MACBETH
[Aside] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor! The greatest is behind. To ROSS and ANGUS Thanks for your pains. To BANQUO Do you not hope your children shall be kings, When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me Promised no less to them?
BANQUO
That trusted home Might yet enkindle you unto the crown, Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange: And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray's In deepest consequence. Cousins, a word, I pray you.
Macbeth responds to Angus’s pronouncement, and we get our first aside of the play. This is the first time we get unmediated access to Macbeth’s thoughts, and the aside confirms the to us that he is taken with the witches’ words and that they have cast a (metaphorical) spell over him. He reflects that “the greatest is behind”, suggesting he now believes the prophecy of kingship to be true and that the “greatest” of the prophecies will occur next. Whereas their initial response to the prophecies seemed jovial, Macbeth quickly seems to trust the witches, though Banquo remains more sceptical in their discussion. Macbeth expresses his confusion, given the witches have “promised no less” to Banquo’s children. Banquo’s response seems measured, whilst also telling Macbeth what he wants to hear. Believing the witches “might yet enkindle you unto the crown”, bring it to fruition. The imagery of fire in “enkindle” creates a rather powerful depiction of monarchy and Macbeth’s rise to it. It suggests a blaze (of passion, of violence, of ambition) and perhaps something that will burn up as quickly as it will burn out. Banquo’s words are conditioned by the warning that “’tis strange” – either foreign and ‘other’, unusual, unfamiliar or surprising. Either way, it is enough to make Banquo suspicious, and he offers a warning, foreshadowing the premise of the future tragedy of Macbeth. He predicts that the “instruments of darkness” (the witches as a mouthpiece of the devil) “tell us truths” … “to win us to our harm”, suggesting the witches’ agency in his downfall. The prophecies are “honest trifles” – minor, frivolous distractions – which will lure Macbeth before they “betray’s” [betray us]. The Arden Shakespeare makes a link here to James I’s ‘Daemonologie’: “for that old and craftie serpent being a Spirit, he easily spies our affections, and so conformes himself thereto to deceive us to our wracke”. Banquo seems to be in conversation with this belief and he warns that the witches’ words may seem appealing, but, like the “flower”, disguise the “serpent under’t”. In a play in which “fair” things become “foul”, Banquo’s warning seems apt and he takes aside Ross and Angus to allow Macbeth time to reflect on it.
- Joe and Hannah