However, Macbeth interjects his sentence by addressing the murderer. ’There’s blood upon thy face’ illustrates Macbeth’s anxiety again. As he finds out that it is the blood of Banquo he replies, ’tis better without than he within,’ displaying the cold-hearted stony side of his character, stating he is happy that Banquo is dead rather than alive. Macbeth also refers to Banquo as an inanimate object,’ Is he despatch’d?’ he asks the murderer suggesting that it is a business matter and Banquo is just a obstacle or package to be rid of. He is happy to hear the news he anticipated and praises the murderer as ‘the best of cut throats,’ fuelling the audiences ideas of Macbeth being a heartless, bloodthirsty monarch.
Nevertheless, these impressions of Macbeth are short lived because when the murderer tells Macbeth that Fleance escaped, Macbeth’s reaction makes him seem panic stricken and desperate.’ Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect…. Cabin’d, cribb’d, confin’d,’ Macbeth appears to be feeling ‘bound in’ and claustrophobic by the news. The audience may feel compassion towards Macbeth as he starts to feel the pressure and the extent of the crime he has committed. Some audience members may feel that Macbeth has let the situation spiral out of control and has become weak by doing so. Others may believe that Macbeth has not finished his killing spree and may go to further, much more extreme lengths to be rid of Fleance. As the Ghost of Banquo sits in Macbeth’s place, Macbeth struggles to conceal his crime and in his paranoia accuses his subjects saying, ’Which of you have done this?’. This along with his protests of innocence,’ Never shake thy gory locks at me,’ frustrate the audience as Macbeth has been a hero for so long, and has succeeded in most things cannot even keep quiet about the atrocity he has committed.
Macbeth has himself so worked up about the appearance of Banquo’s ghost and the guilt, that Lady Macbeth has to let the guests go as Macbeth has ‘spoiled the pleasure of a time.’ This shows Macbeth to be very cowardly and to the audience he loses his title as a hero as it is Lady Macbeth who has to step in and rectify the damage Macbeth has done.
The audience’s feelings towards Macbeth are toyed and change so rapidly from beginning to end of the scene and so this makes the scene exciting. What makes the scene so important is that we see the inner struggle and turmoil within Macbeth and his mind.
The banquet is such an important occasion as it is Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s chance to show their fellow Lords that they are worthy of being King and Queen. It is the first formal occasion that they have to host and they are keen to make a good impression.
Macbeth is at the head of the table and tells his subjects to ‘know your own degrees’ and ‘sit down’, making his authority known, and reminding the Lords who he is. Even though the Lords thank Macbeth kindly and address him as ‘your majesty’, Macbeth then contradicts himself by saying that tonight at the banquet he will ‘play the humble host’. By saying this he plays down his role as King, to earn the respect of his subjects or to not seem to over confident. He does not known at this point whether his plan to eliminate Banquo has succeeded, and so Macbeth could be unsure of his position.
When Macbeth leaves the table to converse with the murderer, Lady Macbeth makes sure he goes back to the table and almost pleads with Macbeth saying,’ the sauce to meat… where bare without it.’ The Lords attending the banquet do not have Macbeth’s full attention and Lady Macbeth does not have her husband to provide support in providing a successful banquet. Macbeth is the most important part of the banquet and it is vital that his undivided attention is given to the occasion for the success of the evening depends on him. If he did not it would be like eating dry meat, which is not very nice in actual fact.
Lady Macbeth acts as an aid to Macbeth during the course of the scene. When Macbeth greets them, giving them ‘the hearty welcome,’ Lady Macbeth does the same and embraces them; ‘for my heart speaks they are welcome.’ Lady Macbeth welcomes them in a warm way speaking to them as ‘friends’. The fact that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth mention the heart during their welcomes highlights the portrayal of unity they are trying to give.
Even though Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth, King of Scotland making her Queen by default, she does not talk to Macbeth in a way that one would expect a married couple to address each other but she refers to him as ‘sir’ and ‘my royal lord.’ Lady Macbeth is keen to make sure that everyone including herself is respectful of the power, which Macbeth possesses. She also wants to make things appear to be that she is a first a woman
.i.e. A wife who submits and is weaker than her husband Macbeth. This is not the case as when the couple go to murder Duncan in the night, she accuses Macbeth of being pathetic saying, ’Screw your courage… and we’ll not fail.’ Lady Macbeth appears to be the stronger and the more determined of the two, telling Macbeth to gather up all his courage to be able to succeed.
When Macbeth starts to witter on about the Ghost of Banquo, she sharply reminds him that his ‘friends do lack you,’ meaning that his attention has been lost to him worrying about the ghost. She prompts him to remember the fact that the evening must go well, but when she is out of her depth she saves the day by saying that Macbeth ‘spoils the pleasure of a time,’ and that the Lords should go home. She aids Macbeth again here.
The Lords say very few words during the scene but when they do they appear to be concerned for Macbeth and respect Macbeth. Even though it is Macbeth who called them to the palace to have the banquet, Ross, a Lord still asks Macbeth to,’ grace us with your royal company’ for dinner. In this scene Macbeth is the King, the supreme monarch and is in charge of the situation. However when he fails to execute the occasion, instead of one of the Lords, who are men to jump to the rescue it is Lady Macbeth who saves the day and appears to be stronger and wiser than her husband is.
