At first Macbeth does not know that Banquos son has escaped and is in a cheerful and confident mood. He is playing the gracious host. He will not sit in the king’s seat but he will sit amongst the guests. This shows that he believes his position, as king is secure.
The banquet has started and Macbeth gets called out of the room. The murderers are back and they have brought news of the murder. They tell Macbeth that they have killed Banquo, and that Fleance ran away.
This probably makes the turning point for Macbeth insecure and afraid. We have already seen this side of Macbeth, which appeared after he murdered Duncan.
In proposing a toast to the absent Banquo, Macbeth hallucinates. As he turns to face the table, one of the others calls for him to come and sit down. Macbeth looks to the seat they are pointing at, and can see Banquos ghost staring back at him.
I believe that by Macbeth seeing the ghost it represents his guilt to the reader that he is always going to be nervous and subject to insecurity. He cannot rest until every possible threat has been eliminated.
Macbeth answers the other guest by saying that the table is full, this surely must make the other guests wonder what he is talking about. He then asks them who did it? By “it” he obviously meant, he believed that the figure in his chair was prank or something placed there by one of the thanes. Who are not aware of Macbeth’s vision This is the first mistake he makes as know the guests know that he is uneasy about something.
From the guest’s point of view Macbeth is at this point talking and staring at an empty seat. Then he makes it worse for himself by shouting,
“Thou canst not say I did it;
never shake
thy gory locks at me.”
This outburst infers that he is talking to someone who is covered in blood and accusing him of something. The thanes must be thinking that there is something slightly strange happening, especially as Banquo is absent. Lady Macbeth realises whats happening and rushes to his side. Here for the first time Macbeth cannot pull himself out of his panic.
She turns to speak to the guests,
“Sit, worthy friends. My lord is often thus,
and hath been from his youth. Pray you, keep
seat;
You shall offend him and extend his passion.
Feed, and regard him not.”
This was a very smart move by lady Macbeth. The guests will now believe that Macbeth is ill and his actions just a passing mood. Now, the situation under control, lady Macbeth turns and starts to question Macbeth’s manhood in hope of bringing him back to normal.
The ghost is still there and Macbeth is still scared and staring. He points and asks her to look, but she can’t see it. Macbeth says,
“Prithee, see there!
Behold! Look! Lo! How say you?
Why, what care I! If thou canst nod, speak too.
If charnel-houses and our graves must send
Those that we bury back, our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites.”
This shocks Lady Macbeth. I feel that Macbeth has collapsed morally, at this point. He is totally ruining everything he has worked for, its as though he doesn’t realise what he is saying.
The guests after hearing what he said must now be wondering whom Macbeth is talking about. Who has came back from there grave to haunt him? Has Macbeth killed or ordered a murder? All of these questions must be running through the guests’ thoughts.
As if what he has already said is not bad enough Macbeth’s mood is pessimistic unlike in the past. Macbeth felt that in the past when you killed someone that was it. Now they can still come back and haunt him. Lady Macbeth realises that Macbeth is not going to come out of his fit and she tries again to make excuses for his behaviour.
At this point Lady Macbeth realises that she is not going to be able to bring Macbeth out of his hallucination. She gets up and asks all of the guests to leave.
As soon as the guests had left the house Macbeth considers his position and decides to put his trust in the witches. Lady Macbeth gives him her hand and said that they should just sleep. This symbolises that not even his wife can help him now.
Since the banquet has started we have seen many changes in Macbeth. At the start of the scene we can see him as confident and proud. Then as we look at him now, the end of the scene, we can see he has totally broken down. This represents that there is no way for Macbeth to return to his original character. His guests will now all be suspicious. The turning point in his life has definitely occurred in this scene. He can only go down hill from now!
