58-689: Lord Banquo / ˈ b æ ŋ k w oʊ / , the Thane of Lochaber , is a semi-historical character in William Shakespeare 's 1606 play Macbeth . In the play, he is at first an ally of Macbeth (both are generals in the King's army) and they meet the Three Witches together. After prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his descendants will be. Later, Macbeth in his lust for power sees Banquo as
116-404: A basis in the audience's superstitions. Spirits in other Shakespeare plays—notably Hamlet and Midsummer Night's Dream —exist in ambiguous forms, occasionally even calling into question their own presence. The concept of a character being confronted at a triumphant feast with a reminder of their downfall is not unique to Shakespeare and may originate from Belshazzar's feast , as portrayed in
174-474: A man; / And to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man." Thus Lady Macbeth enforces a masculine conception of power, yet only after pleading to be unsexed, or defeminised. In 2001, actress Maura Tierney portrayed a modernized version of Lady MacBeth in the satirical film Scotland, PA . In 2009, Pegasus Books published The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II , a play by American author and playwright Noah Lukeman , which endeavoured to offer
232-503: A move away from femininity; she is asking the spirits to eliminate the basic biological characteristics of womanhood. The main biological characteristic that La Belle focuses on is menstruation . La Belle argues that by asking to be "unsex[ed]" and crying out to spirits to "make thick [her] blood / Stop up th' access and passage to remorse", Lady Macbeth asks for her menstrual cycle to stop. By having her menstrual cycle stop, Lady Macbeth hopes to stop any feelings of sensitivity and caring that
290-492: A nervous hostess at a banquet dominated by her husband's hallucinations. Her sleepwalking scene in the fifth act is a turning point in the play, and her line "Out, damned spot!" has become a phrase familiar to many speakers of the English language . The report of her death late in the fifth act provides the inspiration for Macbeth's " Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow " speech. The role has attracted countless notable actresses over
348-541: A number of other sons who were murdered by King Macbeth. It is known that the House of Stuart descends from Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland , and in some studies he is believed to have been the grandson of Fleance and Gruffydd ap Llywelyn 's daughter, Nesta ferch Gruffydd . However, in Frederic van Bossen's handwritten notes, which were created from numerous resources he collected in his travels through Europe, Fleance's wife
406-423: A sequel to Macbeth and to resolve its many loose ends, particularly Lady Macbeth's reference to her having had a child (which, historically, she did - from a previous marriage, having remarried Macbeth after being widowed.) Written in blank verse, the play was published to critical acclaim. In 2010, Gloria Carreño's play "A Season Before The Tragedy of Macbeth" was produced by British Touring Shakespeare and received
464-415: A specific type of anti-mother: the witch. Modern day critic Joanna Levin defines a witch as a woman who succumbs to Satanic force, a lust for the devil, and who, either for this reason or the desire to obtain supernatural powers, invokes (evil) spirits. Levin refers to Marianne Hester 's Lewd Women and Wicked Witches: A Study of Male Domination, in which Hester articulates a feminist interpretation of
522-581: A strong support of James' right to the throne by lineage, and for audiences of Shakespeare's day, a very real fulfilment of the witches' prophecy to Banquo that his sons would take the throne. This apparition is also deeply unsettling to Macbeth, who not only wants the throne for himself, but also desires to father a line of kings. Banquo's other appearance as a ghost during the banquet scene serves as an indicator of Macbeth's conscience returning to plague his thoughts. Banquo's triumph over death appears symbolically, insofar as he literally takes Macbeth's seat during
580-401: A threat and has him murdered by three hired assassins; Banquo's son, Fleance , escapes. Banquo's ghost returns in a later scene, causing Macbeth to react with alarm in public during a feast. Shakespeare borrowed the character Banquo from Holinshed's Chronicles , a history of Britain published by Raphael Holinshed in 1587. In Chronicles , Banquo is an accomplice to Macbeth in the murder of
