Banquo, the Hero of Macbeth
Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is not able to inspire the reader with the characters of the Macbeths. But it is able to give good example with the character of Banquo, who, as most heroes, dies an early death.
In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson says that the ghost of murdered Banquo has the greatest emotional impact on Macbeth of any adverse experience:
He is confident enough, even after the commission of the crime, to put his faith in the Senecan maxim, per scelera semper sceleribus tutum est iter, "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill." After he has been shaken by the appearance of the ghost of Banquo, he reflects,
For mine own good
All causes must give way. I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er;
and this is as near as he ever comes to repentance. (71)
Fanny Kemble in "Lady Macbeth" contests the opinion that the ghost of Banquo is seen at the same time by Lady Macbeth:
Taking the view I do of Lay Macbeth's character, I cannot accept the idea (held, I believe, by her great representative, Mrs. Siddons) that in the banquet scene the ghost of Banquo, which appears to Macbeth, is seen at the same time by his wife, but that, in consequence of her greater command over herself, she not only exhibits no sign of perceiving the apparition, but can, with its hideous form and gesture within a few fee of her, rail at Macbeth in that language of scathing irony . . . (117)
Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare comment that Banquo is a force of good in the play, set in opposition to Macbeth:
Banquo, the loyal soldier, praying for restraint against evil thoughts which enter his mind as they had entered Macbeth's, but which work no evil there, is set over against Macbeth, as virtue is set over against disloyalty. (792)
In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye explains the rationale behind Banquo's ghost in this play:
Except for the episode of Hercules leaving Antony, where mysterious music is heard again, there is nothing really supernatural in Shakespeare's tragedies that is not connected with the murder of the order-figures.
the use of these fierce creatures compared to Banquo shows that Macbeth may be regretting the murder of Banquo. Shows he's not as strong as he portrays himself to be, he's a coward inside, he can't face up to what he's done.
Marx believed that the class system was the main problem and should be demolished. He believed that everyone should be equal and should work together in order to create. In his thoughts in The Communist Manifesto, he tells of all the benefits due to the many changes that will be made in his classless society. Socially everyone will be looked upon as equal, and everyone will contribute to their society. Intellectually, the people will not be selfish and will all come together to combine their ideas. Politically things will be different since there will be no government. Also, religions will be abolished and there will be no higher beings. Economically, property will not be privately owned and everything will be shared by all. In this society, there are many problems and this seems like a great way to bring about change.
In western capitalist societies, communism is portrayed as a system that practices wealth distribution where everyone makes the same amount of money and own the same exact things with no competition. In reality Marx’s idea of communism gives people the chance to develop their skills and advance their potential to the fullest extent, that is actually denied under the capitalist class system. Marx agrees with rousseau that political and civil rights are important and gives the people more power but he takes it further and argues that in order for people to be truly free they must have control on their labor and their production by democratizing the economic and labor system.
Wood, Linda K. “Men and Mission of the Manhattan Project.” World War II July 1995: 38-45. SIRS Research. SIRS Knowledge Source. Manheim Township H.S. Library, Lancaster, PA. 13 Feb. 2003.
Following this murder, Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost at the banquet. He is filled with feelings of regret and, as a result of his troubled mind, sees Banquo's ghost.
In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye explains the rationale behind Banquo's ghost in this play:
Banquo's importance in the play stems, in large part, from his different response to these witches. Like Macbeth, he is strongly tempted, but he does not let his desires outweigh his moral caution:
Here, Macbeth realizes that if something is not done to Banquo, his sons will become Kings. Macbeth can not have this. He had already worried that his soul will go to hell for what he had done. His fear become evident in this scene also, "But to be safely thus: our fears in Banquo Stick deep;" [Act III, S I, L 53-54] Macbeth has Banquo murdered,
The Manhattan Project was led by American physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and directed by General Leslie Graves. The project employed over 130,000 people and the total cost by the end of production was nearly 2 billion dollars, 20 billion dollars in today’s currency. Oppenheimer’s early education was at the Ethnical Culture School in New York. He took classes in math and science and many languages such as Greek, Latin, French, and German. He learned Dutch in only six weeks to give a speech in the Netherlands. He was also interested in classic and eastern philosophy.