The most important action during the scene is the appearance of the Ghost. The Ghost provokes so many different reactions of those at the Banquet, especially the Lords and Lady Macbeth because the Ghost is only a figment of Macbeth’s imagination.
The effect that the appearance of the Ghost of Banquo has on Macbeth at first is that it catches Macbeth unawares. Macbeth has to have his wits about him and recover quickly saying, ’Our country’s honour…graced person of our Banquo present.’ He does not reveal the secret but rather he says Banquo’s presence is missed and so appears to be caring.
Macbeth dares the Ghost of Banquo and this gushing makes him seem crazy to his guests. ‘Dare me to the desert with thy sword,’ Macbeth threatens the Ghost. Macbeth has to rant on and on, to work through his problem.
Because Macbeth is rambling on and on, Lady Macbeth fears that he may tell the guests of the murders that she and Macbeth have committed. So Lady Macbeth ends up lying and excusing Macbeth’s strange behaviour because the Ghost of Banquo has appeared. ’My lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth.’ Lady Macbeth tells the Lords that Macbeth acts like this most of the time. However Macbeth’s irrational mumbling develops, and she tells the Lords to ‘go at once.’ The effect that the Ghost has on Lady Macbeth is that she is not able to be an effective hostess.
The effect that the appearance of the Ghost of Banquo has on the Lords is that they become concerned for Macbeth’s welfare and are alarmed by his behaviour. ’What sights, my lord?’ Ross questions. He does not seem to understand what is going on but wants to help so wants to know what the cause of the problem is.
It is possible to have a character play the Ghost of Banquo, or not to have one as the Ghost of Banquo does not say anything at all.
If you had an actor playing the Ghost of Banquo, it would have to be very obvious that the character was a ghost but the actor would have to be adequately made up and have the ‘gory locks’ and ‘twenty trenched gashes,’ which Banquo is described to have had. The make up and costumes would have to be particularly effective and look real to the audience.
However, as the Ghost of Banquo is only a figment of Macbeth’s imagination it may be more successful to not have an actor at all. The actor playing Macbeth may have to be very good at pretending that the Ghost is there when it really isn’t, and if the actor is not excellent this could make the play look very unprofessional.
When the murderer comes on, with ‘blood on thy face,’ he seems very out of place in a banqueting hall full of Lords. The murderer gets the full attention of Macbeth as soon as he walks in, as Macbeth is anxious to find out about the fates of Banquo and Fleance. Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to get back to the guests, and entertain them, and this increases the tension.
The positions of the murder could be in a variety of places. If he was in full view of the guests that would make the guests suspicious to why a man with blood has just turned up at that their formal occasion, which is not what Macbeth and Lady Macbeth would have wanted. However, the murderer has to stand in a place that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can see him. This suggests that Macbeth was sitting at the head of the table with a door on the opposite side of the room to him so he could see the murderer.
These incidents are interesting and exciting as they provoke an audience response. Both the appearances of strange characters: the murderer and the Ghost of Banquo nearly betrays a confidence for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and show their true feelings and desires. This is why I believe that the action during the scene makes the scene exciting, interesting and important.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship appears to be very united and strong at the beginning of the scene. This is because they want to make a joint impression, and it is something of importance to the both of them.
When Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo he starts to panic. ‘Never shake thy gory locks at me,’ Macbeth says to protest his innocence. Lady Macbeth does not support husband here but is more concerned in maintaining a relaxed atmosphere. ‘Sit, worthy friends- my lord is often thus, and have been from his youth.’ She does not see to her panicky husband straight away, she makes excuses for him. By calling her ‘worthy friends,’ shows she cares more about making sure their guests are comforted so they do not leave.
However, Lady Macbeth does not speak so kindly to her husband, she questions his manhood and bravery by saying, ’Are you a man?’ By challenging Macbeth in this way, she mocks his masculinity. When Macbeth does not answer properly, she manipulates him further.’ O proper stuff!’ She ridicules him obviously frustrated with his lack of interest in entertaining his guests. She also mentions the killing of Duncan where she also raised doubts over Macbeth’s manhood. She describes Macbeth’s vision as ‘a woman’s story at a winter’s fire.’ By describing his visions as an old wife’s tale, Lady Macbeth appears to be emotionally stronger in the relationship, and she associates all his signs of weakness with being a woman which is unusual because she is a woman but seems to be more aggressive and male.
Macbeth appears to be very naïve in the scene, which is why Lady Macbeth can manipulate him the way she does. When the ghost disappears for a little while and he starts to talk properly again. ‘When now I think you can behold such sights, and keep the natural ruby of your cheeks.’ He has not realised that he is the only one who can see the ghost and therefore this emphasises how naïve Macbeth can be. It appears that Macbeth still believes he is the powerful spouse, as he has seen such terrible sights and Lady Macbeth hasn’t, when the truth is that she has.
