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Macbeth and Banquo Meeting the Three Witches by John Wootton. Many scholars see Banquo as a foil and a contrast to Macbeth. Macbeth, for example, eagerly accepts the Three Witches' prophecy as true and seeks to help it along. Banquo, on the other hand, doubts the prophecies and the intentions of these seemingly evil creatures.
Macbeth and Banquo with the Witches by Henry Fuseli. The Three Witches first appear in Act 1, Scene 1, where they agree to meet later with Macbeth. In Act 1, Scene 3, they greet Macbeth with a prophecy that he shall be king, and his companion, Banquo, with a prophecy that he shall generate a line of kings. The prophecies have great impact upon ...
Macbeth becomes fixated on the prophecy, ignoring Banquo's advice that "oftentimes to win us to our harm these instruments of darkness tell us truths…to betray us in deepest consequence". When he returns home, Lady Macbeth tries to convince him to kill Duncan. Macbeth at first refuses but changes his mind when she accuses him of cowardice.
In Act 1, Macbeth and Banquo meet the Three Witches who foretell that Macbeth will be king and that Banquo "shalt get kings, though thou be none". [6] Fleance also briefly appears in the first scene of Act 2, when his father tells him of "cursed thoughts that nature / Gives way to in repose!".
The witches' first prophecy is thus fulfilled, and Macbeth immediately begins to harbour nervous ambitions of becoming king. King Duncan himself soon welcomes and praises Macbeth and Banquo, declaring they will all spend the night at Macbeth's castle in Inverness; also, Duncan's son Malcolm is announced as his official heir. Macbeth sends a ...
Fearing that Banquo will seize the kingdom, Macbeth invites him to a supper where he intends to kill him and his son. He succeeds in killing Banquo, but his son, Fleance, flees to Wales. Macbeth, convinced by the witches of his invincibility, commits outrageous acts against his subjects, gradually becoming a cruel and paranoid ruler.
Offscreen, Macbeth murders Duncan but returns back to his wife with the daggers. When Duncan is found dead, Macbeth frames Duncan's two servants by placing the bloody daggers on them. Remembering the prophecy, Banquo is suspicious of Macbeth's potential role in murdering Duncan.
The witches hail Macbeth as the future Thane of Cawdor and proclaim that he shall some day be King and that Banquo shall father a line of kings. Soon thereafter, King Duncan fulfills the first prophecy by ordering the Thane of Ross to execute Cawdor and reinvest the title upon Macbeth, but King Duncan names his own son Malcolm as the prince of ...