638-417: A wide variety of approaches for this task. In 1877 a green silhouette was used to create a ghostlike image; ten years later a trick chair was used to allow an actor to appear in the middle of the scene, and then again from the midst of the audience. In 1895 a shaft of blue light served to indicate the presence of Banquo's spirit. In 1933 a Russian director named Theodore Komisarjevsky staged a modern retelling of
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#1732844738328696-465: A witch, and the act itself establishes a similarity in the way that both Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters from the play "use the metaphoric powers of language to call upon spiritual powers who in turn will influence physical events – in one case the workings of the state, in the other the workings of a woman's body." Like the witches, Lady Macbeth strives to make herself an instrument for bringing about
754-402: Is able to manipulate him into doing what she wants. After Macbeth becomes a murderous tyrant, she is driven to madness by guilt over their crimes and kills herself offstage. Lady Macbeth is a powerful presence in the play, most notably in the first two acts. Following the murder of King Duncan, however, her role in the plot diminishes. She becomes an uninvolved spectator to Macbeth's plotting and
812-552: Is another oppositional force, in this case to Macbeth's impending death. His spirit lives on in Fleance, his son, and in his ghostly presence at the banquet. When Macbeth returns to the witches later in the play, they show him an apparition of the murdered Banquo, along with eight of his descendants. The scene carries deep significance: King James, on the throne when Macbeth was written, was believed to be separated from Banquo by nine generations. What Shakespeare writes here thus amounts to
870-408: Is associated with females. She hopes to become like a man to stop any sense of remorse for the regicide. La Belle furthers her argument by connecting the stopping of the menstrual cycle with the persistent infanticide motifs in the play. La Belle gives examples of "the strangled babe" whose finger is thrown into the witches' cauldron (4.1.30); Macduff's babes who are "savagely slaughter’d" (4.3.235); and
928-489: Is described as the thane of Falkland . A further eleven thanes are recorded over the course of the rest of the 12th century, attached to estates from East Lothian to Moray , all of which were at the time under the control of the King of Alba . From around the beginning of the 13th century a few thanes also start to be documented attached to estates under the control of earls, including Dunning and Strowan , which both lay within
986-588: Is himself killed. The ghost of Banquo later returns to haunt Macbeth at the banquet in Act Three, Scene Four. A terrified Macbeth sees him, while the apparition is invisible to his guests. He appears again to Macbeth in a vision granted by the Three Witches, wherein Macbeth sees a long line of kings descended from Banquo. Many scholars see Banquo as a foil and a contrast to Macbeth. Macbeth, for example, eagerly accepts
1044-406: Is identified as Nesta's sister, Marjoretta the daughter of "griffin ap Livlein". In reality, Walter fitz Alan was the son of Alan fitz Flaad , a Breton knight. Unlike his sources, Shakespeare gives Banquo no role in the King's murder, making it a deed committed solely by Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth . Why Shakespeare's Banquo is so different from the character described by Holinshed and Boece
1102-407: Is not known, though critics have proposed several possible explanations. First among them is the risk associated with portraying the king's ancestor as a murderer and conspirator in the plot to overthrow a rightful king, as well as the author's desire to flatter a powerful patron. But Shakespeare may also simply have altered Banquo's character because there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to
1160-510: Is real or a hallucination. Macbeth had already seen a hallucination before murdering Duncan: a knife hovering in the air. Several performances of the play have even ignored the stage direction to have the Ghost of Banquo enter at all, heightening the sense that Macbeth is growing mad, since the audience cannot see what he claims to see. Scholars opposing this view claim that while the dagger is unusual, ghosts of murdered victims are more believable, having
