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When Macbeth returns to the table Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he has not yet given a toast to the guests.
Macbeth replies,” Sweet rememberancer! Now, good digestion waits on appetite and health on both. Lennox then asks Macbeth to sit down and as he says this the ghost of Banquo appears and sits in Macbeth’s seat. Macbeth then says,” Were the graced person of our Banquo present; who I may rather challenge for unkindness, than a pity mischance.” This is dramatic irony, as he knows Banquo will not be attending as he has just used somebody to kill him yet he tells the guests Banquo is bad mannered for not coming. Ross then asks Macbeth to take a seat. Macbeth glances around the table and sees no place to sit and asks Lennox where. Then Lennox points to the chair and Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth is very shocked at this and says,” Which of you have done this?” Macbeth could be asking who is playing a trick on him or if he is thinking quickly he could be thinking that everyone can see the ghost and so he is asking who has killed Banquo. Macbeth then says that he didn’t kill him and that Banquo should stop shaking his head. The guests then get ready to leave as they think Macbeth is ill. Lady Macbeth then tells the lords that Macbeth usually acts like this and has done so since birth. She tells the lords to ignore him, as it will help him calm down. Lady Macbeth then speaks to Macbeth privately and says,” This is the very painting of your fear. This air-drawn dagger which you said led you to Duncan.” Lady Macbeth is suggesting that he is seeing things and she is very ashamed of his behaviour.
When Macbeth returns to the banquet he finds that Banquo has gone. He then apologises for his behaviour and sits down and drinks wine. He then gives a toast to the general joy of the whole table. The ghost of Banquo returns to the room. He then gives a toast and says,” And to our dear friend Banquo, whom we miss would he were here. To all, and him, we thirst, and all to all. Macbeth then sees the ghost and his anger returns.
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He then tells Banquo that if he were to come in any other form he wouldn’t be scared but no in the form of Banquo. The ghost then leaves and Macbeth wants to carry on the banquet but Lady Macbeth thinks that he will talk of the murders and says to the lords,” I pray you speak not; he grows worse and worse. Question enrages him. At once, good night. Stand not on the order of your going. But go at once. The lords then leave but they are very suspicious as you are supposed to leave in order of your rank but they leave regardless.
I think that on stage you should be able to see the ghost as this puts Macbeth’s feelings across much more clearly. His reaction to the ghost also looks more realistic when the audience can see the ghost.
After the lords have left Macbeth says,” It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood. Stones have been known to move and trees to speak.” This means that Macbeth is afraid that everyone will find out that he murdered Duncan and hired people to kill Banquo. The phrase blood will have blood is a biblical reference and means,” Who so sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”(Genesis 9, 6) This means Macbeth is afraid that he will be killed. Macbeth then tells Lady Macbeth that he will see the witches again. He then says,” I am in blood stepped so far, that should I wade no more returning were as tedious as go o’er. This is dramatic irony, as Macbeth cannot go back as he cannot bring the dead back to life and so he has to go forward killing more people. Macbeth then says,” My strange and self-abuse is my initiate fear, that wants hard use. We are yet but young in deed. Macbeth is saying that he has beginners fear and that as he kills again it will become easier to do.
In the Banquet scene Shakespeare uses lots of short sentences and monosyllables to show Macbeth’s reaction to the ghost of Banquo. He uses short sentences like,” I do forget.” And,” If I stand here, I saw him.”
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When Macbeth speaks to Lady Macbeth near the end of this scene he uses lots of monosyllables,” I hear it by the way; but I will send.” This makes Macbeth sound determined. Shakespeare uses similes like,” Whole as a marble.” And,” As broad and general as the casing air.” He does this to make Macbeth sound intense.
Alliteration is also used in this scene as Macbeth says,” But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound to saucy doubts and fears. Shakespeare creates a supernatural theme. He does this by using words accociated with evil like ‘blood’, ‘murder’, ‘Weird sisters’ and ‘mortal murders’. You can tell that Macbeth is becoming more evil as at the end of the scene he uses lots of rhyming couplets like hand scanned, good blood and self-use abuse. This reminds me of the 3 witches earlier in the play. When the first murderer tells Macbeth of Banquo death he sounds brutal as he says,” With twenty trenched gashes on his head. The least a death to nature.” It sounds brutal as he uses alliteration on the letter T. It creates a horrible picture in my head as the murderer says that any one of the gashes would have killed him and so 20 gashes would just make his face unrecognisable to anybody. From this scene you know that Macbeth is suspicious of Macduff as he says,” How say’st thou, that Macduff denies his person at our great bidding?”
Shakespeare also uses puns in this scene so the reader thinks about the true meaning of what is being said. Like when Macbeth says,” Which of you have done this.” Macbeth could mean who is playing a trick on me or who killed Banquo. This scene is very effective on stage and shouldn’t be left out, as it would ruin the entire play. I have not yet seen a production where this scene has been cut out. This scene is very important for the rest of the play because this is when there is no turning back for Macbeth and when his tragic flaw of wanting power starts to get the better of him.
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