1 Key Quotations Banquo Quotation Points to be made i.e.about how a character or theme presented Analysis of Language and Devices and Structure Links to Context To me you speak not…..Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favours nor your hate Act 1 Scene Ambition / evil / overreachingBanquo challenges the witches using an imperative. We see his character is juxtaposed against the character of Macbeth. We see his less susceptible to evil than Macbeth.Shakespeare is flattering King James I who was thought to be a distant relative of the King.But in Holinshed’s Chronicles, Banquo is presented as a traitor to the King. Shakespeare deliberately presents Banquo as a good character.‘There if I grow, the harvest is your own’.Act 1 Scene 4 Banquo’s reply highlights that he is not going to force his development of power and ill allow King Duncan to take responsibility for his future.Banquo stays with the same theme and metaphor of nature by showing he is united with Duncan. He stays on the same topic and uses the same theme to show he supports Duncan.The Jacobeans believed in the natural order of things and felt people were punished if they overreached their position in society. Therefore, Banquo will trust that Duncan has the power to makes the right decisions in his future.‘But ‘tis strange. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths …’ Act 1 Scene 3 The theme of equivocation is explored here. Also, darkness and light is explored. We see Banquo is sceptical about the witches and able to resist the darkness of the witches, unlike Macbeth.Banquo labels the witches using a metaphor ‘instruments of darkness’ to highlight the capacity for evil that they possess. Shakespeare juxtaposes the noun phrase ‘honest trifles’ against the verb ‘betray’ to expose the manipulative powers of the witches.Shakespeare is eager to present Banquo as an innocent and good character to flatter King James I, who has an ancestor of the historical character of Banquo. Additionally, James I, and the Jacobeans, believed in witchcraft. James I was so threatened by witches that he wrote a book about Daemonologie.‘I fear/ Thou played’st most foully for’t.’ Act 3 Scene 1 Banquo is suspicious that Macbeth has killed King Duncan and he has done everything in his power to gain the crown. Evil / deception The use of the superlative shows that Banquo is accurately aware of Macbeth’s capacity for evil.The repetiton of the ‘f ’ sound reinforces the nature of the murder committed by Macbeth.Regicide – crime against God.
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