1218-698: Is visible in act two; after Banquo sees Duncan to bed, he says: "There's husbandry in heaven, / Their candles are all out". This premonition of the coming darkness in association with Macbeth's murders is repeated just before Banquo is killed: "it will be rain to-night", Banquo tells his son Fleance. Banquo's status as a contrast to Macbeth makes for some tense moments in the play. In act two, scene one, Banquo meets his son Fleance and asks him to take both his sword and his dagger ("Hold, take my sword ... Take thee that too"). He also explains that he has been having trouble sleeping due to "cursed thoughts that nature / gives way to in repose!" On Macbeth's approach, he demands
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#17328447383281276-599: The Bible . The term 'ghost at the feast' has entered popular culture, and is often used as a metaphor for a subject a person would rather avoid considering, or (considering the general plot of Macbeth ) a reminder of a person's unpleasant past or likely future. Banquo's role, especially in the banquet ghost scene, has been subject to a variety of mediums and interpretations. Shakespeare's text states: "Enter Ghost of Banquo, and sits in Macbeth's place." Several television versions have altered this slightly, having Banquo appear suddenly in
1334-538: The Earldom of Strathearn . A statute of 1221 explicitly allowed that some thanes could be responsible to an earl rather than the king, though the overwhelming majority of thanes in the historical record were attached to lands that lay outside earldoms and were in royal hands. The thane was introduced in the reign of David I (reigned 1124–1153), an Anglophile, to replace the Gaelic tòiseach (meaning leader , and with which
1392-408: The "greater honor" of Prince of Cumberland (i.e. heir to the throne of Scotland). Banquo's silence may be a survival from the posited earlier play, in which Macbeth was the legitimate successor to Duncan. Banquo is in a third of the play's scenes, as both a human and a ghost. As significant as he is to the plot, he has fewer lines than the relatively insignificant Ross, a Scottish nobleman who survives
1450-630: The Murdering Mother in Early Modern England" argues that though Lady Macbeth wants power, her power is "conditioned on maternity", which was a "conflicted status in early modern England". Chamberlain argues that the negative images of Lady Macbeth as a mother figure, such as when she discusses her ability to "dash the brains" of the babe that sucks her breast, reflect controversies concerning the image of motherhood in early modern England. In early modern England, mothers were often accused of hurting
1508-475: 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. Whereas Macbeth places his hope in the prediction that he will be king, Banquo argues that evil only offers gifts that lead to destruction. Banquo steadily resists the temptations of evil within the play, praying to heaven for help, while Macbeth seeks darkness, and prays that evil powers will aid him. This
1566-466: The almost independent status held by a tosach. Thanes consequently resembled English barons , but with greater judicial and administrative authority which extended beyond the lands they directly held. In later centuries, the term thanes dropped out of use in favour of baron , but described as having regality , a term used to describe both the thanes' powers, and the greater powers of the territorial earl. In William Shakespeare 's Macbeth (1606),
1624-527: The banquet state that Macbeth's lines to the Ghost could apply equally well to the slain king. "Thou canst not say I did it", for example, can mean that Macbeth is not the man who actually killed Banquo, or it can mean that Duncan, who was asleep when Macbeth killed him, cannot claim to have seen his killer. To add to the confusion, some lines Macbeth directs to the ghost, such as "Thy bones are marrowless", cannot rightly be said of Banquo, who has only recently died. Scholars debate whether Macbeth's vision of Banquo
1682-535: The centuries, including Sarah Siddons , Charlotte Melmoth , Helen Faucit , Ellen Terry , Jeanette Nolan , Vivien Leigh , Isuzu Yamada , Simone Signoret , Vivien Merchant , Glenda Jackson , Francesca Annis , Judith Anderson , Judi Dench , Renee O'Connor , Helen McCrory , Keeley Hawes , Alex Kingston , Reshmi Sen, Marion Cotillard , Hannah Taylor-Gordon , Frances McDormand , Tabu , Ruth Negga , Saoirse Ronan and Valene Kane . Stephanie Chamberlain in her article "Fantasizing Infanticide: Lady Macbeth and
