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Macbeth • Act 3 Review
Be A Man • In Macbeth's address to the murderers we see a recurrence of the "be a man" theme. When Macbeth asks them if they have the courage to kill Banquo, and they answer "we are men, my liege" (III.I. 102). This answer does not satisfy Macbeth, who berates them as less-than-acceptable examples of humanity. • Macbeth uses much the same tactic his wife used to push him to kill Duncan.
Glory = Blood • Even Duncan himself evaluates heroic action on a rather gory scale. • When the captain describes Macbeth's victory in battle he says that his sword "smoked with bloody execution . . . • A "real man," then, in the world of this play, is one who is capable of bloodshed without remorse.
Blood = Guilt • Macbeth warns the murderers that he "require a clearness . . . to leave no rubs nor botches in the work"(referring to Banquo’s murder) • The men must also kill Fleance (III.ii 152-154). • Macbeth does not want a stain to mar his work.
Stains • The theme of stains and washing runs throughout the play, from Macbeth's fear that not even "all great Neptune's ocean [could] wash this blood / Clean from hand" • His wife's flippant response "a little water clears us of this deed" (II.ii 77) • And the instructions to the murderers to Lady Macbeth's famous "out, damned spot" speech.
The Macbeths are obsessed with the idea that some stain will link them to the murders, and that the stain and smell of blood will follow them. • Even when Macbeth orders others to kill Banquo far from his presence, Banquo's blood still follows him back to Dunsinane; when the murderer shows up to report his success, Macbeth observes "There's blood upon thy face" (III.IV 13-14). • The blood itself is a sign of culpability, as is clearly evident in Lady Macbeth's comment that she will "gild" the bodyguards with Duncan's blood to seal their guilt.
Light and Dark • Banquo's murder itself makes use of a common theme in Shakespeare's plays, the contrast between light and dark. • While the murderers wait for Banquo and Fleance to approach, one of them observes that the sun is setting. • This is no coincidence.
Banquo’s Death • Banquo is a bright and good contrast to the dark night that accompanies Macbeth's rise to power, a man who does not allow his ambitions to eclipse his conscience. • At the moment that he dies, therefore, for the last light of sun to disappear is appropriate. Banquo and Fleance approach the murderers with a torch, and the light from this is the first thing the murderers see. "a light, a light!" (III.iii 20).
After the murderers attack and Fleance escapes, the third murderer asks, "who did strike out the light?" (III.III 27). • At the same moment the good and kind Banquo dies, the light is extinguished.
Banquo’s ghost • One of the most compelling scenes in this play is the banquet scene haunted by Banquo's ghost. • One of the reasons for this scene's power lies in its blurring the boundaries between reality and the supernatural. • Banquo's ghost appears twice at exactly the moment Macbeth mentions him.
Appearance or Reality? • It seems that each time Macbeth thinks of Banquo, he has a vision of him. • In this way, he seems more like the manifestation of an idea, a figment of the imagination, than a ghost. • Lady Macbeth says as much when she pulls Macbeth aside, saying:
this is the very painting of your fear. This is the air-drawn dagger which you said Led you to Duncan" (III.iv 74-76).
Supernatural or Psychological • Just as the spirit of Banquo invades the party, mixing the supernatural with the real world, his presence in the scene mixes the realm of ideas with the physical world in the same way as the "dagger of the mind" in act two. • Just like the dagger, Banquo's ghost is the realization of Macbeth's guilt, a metaphor come to life.
