BANQUO
Banquo is a courageous and honourable general
and according to the witches’ prophecy, his children will inherit the Scottish
throne. Banquo thinks ambitious thoughts, like Macbeth, but he does not transform
those thoughts into action. In a sense, Banquo’s character stands as a reproach
to Macbeth, as he represents the path Macbeth chose not to take: a path in
which ambition does not lead to betrayal and murder. Appropriately, then, it is
Banquo’s ghost—and not Duncan’s—that haunts Macbeth. In addition to representing
Macbeth’s guilt for murdering Banquo, the ghost also reminds Macbeth that he
did not rival Banquo’s response to the witches’ prediction.