From this scene we can learn that there is an imbalance in the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth relationship. Lady Macbeth is the strong, manipulative spouse, and Macbeth looks to be the weaker, naive spouse. The stranger thing about their relationship is that when they start to be united in their beliefs something always interrupts and shows one spouse to be fiercer than the other, more often than not Lady Macbeth. In their relationship their roles are reversed, the woman is the husband and the man is the wife and this oxymoronic idea makes this scene so interesting and exciting.
When addressing his guests, Macbeth’s mentality appears to be stable and strong. He appears to be confident in addressing at the beginning of the scene telling them to ‘know your own degrees.’ Macbeth seems to be behaving in the way one would expect the King to act at the banquet. Macbeth looks to respect his guests as he calls himself the ‘humble host,’ highlighting that fact that he wants to be seen as an equal to his guests. Even when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have their disagreement, and has to reminded of the purpose of the evening, Macbeth excuses himself saying,’ I have a strange infirmity, which is nothing to those who know me.’ Macbeth does not want his guests to think of him as their frantic monarch but a King who can recover and compose himself after a little ordeal. When with his subjects, Macbeth’s mentality is to impress his Lords in whichever way is possible to him- being seen as an equal, appearing to be strong and authoritative.
In addressing his wife, Macbeth’s mind seems to be in a state of naivety and weakness. As Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth, Macbeth does not give a proper answer. He shouts short sharp exclaims of, ’Behold! Look! Lo! How say you?’ towards the ghost. This emphasises his inability at the time to speak properly to his wife and Macbeth appears desperate. When the ghost finally disappears, and Lady Macbeth asks him, ‘What, quite unmann’d in folly?’ inquiring why he has been so foolish. Macbeth appears uncertain of what he saw, just by the way she asked him. ‘If I stand here, I saw him.’ This underlines Macbeth’s mental instability. He was so sure of what he was seeing he started talking to it, and when Lady Macbeth disputes why he was acting so thoughtlessly, he does not have proper explanation. He appears to be weak because he does not stick with his vision and does not even address his wife who asked him in the first place. But Macbeth talks to himself and questions himself.
However in his normal state of mind at the end of the scene. Macbeth demands,’ what is the night?’ and Lady Macbeth answers him without any ironic or witty remark. ‘How say’st thou that Macduff denies himself at our great bidding?’ Macbeth also asks her. Lady Macbeth almost has to tell him to be reasonable by asking Macbeth, ’Did you send to him, sir?’ However by treating Macbeth with the respect he deserves Lady Macbeth allows ideas to formulate his mind and they both seem in quite calm states of mind as Macbeth plots against Macduff.
When talking to himself, Macbeth appears to go on and on, working through his problem but raving the whole time. He seems afraid, as the vision of ‘twenty mortal murders’ plays on his fears. ‘There an end; but now they rise again.’ Macbeth wants to know why people are resurrecting. During this, Macbeth realises that the consequences of his actions are never ending, and he must face them even though he can’t comprehend the extent of them.
‘Can such things be, and overcome us like a summer’s cloud?’ Macbeth says to himself later in the scene. His peaceful state of mind appears to be threatened by a summer’s day cloud. The summer’s day cloud is something, which is associated with being happy, and the normality of summer. The fact that Macbeth rejects normality and feels jeopardised by something which should be happy shows his mixed up and disturbed mentality. However Macbeth works through his problems and come to the conclusion that ‘blood will have blood.’ He accepts responsibility for his actions by saying that as he has killed, he will be killed.
When the Ghost first appears on stage, Macbeth starts by protesting his innocence. Firstly by concealing his crime saying,’ Here had we now our country’s honour roof’d, were the grac’d person of our Banquo present.’ Macbeth has his wits about him to remember to keep his murder a secret. Then Macbeth protests his innocence, ‘thou canst not say I did it.’ He is not only saying he is innocent to those around him but to the audience.
The second time the Ghost appears Macbeth challenges it fearlessly. ‘Quit my sight!’ Macbeth says demanding that the Ghost get out of his sight. ‘What man dare, I dare: approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,’ says Macbeth. He tells the Ghost that he is brave and bold enough to take the Ghost on. Macbeth lists many strong animals, ’rhinoceros’ and ‘tiger’. These animals are very fierce and bold and for Macbeth to want to take them on must have meant that he was tormented severely by the presence of the Ghost and wants to get rid of it.
We get a deeper insight of Macbeth’s complex state of mind because of the Ghost’s appearance and the way in which Macbeth talks to the Ghost. I believe this is how Shakespeare makes the scene so important, by displaying the different states of mind Macbeth has.
So in conclusion, I believe that Act III Scene IV is the turning point in the play because as a result the scene, Macbeth sees the witches and becomes hungry for more power as well as ruthless and complacent. He is informed that ‘for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.’ The scene is an important tipping point, as Macbeth heads in a wrong direction morally, he realises too late that he is ‘in blood stepped in so far, that I should wade no more/ returning were as tedious as go o’er’.
The most memorable thing about this scene is the Ghost of Banquo; Macbeth is forced to face up the consequences of his actions, and in doing so almost gets caught.