1740-414: The chair, rather than walking onstage and into it. Special effects and camera tricks also allow producers to make the ghost disappear and reappear, highlighting the fact that only Macbeth can see it. Stage directors, unaided by post-production effects and camera tricks, have used other methods to depict the ghost. In the late 19th century, elaborate productions of the play staged by Henry Irving employed
1798-459: The character Macbeth holds the title "Thane of Glamis ", and later, "Thane of Cawdor". The historical King Macbeth fought a Thane of Cawdor who died in battle, but he did not thereby acquire the title himself. The character Macduff is Thane of Fife . The 2nd Earl of Cawdor wrote a history of the Thanes of Cawdor, in 1742, published in 1859. In the video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ,
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1856-617: The character into Capitan Miki (played by Minoru Chiaki ), slain by Macbeth's equivalent (Captain Washizu) when his wife explains that she is with child. News of Miki's death does not reach Washizu until after he has seen the ghost in the banquet scene. In Roman Polanski 's 1971 adaptation , Banquo is played by acclaimed stage actor Martin Shaw , in a style reminiscent of earlier stage performances. Polanski's version also emphasises Banquo's objection to Macbeth's ascendency by showing him remaining silent as
1914-423: The coup that follows the murder is harder to explain. Banquo's loyalty to Macbeth, rather than Malcolm , after Duncan's death makes him a passive accomplice in the coup: Malcolm, as Prince of Cumberland, is the rightful heir to the throne and Macbeth a usurper. Daniel Amneus argued that Macbeth as it survives is a revision of an earlier play, in which Duncan granted Macbeth not only the title of Thane of Cawdor, but
1972-535: The feast. Shocked, Macbeth uses words appropriate to the metaphor of usurpation, describing Banquo as "crowned" with wounds. The spirit drains Macbeth's manhood along with the blood from his cheeks; as soon as Banquo's form vanishes, Macbeth announces: "Why, so; being gone, / I am a man again." Like the vision of Banquo's lineage, the banquet scene has also been the subject of criticism. Critics have questioned whether not one, but perhaps two ghosts appear in this scene: Banquo and Duncan. Scholars arguing that Duncan attends
2030-425: The future. She proves herself a defiant, empowered nonconformist, and an explicit threat to a patriarchal system of governance in that, through challenging his masculinity, she manipulates Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. Despite the fact that she calls him a coward, Macbeth remains reluctant, until she asks: "What beast was't, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? / When you durst do it, then you were
2088-464: The king and more to do with Macbeth. They argue that Banquo is merely setting aside his sword for the night. Then, when Macbeth approaches, Banquo, having had dreams about Macbeth's deeds, takes back his sword as a precaution in this case. Macbeth eventually sees that Banquo can no longer be trusted to aid him in his evil, and considers his friend a threat to his newly acquired throne; thus, he has him murdered. Banquo's ability to live on in different ways
2146-466: The king, James I , based his claim to the throne in part on a descent from Banquo. Within the literature there exists various claims surrounding Thane Banquo's ancestry. According to the 17th century historian Frederic van Bossen, Thane Banquo (which he wrote as Banqwho and sometimes as Banchou) was the son of Dunclina, the daughter of Albanach ap Crinan, the thane of the Isles, and her husband Kenneth. Kenneth
2204-625: The king, even though he has reason to believe Macbeth is responsible. Shakespeare often used Raphael Holinshed 's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland , commonly known as Holinshed's Chronicles , as a source for his plays, and in Macbeth , he borrows from several of the tales in that work. Holinshed portrays Banquo as a historical figure, who is an accomplice in the murder by Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (Macbeth) of Donnchad mac Crínáin (King Duncan) and plays an important part in ensuring that Macbeth, not Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm), takes
2262-488: The king, rather than a loyal subject of the king who is seen as an enemy by Macbeth. Shakespeare may have changed this aspect of his character to please King James , who was thought at the time to be a descendant of the real Banquo. Critics often interpret Banquo's role in the play as being a foil to Macbeth, resisting evil whereas Macbeth embraces it. Sometimes, however, his motives are unclear, and some critics question his purity. He does nothing to accuse Macbeth of murdering
