What is the purpose of the scene between Macbeth and Banquo in Act 2?
One unanswered question in Macbeth is “Why didn’t Macbeth kill Malcolm and Donalbain on the same night he killed Duncan?” Malcolm was the heir apparent. Duncan had specifically named him Prince of Cumberland and announced that he was his successor. And Donalbain would obviously be the next in line to the throne if Malcolm died. Macbeth's conversation with Banquo may enlighten us on this.
Just before Macbeth murders Duncan he encounters Banquo in Act 2, Scene 1, and they have a short discussion. The first bit is only intended to show that it is late at night, that the King is in bed asleep, and that he has “sent forth great largess to your offices.” This last will explain why everybody on the household staff gets drunk and why the Porter is so slow about answering the knocking at the gate. It also explains why Macduff , who is...
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doing the knocking, was not accommodated inside the castle, although he is an important personage. Macbeth says:
Being unprepared,
Our will became the servant to defect,
Which else should free have wrought.
Then Banquo brings up the subject of the Weird Sisters, and Macbeth says:
I think not of them.
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.
BANQUO
At your kind’st leisure.
MACBETH
If you shall cleave to my consent, when ‘tis,
It shall make honor to you.
BANQUO
So I lose none
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counseled.
Macbeth obviously would like help in the bloody coup he intends to commit. In these lines, he is subtly sounding Banquo out about the possibility of drawing him into the plot, but Banquo just as subtly lets him know that he will not take part in any treasonous affair, even though he has been promised by the Weird Sisters that his children will be kings and he can see that this could hardly come about without the elimination of Duncan and his sons.
So Macbeth immediately proceeds to murder Duncan. Time is of the essence. He will only have the King and his sons at his mercy overnight. Duncan may never return to Dunsinane again. Shakespeare establishes that Duncan has never been there before in the first lines of Act 1, Scene 6. With Banquo’s help it would have been easy to murder Malcolm and Donalbain in their beds, but, assuming Macbeth had intended to murder them by himself, he fails to carry out the triple murder because he loses his nerve.
What is the purpose of the scene between Macbeth and Banquo?
Both Banquo and Macbeth are key players in the Weird Sisters' prophecies. Among other things, this means that their respective fates are closely linked. When the Weird Sisters prophesy that although Banquo will never sit upon the throne, his descendants will, they immediately plant seeds of suspicion in Macbeth's mind. Banquo is Macbeth's friend, but as Macbeth wants to found a dynasty of his own, he perceives the very prospect of Banquo's offspring ascending the throne as a clear threat to his own ambitions.
Yet, as with all the other murders that Macbeth commits, his killing of Banquo brings him no rest whatsoever, no peace of mind or mental stability. When Banquo's ghost appears to him at the banquet, Macbeth is overcome with guilt for his wicked actions. As regards his political situation, far from strengthening Macbeth's grip on power, the murder of Banquo has greatly undermined it.
But instead of turning his back on the bloody path he's chosen, Macbeth actually doubles down, becoming even more oppressive and tyrannical. He also becomes ever more reliant on the Weird Sisters' prophecies, an indication that he's finally crossed the Rubicon and taken his stand with the forces of darkness.
Banquo is the only character who is present when Macbeth first hears the prophecy. He knows Macbeth will become king. The witches also prophesize that Banquo will beget kings. Both of these characters have something to gain in the future. This makes the scene important because it clearly shows foil characters: one good character, Banquo, who will not do anything that will not keep his conscience clear; Macbeth, the evil character who will now do whatever it takes to become king.
The two characters are used to show good and evil and how important indivdiual choice is. The witches motivate Macbeth while they do nothing to change who Banquo is. Macbeth is clearly a weak pawn dictated by the witches.