We can also see in defiant rage Macbeth asserts the emptiness of the vision. He is angry at feeling frightened and resents any suggestion of cowardice. He even seems to accuse the Ghost of cowardice for appealing insubstantially. He urges it to appear as a bear, rhinoceros or tiger so that he could fight it as a soldier so here we have the image of Macbeth the warrior, which is the only honour that is still in him. When Macbeth speaks of 'Unreal mock'ry', he recognises that he is the victim of some sort of grim joke that the supernatural is playing on him. Also as Macbeth rants at the ghost, we see clearly the consequences of his evil. He thought that he could do whatever was necessary, including despatching an old comrade, without it affecting him. But he was wrong; his moral sense, his imagination, haunts him. We can even say that the ghost is a manifestation of Macbeth's mind - his guilty conscience and absolute horror at what he has done. Images like blood has represented the nightmarish world into which Macbeth's ambition has plunged him. Lady Macbeth can do nothing to stem the flow of his hysterical fear. So now, Macbeth, hysterical at the sight of the ghost, cannot look at or think of anything else, his puffing words now become shouting and talk in sort of despair. Hallucination like this reflect the sense of metaphysical dread that consumes the royal couple as they feel the fateful force of their deeds coming back to haunt them. We see again, Lady Macbeth is doing her best to stop Macbeth's imagination and despite the tentativeness and guilt she displayed in the previous scene, Lady Macbeth here appears surefooted and stronger than her husband, but even her attempts to explain away her husband's "hallucination" are ineffective when paired with the evidence of his behaviour. From the BBC Video version, we even see tears running down her face while she tries desperately to cover up husband and try to make her husband well again. But the banquet is totally ruined and since Lady Macbeth can play the gracious hostess no longer, she asks the guests to leave. Contradicting the opening lines of the scene, she wants no time wasted on social etiquette: they are to go 'at once'. The ghost's final departure returns Macbeth's masculinity to him, i.e. he is 'a man again'.
The banquet is simultaneously the high point of Macbeth's reign and the beginning of his downfall. Macbeth's bizarre behavior puzzles and disturbs his subjects, confirming their impression that he is mentally troubled. So now Macbeth's own damnation is spread to the public. The contrast between this scene and the one in which Duncan's body was discovered is striking- whereas Macbeth was once cold-blooded and sure footed, he now allows his anxieties and visions to get the best of him. Also from this scene as well as some other scenes, an important theme rose. "Throughout Macbeth, as in many of Shakespeare's tragedies, the supernatural and the unnatural appear in grotesque form as harbingers of wickedness, moral corruption, and downfall." [From Sparks Note] Here, the appearance of Banquo's silent ghost and later in the play the reappearance of the witches all symbolize the corruption of Scotland's political and moral health. In place of the dramatization of Macbeth's acts of despotism, Shakespeare uses the scenes involving supernatural elements to increase the audience's sense of foreboding and ill omen. When Macbeth's political transgressions are revealed, Scotland's dire situation immediately registers, because the transgressions of state have been predicted by the disturbances in nature. In Macbeth's moral landscape, loyalty, honor, and virtue serve as weak or nonexistent constraints against ambition and the lust for power. In the physical landscape that surrounds him, the normal rules of nature serve as weak constraints against the horrific ghost of Banquo and the grotesqueries of the witches. Also given the role that Banquo's character plays in Macbeth, it is appropriate that he and not Duncan should haunt Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo heard the witches' prophecies and entertained ambitions. But, unlike Macbeth, Banquo took no criminal action. His actions stand as a rebuke to Macbeth's behaviour and represent a path taken, in which ambition need not beget bloodshed.
