How does Shakespeare present the attitudes of Macbeth and Banquo to the
Supernatural?
Shakespeare develops the contrasting attitudes of Macbeth and Banquo to the supernatural to
endear Banquo to the audience and record Macbeths declining heroism. Due to the
superstitions of the era, a Jacobean audience will further trust Banquo’s wariness of the
supernatural and be more wary of Macbeths character when it opposes that. In this essay, I
will explore how, while the “instruments of darkness” intrigued both characters, the attitudes
of Banquo and Macbeth were evolved through moral endurance; the motif of the supernatural
throughout the play allowing Shakespeare to put their morality through a trial of “human
kindness”, and how Macbeth fails.
When first meeting with the witches, Banquo and Macbeth are both notably intrigued by the
supernatural prophecies. While Banquo is more wary than Macbeth, saying the witches are “not like
th’inhabitants of the earth” (thus keeping an important separation between his character and the
supernatural), he still believes the witches, just as Macbeth does. This belief is shown by both
characters’ dialogue, after the witches vanish, repeating the prophecies as truth (“Your children
shall be king/You shall be king”). Shakespeare presents their attitudes to the supernatural as initially
similar though not the same- Macbeth’s use of imperatives in this scene shows his enthusiasm to be
stronger than Banquo’s. This allows for those same attitudes to develop throughout the play.
Additionally, this development is foreshadowed before Ross and Angus come on stage when
Banquo states that Macbeth repeated the prophecies “to th’selfsame tune and words” leaving the
audience with an uneasy feeling that Macbeth has taken the witches’ prophecies and memorised
them as if under a trance. A Jacobean audience, in their superstitious beliefs, would immediately
distrust Macbeth memorising the prophecies and having such enthusiasm. In the same way, they
would also trust Banquo more, being familiar with his wariness of the “instruments of darkness”.
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