2320-452: The murder. There was, however, a need to provide a dramatic contrast to Macbeth; a role that many scholars argue is filled by Banquo. Similarly, when Jean de Schelandre wrote about Banquo in his Stuartide in 1611, he also changed the character by portraying him as a noble and honourable man—the critic D.W. Maskell describes him as "...Schelandre's paragon of valour and virtue"—probably for reasons similar to Shakespeare's. Banquo's role in
2378-454: The other thanes around him hail Macbeth as king. In the 1990 film Men of Respect , a reimagining of Macbeth as taking place among a New York Mafia crime family, the character of Banquo is named "Bankie Como" and played by American actor Dennis Farina . Thane (Scotland) Thane ( / ˈ θ eɪ n / ; Scottish Gaelic : taidhn ) was the title given to a local royal official in medieval eastern Scotland , equivalent in rank to
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2436-527: The people that were placed in their hands. Lady Macbeth then personifies all mothers of early modern England who were condemned for Lady Macbeth's fantasy of infanticide . Lady Macbeth's fantasy, Chamberlain argues, is not struggling to be a man, but rather struggling with the condemnation of being a bad mother that was common during that time. Jenijoy La Belle takes a slightly different view in her article, "A Strange Infirmity: Lady Macbeth’s Amenorrhea ". La Belle states that Lady Macbeth does not wish for just
2494-434: The plaudits of critics for "its amazing grasp of language". It was deemed "a feat" and a must-see for fans of Shakespeare. The dramatist Gloria Carreño describes events from the murder of "Lord Gillecomgain", Gruoch Macduff's first husband, to the fateful letter in the first act of Shakespeare's tragedy. Alex Kingston starred as Lady Macbeth opposite Kenneth Branagh in his and Rob Ashford 's adaption of Macbeth . The play
2552-486: The play (Banquo and Macbeth were told of their future through palmistry ); he used Macbeth's shadow as the ghost. In 1936, Orson Welles directed the Federal Theatre Project production of the play , with an African-American cast that included Canada Lee in the role of Banquo. Film adaptations have approached Banquo's character in a variety of ways. Akira Kurosawa 's 1957 adaptation Throne of Blood makes
2610-502: The play. In the second scene of the play, a wounded soldier describes the manner in which Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, and Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, resisted invading forces, fighting side by side. In the next scene, Banquo and Macbeth, returning from the battle together, encounter the Three Witches , who predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, and then king. Banquo, sceptical of the witches, challenges them to predict his own future, and they foretell that Banquo will never himself take
2668-645: The player character is able to receive the honorary title of Thane of Whiterun (and other "holds") by completing quests for the local Jarl . The title allows the player to purchase land within various holds, such as Whiterun or Falkreath. Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth ( c. 1603–1607 ). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide , after which she becomes queen of Scotland . Some regard her as becoming more powerful than Macbeth when she does this, because she
2726-412: The region they administered, this was coincidental; providing land tenure was simply the way of paying for their services, the location of their lands not being intrinsically linked to the authority they wielded in any particular region. However, after the death of Alexander III in 1286, thanes differed from their tosach forebears by holding their position as a feudal grant from the crown, rather than
2784-469: The son of an earl , who was at the head of an administrative and socio-economic unit known as a thanedom or thanage. [T]he "thane", though he later developed into a laird , was at first an officer, half royal servant and half landowner, who looked after a portion of the king's land. The earliest documentary record of a thane is in the written judgement of a land dispute settled at a provincial assembly of Fife between 1128 and 1136, at which one attendee
