What was the role of banquo

onethreefive

Hi,
I know this is a ridiculous question one day before the exam but with so many people talking about Banquo I feel like I need to study him.

What was the role of Banquo throughout Macbeth. I have no decent notes on him or anything

Osmosis Jones

I see him as the Macbeth who chose an alternate route. In the beginning they are more or less the same character, but as one believes the witches and the other doesn't, they begin to show their differences.

endacl

onethreefive wrote: »

Hi,
I know this is a ridiculous question one day before the exam but with so many people talking about Banquo I feel like I need to study him.

What was the role of Banquo throughout Macbeth. I have no decent notes on him or anything

He was the 'R2D2' of Macbeth. Think Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 4. With just a pinch of Pat Kenny.

chatterboxxx95

onethreefive wrote: »

Hi,
I know this is a ridiculous question one day before the exam but with so many people talking about Banquo I feel like I need to study him.

What was the role of Banquo throughout Macbeth. I have no decent notes on him or anything

Role of banquo is as a foil to macbeth. He doesn't turn evil like macbeth BUT his character is seriously flawed because his morals do become compromised because he knows what macbeth did : "and I fear thou playd'st most foully for't " and says nothing
You could also argue though that Banquo shows that the witches do have some influence because if they can cause someone as riteous as banquo to be compromised what chance did the flawed macbeth have.

ELynch96

My teacher emphasized that macduff and banquo could come up together as a character question on the lesser characters

Chucken

Banquo serves as a supernatural symbol of moral retribution in the play, causing Macbeth to feel guilt and mental illness.

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-important-qoes-does-banquo-have-play-macbeth-160513

TheBegotten

Banquo is an odd character because he doesn't actually do anything much in the play. In conventional Macbeth he shows how one might be tempted by ambition without following the same evil path Macbeth chose.

However, in Holinshed's Chronicles, which contains the original, semi-historic account of Macbeth, Banquo actually helps Macbeth kill Duncan. Now, this is where it gets complicated. James the First - for whom the play was performed - was King of England at the time, due to Elizabeth the First not leaving any heirs, and was also the King of Scotland through the House of Stuart. The Stuarts claimed their line descended from a descendant of Banquo and Duncan and thus Shakespeare could not allow Banquo to be portrayed in a bad light. The only problem is - although Shakespeare had no way of knowing this - Banquo was fictional. So now a character, who was invented to kill Duncan, can't kill Duncan.

But all this is irrelevant for us in LC. In our context, Banquo exists as a "foil" to Macbeth; he is similar to Macbeth, but is different in certain ways to bring attention to Macbeth's qualities and flaws. Banquo submits to the will of God and remains sceptical of the witches while Macbeth commits murder after murder and takes the prophecies at face-value. Similarly, Banquo is willing to bide his time and trust that his sons will inherit the crown, while Macbeth is convinced to kill Duncan and frame Malcolm (the newly announced heir) to ensure the crown passes to him.

Katatonia

Hey! Banquo DOES have a role in Macbeth, quite an important one, too! Don't listen to the ones above me, except the Begotten. Sorry guys, yous are messing with his/her mind with your complete ignorance.

Remember that: Question on Banquo- Kingship and Morality. If you know the play the you know what it takes to talk about it, but let me outline it briefly for you:
-Banquo is used by Shakespeare as a CONTRAST to Macbeth in the themes of IDEAL KINGSHIP and MORALITY. Yes, as Begotten said there is some historical background to this, however I heard a little bit different story from what he/she wrote above me. By ideal kingship, I DO NOT mean that Banquo was ideal, (in here you can talk about Shakespeare's innovative approach to tragedy- Before Shakespeare, character's were based on black and white portrayal of human virtues, there was no space for any PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS apart from what one could see with a "naked eye", Shakespeare added EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIVERSITY to his character's. They're not perfect, not ideal but not black and white) I mean that they both:
-Seen then witches, how did they react? How did they differ? (Macbeth interested, despite knowing that their "strange intelligence" comes from an evil source, "Stay you imperfect speaker's, tell me more!") While Banquo DID show some interest and later in the play WE SEE a situation where his morality can be questioned, IN CONTRAST to Macbeth, as they started off from THE SAME situation, he doesn't LET HIS AMBITION (Hemertia) overtake him, UNLIKE Macbeth.

Furthermore, the fact that Banquo is flawed and still didn't succumb to "The unnatural" shows that Macbeth DID have a CHOICE (talk about FREEWILL). Banquo- "who neither beg nor fear/ Your favours nor your hate" Act 1 Scene 3.

I hope you're still there, all of the above points I made are important. Look through the play and search for quotes. You'll be grand! I'm sitting it tomorrow too and I still have quotes to learn!

Good luck!

Katatonia

There is more to it, you can talk about the supernatural, the order violation/restoration, but above all ambition and sense of morality. (Compare Macbeth-Banquo)

Also, our teacher said to study Lady Macbeth, there is huge chance she will be up. I would be SO happy!

Mystery_who

Does anybody have A Banquo essay they have already prepared and could send it to me through whatsapp or something? I had a really good one but I lost it:(