary ones. Because of the prophecies he was killed off very early in the play. The witches were the ones who caused this evil action to occur which greatly affected Duncan and Banquo.

This speech portrays Banquo’s new found reluctance towards the witch’s forecast of the future. He now sees what Macbeth is blind too, the possibility of knowledge becoming more harmful to the men rather than helpful in Macbeth’s want for more, particularly pertaining to him becoming King. As Macbeth begins to weigh the prophecy against logic and the now present, he accepts the fact that if “two truths are told, as happy prologues to the swelling act of the imperial theme.” Macbeth is now beginning to assume that if portions of the prophecy are being fulfilled as the witch’s had said, it is only a matter of time before he shall become king. As Macbeth continues to be engulfed by what will be his future downfall, he assumes that all of his new found

As Scene 1 opens, Banquo is fearful and suspicious of Macbeth. He suspects him of killing Duncan. Since the witches’ prophecy has come true, Banquo feels that Macbeth has been rotten in his pursuits to be king. The quote, “Thou hast it now---King, Cawdor, Glamis, all/As the Weird Women promised, and I fear/Thou played’st most foully for‘t’” (Shakespeare, 81) is said by Banquo. He comes to the realization that Macbeth is power hungry and his ambitions are unchecked. He is also suspicious that since Macbeth’s prophecy came true, Macbeth will want to make certain that his prophecy won’t be fulfilled.

In the play, Macbeth was a man who had shown very little mercy to friends let alone his foes. After killing Duncan to become King, he had hired assassins to go and kill Banquo and his son so that he could secure his reign. Banquo was a close friend of Macbeth, they had gone to war together, lived together, fought together and without a second thought, Macbeth has put a death warrant on Banquo and his son’s head. Here Macbeth shows his newly developed uncompassionate character as he does not care about Banquo and their friendship. “ Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me that’ utterance.” Here we can see Macbeth speak about the prophecy and how he realises he let go of his morality but for “ Banquo’s seeds” Macbeth not only showed a lack of compassion towards his best friend but also to other characters such as

Contextually, Banquo was King James’ cousin, and so Shakespeare was Obsequious and bestowed the character within the play with good ambition and godly values. Macbeth and Banquo are after all, equals up to the Heath scene, both fighting

The question Shakespeare poses here is does Banquo's loyalty to the King that has done nothing but good to them supersede ambition in the manner that it evidently doesn't with Macbeth and which attitude will prevail in the grand

Banquo’s ambition is unlike Macbeths and Lady Macbeths, his ambition does not drive him to kill. His ambition is he wants his son to become king, and he wants his son’s son to become king and so on. He does not quite know how to make his ambition successful but he knows that it is not worth killing for. Macbeth becomes jealous of Banquo’s ambition and Macbeths ambition drives him tell people to kill Banquo.

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Banquo, Macbeth's friend and a sergeant in King Duncan's army, are hailed as heroes in helping to defeat Macdonwald who led the allied forces of Norway and Ireland against Scotland. The Sergeant exalts Macbeth's prowess and states,

One of the cordial characters in Macbeth is Banquo, who is a close friend of Macbeth’s and has a son named Fleance, with whom he often goes riding and spends time. Banquo does not seek more power or riches than he has been blessed with, and he always does what he can to help others, even warning Macbeth that “oftentimes, to win us our harm

Shakespeare uses Banquo to highlight the fact that Macbeth is “Rapt withal”, Macbeth is very gullible and takes things at face value and he begins to think of the witches’ statements as providence rather than prophecy. Shortly after, during his aside he state that he will leave it to chance but the seeds of ambition are already beginning to grow in his mind due to these prophecies. Also, the quote “to me you speak not” shows that Banquo, contrasting heavily from Macbeth, is rather unfazed by these prophecies. This also furthers their character’s differences, in the sense that Macbeth is more easily persuaded and not questioning anything, while Banquo is more down to earth and is taking the witches words

By encouraging Macbeth not to fear his prophecy, Shakespeare establishes that his foil Banquo also has a sense of ambition. Unlike Macbeth, however, Banquo has the ability to control his ambition. These opening scenes establish a foil between Banquo and Macbeth in order to show their shared positive characteristics prior to Macbeth’s moral decline.

Characters in plays begin to become influenced as their stories unfold. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, two prominent characters Macbeth and Banquo have certain differences and similarities, and as the play progresses, contrasting attributes of both characters begin to appear. Both characters uniquely develop in the play, portraying eminent leadership skills, while possessing contrasting attributes towards temptation, and relationships with their families.

In reality though, he was an accomplice in the murder of King Duncan, with Macbeth. King James the first had claimed he was an ancestor of Banquo, so of course Shakespeare could not portray Banquo as some evil murderer, that would not have pleased King James the first. You would think this would be hard to do for Shakespeare, considering that he believed so much in the divine right of kings, him knowing that Banquo was an accomplice and a murderer to a king, but not showing this in his play. That really shows what he will do to appeal to King James the first. Changing Banquo's character in the play also adds to the play making it more dramatic and interesting when good and pure Banquo is murdered, as opposed to Banquo the accomplice being murdered. It also shows Banquo as a wise voice of reason that warns Macbeth to resist evil, but Macbeth could not, again showing Macbeth as the “Tragic