2842-412: The suckling babe with boneless gums whose brains Lady Macbeth would dash out (1.7.57–58) to argue that Lady Macbeth represents the ultimate anti-mother: not only would she smash in a baby's brains but she would go even further to stop her means of procreation altogether. Some literary critics and historians argue that not only does Lady Macbeth represent an anti-mother figure in general, she also embodies
2900-521: The sword returned to him quickly. Scholars have interpreted this to mean that Banquo has been dreaming of murdering the king as Macbeth's accomplice to take the throne for his own family, as the Three Witches prophesied to him. In this reading, his good nature is so revolted by these thoughts that he gives his sword and dagger to Fleance to be sure they do not come true, but is so nervous at Macbeth's approach that he demands them back. Other scholars have responded that Banquo's dreams have less to do with killing
2958-401: The term Taoiseach shares an origin). In Scotland at that time toshach designated a deputy to a mormaer , controlling a particular portion of a mormaerdom on the mormaer's behalf. The English thegn was a more general term, simply referring to landholders of widely varying importance. Having introduced earl to describe mormaers, David used thane to describe toshachs. Functionally,
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#17328447383283016-445: The thane was a territorial administrator, acting under a territorial earl (the latter resembling a Saxon ealdorman rather than the more superficial Norman earl), or royal steward. 12th century evidence makes it clear that the thane's key role was to collect revenue and services from the estates they administered, being permitted to keep some for themselves as "thane's right" ( Latin : ius thani ). Though thanes often held land within
3074-567: The throne in the coup that follows. Holinshed in turn used an earlier work, the Scotorum Historiae (1526–7) by Hector Boece , as his source. Boece's work is the first known record of Banquo and his son Fleance (spelled Banquho and Fleancho in the Latin); and scholars such as David Bevington generally consider them fictional characters invented by Boece. In Shakespeare's day, however, they were considered historical figures of great repute, and
3132-407: The throne, but muses in a soliloquy that "I fear / Thou play'dst most foully for 't". He offers his respects to the new King Macbeth and pledges loyalty. Later, worried that Banquo's descendants and not his own will rule Scotland , Macbeth sends two men, and then a Third Murderer , to kill Banquo and his son Fleance . During the melee, Banquo holds off the assailants so that Fleance can escape, but
3190-437: The throne, but will beget a line of kings. Banquo remains sceptical after the encounter, wondering aloud if evil can ever speak the truth. He warns Macbeth that evil will offer men a small, hopeful truth only to catch them in a deadly trap. When Macbeth kills the king and takes the throne, Banquo—the only one aware of this encounter with the witches—reserves judgment for God. He is unsure whether Macbeth committed regicide to gain
3248-616: The witch as an empowered woman. Levin summarises the claim of feminist historians like Hester: the witch should be a figure celebrated for her nonconformity, defiance, and general sense of empowerment; witches challenged patriarchal authority and hierarchy, specifically "threatening hegemonic sex/gender systems". This view associates witchcraft – and by extension, Lady Macbeth – not with villainy and evil, but with heroism. Literary scholar Jenijoy La Belle assesses Lady Macbeth's femininity and sexuality as they relate to motherhood as well as witchhood. The fact that she conjures spirits likens her to
3306-631: Was first performed at the Manchester Festival in 2013 and then transferred to New York for a limited engagement in 2014. Marion Cotillard played the character in Justin Kurzel 's film adaptation opposite Michael Fassbender as Macbeth. Frances McDormand played the character in The Tragedy of Macbeth opposite Denzel Washington as Macbeth directed by her husband Joel Coen , the first film directed without his brother Ethan Coen . In
3364-569: Was the son of Fferqwhart, who was the son of son of Murdoch the Thane of "Lochabar", the son of Prince Dorus, who was the son of a King named Erlus, whose kingdom was not identified. According to Frederic van Bossen, Banquo married his 4th cousin Mauldvina the daughter of Thalus the Thane of Atholl, and together they were the parents of Fleance, a daughter called Castisa who married Frederic the Lord of Cromartie, and
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