Thread by @GCSE_Macbeth

Act 3 Sc 1

I recommend your students take a close look at BANQUO's speech at the start of Act 3.

"Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for't"

1/

Pay attention to the word ALL at the end of line 1. The Arden edition includes a comma after ALL; the RSC doesn't.

You need the pause of a comma to give the first line its correct metrical length, but that puts a lot of emphasis on ALL. So what is the ALL that Banquo means?

2/

Perhaps he thinks of the power that Macbeth now wields; perhaps he worries about how he'll use it.

In line 2, why does Shakespeare use AND instead of BUT? BUT would make more obvious sense, unless Banquo is already pretty sure about Macbeth's crime.

3/

So his "I FEAR" is almost a self-check -- it's a moment where he can't *quite* believe what he's saying.

PROMISE and FEAR are interesting words to track through the play.

This is the 4th appearance of PROMISE in the play...

4/

Its first use was Macbeth asking/goading Banquo about the PROMISE that his children would be kings. So it's a word already associated with future success for Banquo's line, as well as Macbeth's own achievement of the crown.

5/

I can't be completely certain whether PROMISE also had the sense for Shakespeare of "potential" -- PROMISING as in "having potential" is dated 1600, so maybe. So exactly whether Banquo sees the witches as having prophesied or merely prompted events isn't totally clear.

6/

FEAR is a key word in the play -- FEAR and AFRAID / AFEARD come in well over 50 times. Banquo has previously stated that he doesn't FEAR the witches -- but he does FEAR Macbeth.

7/

"PLAYED" is an interesting accusation for Banquo to make -- in the sense of a game that Macbeth has "won" by taking the crown, but also in the sense of PLAYED = ACTED, and the association in the play of Macbeth as a "POOR PLAYER". He sees through Macbeth's deceit.

8/

And FOULLY, of course, echoes the FAIR/FOUL pairing from earlier: events that are "FAIR" for Macbeth (as Banquo put it in Act 1) have indeed come at a FOUL cost.

9/

A lot of how you see BANQUO as a character rests on the next few lines, as he seems to balance his sense of natural justice and recognition of Macbeth's evil with the hope that the prophecy of his own "line of kings" could still come true.

10/

"Yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity"

POSTERITY is worth thinking about -- we tend to (or maybe just me?) associate it with nostalgia ("for posterity") but really it means FUTURE. POSTERITY is from POST-, meaning AFTER. POSTERITY is "AFTER-NESS".

11/

It fits with the many, many references to TIME and to the FUTURE in the play: "The future in the instant"; "the coming on of time"; "the life to come" etc.

BANQUO is saying that Macbeth's kingship could hold a greater place in Banquo's own future than in Macbeth's.

12/

These next lines would be pure gold in an essay on BANQUO:

"If there come truth from them--
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine--
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? "

13/

In considering the TRUTH of the prophecy, BANQUO is forgetting his own advice from 1:3 - "The instruments of darkness tell us TRUTHS". Truth can be the forerunner of a deeper betrayal.

"SET ME UP IN HOPE" is a huge line for BANQUO... 14/

It shows that for all his morality, Banquo cannot be totally free from temptation or from belief in the witches' prophecy.

Unless, of course, you think that his HOPE is a good thing, because his "line of kings" will ultimately result in James I himself.

15/

"SET ME UP IN HOPE -- "

Say that line again to yourself. I don't think Shakespeare meant the modern usage of "set me up", as in "a cup of coffee would set me up for the morning".

To be SET UP IN HOPE is to be placed or positioned within the sight or influence of HOPE.

16/

It's ironic, though, then when Macbeth, Lady Macbeth or Banquo use the word HOPE it refers to a treasonous and unnatural thought.

17/17