MACBETH
[Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.
BANQUO
New horrors come upon him, Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould But with the aid of use.
MACBETH
[Aside] Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.
Many characters, not just the witches, foreshadow the future tragedy; from Macbeth’s wife to his dearest friend, each unknowingly spells out their own tragic fate. Banquo’s comment on his “rapt” companion creates a link through Macbeth’s daydreaming habits, to the banquet scene of 3.4, where – fittingly - Macbeth is consumed by the vision of Banquo’s dishevelled corpse, reanimated and vengeful, taking his place on the Monarch’s stool. Banquo expresses how Macbeth is not used to his newfound titles, which “like our strange garments, cleave not their mould”, a line made more poignant when Macbeth takes the throne by force, his illegitimate methods bringing him the ruin of a traitor, not the glory of a king. The imagery of clothing extends Macbeth’s earlier concern that these are “borrow’d robes”, a sign of hypocrisy and pretence rather than a valid signifier of noble identity. Banquo is less critical, suggesting that, though the titles fit uncomfortably for now, they will fit better “with the aid of use”, with time. Though “cleave” most likely means to ‘cling to’ (a now obsolete definition), there is potential for ambiguity, as it also means to split or divide by force, and Macbeth will be torn apart, his “single state of man” shaken by his ambition to acquire the trappings of royalty. Besides Banquo’s worrying, Macbeth’s asides set up a key question to the audience: is Macbeth’s regicidal reasoning the only road to royal succession? Macbeth seems at the end of these asides to accept passivity as a path, realising that “chance” will run its own route and determining to focus on the present “time and the hour”, a proverbial phrase acknowledging the limitations of human power to forces beyond man’s control. What is left for debate is whether these forces beyond his control are political inevitabilities of an unstable region or supernatural, enchantments of the witches’ prophetic promises.
- Ken
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