The second part of this extract is the conversation that Macbeth had with Lady Macbeth when all the nobles have left. In the Silo Theatre Production, these final lines of dialogue are played slowly in a still and eerie atmosphere. The relics of a failed public occasion are evident in the table, chairs, goblets, etc., but the scene is now private. After the banquet Macbeth realises that he can never escape the bloody consequences of his actions. Now alone with his wife, with the society which has abandoned him, he starts raving about vengeance on him- 'blood will have blood… and rooks brought forth the secretest man of blood.', If the idea of him understanding the consequences of the murders is not clear before, now it should be crystal clear. He knows now that he is doomed by his prescience. At this point Macbeth has entered the mysterious world of evil that he evoked at the end of Act 3 Scene 2. The words he uses now, as in BBC Video Version, is much calmer than before but it also shows deep down in those words it is full of evil. Also from the Production we see both of them seemed exhausted. We also see that Lady Macbeth has suffered more than her husband from the horror and shock, she removes her crown to signify that her royal ambition is now discredited. As Lady Macbeth answered Macbeth's question on time, 'almost at odds with morning, which is which', it catches the play's sense of conflict and blurred perception. Macbeth's mind moves from Banquo to Macduff, his next opponent, who is the only living thane that not attend the required feast. This absence will be very costly to Macduff's family. Macbeth's paranoia causes him to suspect that Macduff's absence is an act of defiance. This paranoia has led Macbeth to establish an extensive spy system, through paid servants, in every nobleman's household. We can see the new regime has created mistrust around Scotland. From this we see that the new regime is very different from the sense of trust, which made Duncan so well loved and so vulnerable. Macbeth determines to visit the Witches, because knowledge of the future, although bad, may reduce the troubles in his mind. From this we see he has given himself totally to the force of Dark.
He threatens that there is more blood to be shed. In BBC Video Version Macbeth actually hold up his hands and it seems there is blood on it. His obsession leads him into the hyperbole of wading through a river of blood, so that going on or turning back are equally 'tedious'. In his imagination, blood is a river; he has waded so far in that it is just as difficult to return as it is to go forward or it is just impossible to go back (he cannot undo the murders of Duncan or Banquo). His powerful image uses antithesis to convey uncertainty. Macbeth could have become paralysed by his fear and exhaustion, but instead he is forcing himself into activity. He intends to reverse the accepted wisdom of good government, whereby careful thought precedes action. In the BBC Video Version Lady Macbeth's voice diminishes, and got much softer, she realises she lost everything. She has few lines now; contrasting to before killing Duncan she had lots of lines. Macbeth on the other hand, before is not sure of what to do and now is firm and takes over the control of this royal couple. We see physically he has the most lines now. Lady Macbeth realises all her hope is gone as Macbeth spoils the banquet. This decline of her and her weariness makes her desperate for sleep. She needs it for herself, and she offers it as the solution for him. But the irony her is neither of them seems to remember their dialogue in Act 2 Scene 2, when Macbeth knew that he had 'murdered sleep'. He has cut himself off from the essential power of renewal that nature has given to all living creatures. Macbeth ends the scene by seeing himself not as a practised criminal, but as a novice in need of more murderous experience: 'We are yet but young in deed.' This is a sign of further misjudgement and decline, which shows he is now a slave of his first act - 'murder' and the consequence of this misjudgement is that he will end up being murdered. Macbeth's lines also end with an extremely important revelation that he has already committed too many crimes to turn back. His only choice, he claims, is to continue his violence and his tyranny. So it seems to have only taken a matter of days for peace under Macbeth's rule to disintegrate.
This extract is very important in the play, we now have a full idea of what the royal couples are really like. We see from this passage how quickly Macbeth can change. As the ghost reappear, we see there is great disturbance in Macbeth's state of mind, so from here we see the coward side of him. But just like before the horror that exist in his heart will quickly disappear. And he knows, he has already given himself to the devil. Lady Macbeth on the other hand, also changes, her boldness started to decline every day, and she can't depend on Macbeth as Macbeth no longer needs her anymore. It looks like that Macbeth has gained all Lady Macbeth's strong characteristics, and gives all his cowardice to her. So Lady Macbeth from here on is haunted daily by the murders they committed, eventually her conscience makes her mad and drives her to suicide. Also from this scene we start to see the collapse of Macbeth reign - his disorder is now spread all around Scotland, this is very important, as this plays suggests to us that only a good king will able to rule a country well.