Banquo

• Banquo is used as a foil (a character whose function is to serve as a contrast to another character) by Shakespeare.
• Banquo, unlike Macbeth, is unaffected by the witches’ prophecies.
• After the first prophecy comes true, Banquo recognises the danger Macbeth is in and warns him of this; however, he doesn’t appreciate the danger he himself is in.
• Banquo remains honourable, refusing to be taken in by Macbeth on the night of Duncan’s death.
• Banquo suspects Macbeth of murdering Duncan.
• Macbeth resents Banquo’s superiority and honourable characteristics.
• Macbeth orders Banquo and Fleance’s deaths, under the false guise of friendship.
• Banquo’s honour is continued by the fact he keeps his word in attending the feast – in ghost form.
• His last appearance is, again, in ghost form (Act 4, Scene 1), when he taunts Macbeth in the vision of his line of kings.
• Banquo is a Scottish nobleman, who, like Macbeth, impresses people with his bravery in battle.
• He is with Macbeth when the Weird Sisters prophesise that he will beget kings. He is far more sceptical about the prophecies than Macbeth, and believes the Weird Sisters are betraying them both.
• He is the antithesis of Macbeth, being honourable despite temptation. Macbeth has him murdered because he is worried Banquo suspects him for the murder of Duncan.
• "What are these, / So wither'd and so wild in their attire, /That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth / And yet are on't?"
• "Look, how our partner's rapt"
• "Why do you start and seem to fear things that sound so fair?"
• "Were such things here as we do speak about? / Or have we eaten on the insane root / That takes the reason prisoner?"
• "That trusted home / Might yet enkindle you to the crown"
• "What, can the devil speak true?"
• "Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure"
• "And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths / Win us with honest trifles, to betray's / In deepest consequence"
• "New honours come upon him, / Like our strange garments cleave not to their mould, / But with the aid of use"
• "There if I grow (in Duncan's heart), / The harvest is your own"
• "A heavy summons lies upon me, / And yet I would not sleep"
• "I dreamt last night of the three weird sisters"
• "Too cruel (Duncan's murder) anywhere / Dear Duff, I prithee, contradict thyself"
• "Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, / As the weird women promised, and I fear / Thou played'st most foully for it"
• "He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour / To act in safety" (Macbeth)
• "It will be rain tonight" (just before his death)
• "Oh treachery! Fly good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!"
• Significance: Like Macbeth, Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, but he does not translate those thoughts into action. It is Banquo's ghost - and not Duncan's - that haunts Macbeth. In addition to embodying Macbeth's guilt for killing Banquo, the ghost also reminds Macbeth that he did not emulate Banquo's reaction to the witches' prophecy.