274 MACBETH
that Banquo’s sons will reign
after him. Banquo certainly
suspects Macbeth of villainy:
“Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor,
Glamis, all / As the weird women
promised; and I fear / Thou
played’st most foully for’t” (3.1.1–3).
Macbeth’s decision to have his
friend murdered is taken alone;
he is keen that his wife “Be
innocent of the knowledge” (3.2.46).
Banquo’s murder creates a rift
between husband and wife, and
as a result produces one of the
play’s most thrilling moments:
the appearance of Banquo’s ghost.
Bloody apparition
As Macbeth attempts to join his
guests at the banquet table, he
cannot see a chair reserved for
himself. Although his guests
motion toward an empty seat, the
king recoils in horror and begins to
address Banquo’s ghostly figure,
visible only to himself: “Never
shake / Thy gory locks at me”
(3.4.49–50). The king’s behavior is
sufficiently alarming that it prompts
his wife to placate the bewildered
and discomfited diners: “The fit is
momentary. Upon a thought / He
will again be well. If much you
note him / You shall offend him,
and extend his passion. / Feed,
and regard him not” (3.4.52–57).
In performance this moment
can be played to emphasize the
black humor. If the king’s “fit” is
particularly dramatic then it can
prove impossible for the diners to
“regard him not.” As the king’s
reactions to the ghost grow more
extreme, Lady Macbeth’s need to
take control of the situation becomes
pressing. She takes her husband
aside and tries to reason with him,Macbeth’s mind is, obsessed with
thoughts of blood: “Blood hath been
shed ere now, i’th’ olden time, / Ere
human statute purged the gentle
weal; / Ay, and since, too, murders
have been performed / Too terrible
for the ear. The time has been /
That, when the brains were out,
the man would die, / And there an
end. But now they rise again / With
twenty mortal murders on their
crowns, / And push us from our
stools. This is more strange / Than
such a murder is” (3.4.74–82).
Shakespeare is retracing here
the dynamic between the Macbeths
that he created just after the murder
of Duncan. Having killed the king,
Macbeth froze with bloody daggers
in hand as a wave of nervous
thoughts swamped his mind.
Fortunately for the Macbeths they
were in private, and Lady Macbeth
had been able to shake her husband
from his terrifying thoughts.The witches become a chorus
in Guiseppe Verdi’s opera Macbeth.
Here, the San Francisco Opera
company performs a production
in modern dress in 2007.It will have blood, they say.
Blood will have blood.
Macbeth
Act 3, Scene 4