As Macbeth is imagining this ghost of Banquo he is clearly not in a healthy state of mind, he becomes disoriented and confused. Lady Macbeth realizes he is revealing he was responsible for the murder of Banquo and takes him aside to speak to her after using an illness as an excuse for Macbeth’s actions. Her excuse, though, may not be made up. Macbeth seems to be hallucinating more than one time since he murdered King Duncan; the murder may have caused him to develop some kind of mental illness causing all these hallucinations and anxiety he has been experiencing. If Macbeth really had developed a mental disorder, he is more susceptible to the manipulation from Lady Macbeth. She uses her previous method of manipulation on him once again. Aside to Macbeth, she asks, “Are you a man?” (3.4.59) Macbeth tries to defend himself by saying he is brave and courageous but is cut off by Lady Macbeth: “O proper stuff! This is the very painting of your fear. This is the air-drawn dagger which, you said, led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, imposters to true fear, …Shame itself! Why do you make such faces? When all’s done, you look but on a stool.” (3.4.61-69) Lady Macbeth overlooks Macbeth’s fear using his past hallucinations as an excuse for the episode he is demonstrating, overlooking the fact that his fear may be real. She also uses the excuse of him not being a man because he is fearful of the ghost he is seeing. Although Macbeth’s fear is true, his masculinity is so important to him, his mind makes the ghost vanish, only appearing again when he illustrates a sign of fear or any sign of
Karl Marx noted that society was highly stratified in that most of the individuals in society, those who worked the hardest, were also the ones who received the least from the benefits of their labor. In reaction to this observation, Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto where he described a new society, a more perfect society, a communist society. Marx envisioned a society, in which all property is held in common, that is a society in which one individual did not receive more than another, but in which all individuals shared in the benefits of collective labor (Marx #11, p. 262). In order to accomplish such a task Marx needed to find a relationship between the individual and society that accounted for social change. For Marx such relationship was from the historical mode of production, through the exploits of wage labor, and thus the individual’s relationship to the mode of production (Marx #11, p. 256).
Banquo's ghost appears in act 3 scene 4 of the play. It comes and leaves a couple times. It sits in Macbeth's seat, yet his comrades call for Macbeth to take the same spot. (III 4, ll. 37-46) This establishes that only Macbeth can see the ghost. The ghost is bloody, as is consistent with Shakespearean era ghosts, as established by the "gory locks." (II 4, l. 48) This whole vision takes place shortly after Macbeth had his friend murdered by three men. It is also important to note that the ghost never utters a sound, an important difference between him and Shakespeare's other ghosts, as will be established later.
“ What man dare, I dare. Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger: Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble . . .” (3.4. 121-122). Instead of acting guilty, Macbeth could interpret this part of his speech by acting as if he was nervous of the sight of Banquo’s ghost. This would give the affect to the audience a feeling of being in a spooky weird vibe. Doing this will set up the rest of the scene and the entire play. “The armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hyrcan tiger: Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble. Or be alive again And dare me to the desert with thy sword . . . If trembling I inhabit then, protest me - The baby of a girl. Hence, horrible shadow! . . . Why so, being gone, I am a man again. .” (3.4. 123-125), Macbeth’s voice should be powerful to hide his nervousness. This will create the affect of this powerful, heroic guy, instead of this mad man talking to a ghost. Lady Macbeth can say her lines with her voice trembling in fear. “ You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting – with most admired disorder” (3.4. 132-134). Lady Macbeth will be mad at Macbeth because he has is acting delirious and out of
One of the greatest debates of all time has been regarding the issue of the freedom of mankind. The one determining factor, for Marx, it that freedom is linked with class conflict. As a historian, Karl Marx traced the history of mankind by the ways in which the economy operated and the role of classes within the economy. For Marx, the biggest question that needed to be answered was “Who owns freedom?” With this in mind, Marx gives us a solution to both the issues of freedom and class conflict in his critique of capitalism and theory of communism, which is the ideal society for Marx. His theory of communism is based on the “ultimate end of human history” because there will be freedom for all humankind. Marx saw communism as the ideal society because it is "the genuine resolution of the conflict between man and man- the true resolution of the strife between existence and essence...between freedom and necessity" that capitalism fosters. Marx was also committed to the notion that theory and action go hand in hand. Marx dismissed earlier thinkers because they (philosophers) "have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it." He also stated "Ideas cannot carry out anything at all. In order to carry out ideas men are needed who can exert practical force". However, Marx would have been appalled by the way his theory of communism was misused. It can be said, though, that Marx's theory of communism was clearly open for interpretation because he failed to offer "principles or guidelines of even the most general kind" for how the system of communism was to be fully established. It was this opportunity for interpretation that made Marx's theory of communism doomed for failure when it was used in practice.
However, this experience is not one that gives him courage or ambition but one that gives him fear, enough to make a man go mad. At the party, Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost which he describes as “a bold one that dare look on that which might appall the devil” (III.vi.63). He begins to act like a madman in front of all those loyal to him and reveals that Banquo is dead. Despite Lady Macbeth’s attempt to cover up his act by blaming it on a childhood illness, Macbeth’s followers begin to lose question their king, lose trust in him, and even wonder if he is the one who murdered Duncan. After the banquet, Macbeth seeks the witches out of their cave so that he can learn more about his future and silence those who are plotting against him despite what the consequences may be. This reveals that Macbeth has completely fallen for the witches prophecy. There, he sees a line of eight kings followed by Banquo’s ghost. The last king holds a mirror to reflect a never-ending line of kings descended from Banquo. When he sees this, he exclaims“ thou art look like the spirits of Banquo: down!” (IV.i.123). This vision confirms that Banquo’s descendants inherit the throne and contributes to Macbeth’s anxiety, fear and to his further loss of control. He becomes even more insecure about his position as king and can no longer make his decisions