Baquo's Role In Macbeth

Are you a middle-aged woman with no children and a strong willed or stubborn attitude? Are you financially unstable and have recently been convicted of a theft crime? Do you enjoy gardening and using natural herbs to heal everyday ailments? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions in the early 1600’s you would probably been executed for the crime of witchcraft (Beckmann). During this time in history, there was a great deal of things women were not allowed to do. They were expected to be subservient to their husband, produce many children, and take care of the household. If a woman were to step out of line or do anything that her town deemed out of the ordinary her future was not always guaranteed.
The role of witches inspired many
great literally works and plays including Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth features three witches known as “The Wyrd Sisters”. Throughout the play reveal pieces of the future to Macbeth that eventually end in his demise. It was common for the audience of this play to believe that it was through the fault of the witches that Macbeth killed and lied to get to the throne. However, Macbeth is to blame for all of his actions. The witches merely told him a few visions they had; never did they put a spell on him or force him to anything against his will.

It is in the Act I scene three that Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches and speaks with them.
Banquo- “How far is’t called to Forres? What are these, so withered and so wild in their attire. That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth, and yet are on’t? Live you? Or are you aught. That man may question? You seem to understand me. By each at once her choppy finger laying upon her skinny lips. You should be women and yet you beards forbid me to interpret that you are so.”
Macbeth- Speak if you can! What are you?
First Witch – All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
Second Witch – All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch - All hail, Macbeth, that shalt he kind hereafter (Shakespeare)! In these lines Baquo sees these three strange women while with Macbeth and is very confused by their appearance.
He describes how unappealing, manly and dirty they appear and wonders why they are telling him to be quiet. Macbeth then chimes in and demands that they speak to him. The witches in return call Macbeth by name. This startles him, but he continues to listen. They call him Thane of Glamis, which is his current title at this point, but then follow with “Thane of Cawdor and king”. This is the first time in the play where Macbeth has heard his future from the witches and is soon consumed with every word they would ever tell him. Banquo seems to be somewhat jealous when Macbeth receives his prophecy. He asks, “ What about me?” and is told that his sons will assume the throne even though he will not. Banquo is very confused with everything that is going on at this point in the play. He begins to question if he ate something strange and is hallucinating! It is not until Ross appears and tells Macbeth he is now the Thane of Cawdor that Banquo realizes the prophesy of witches are real. It is quite ironic the way that the original Thane of Cawdor had to give up his title do to crimes of treason when Macbeth will be guilty of the same crime at the end of the
play. Soon after Macbeth has this encounter with the witches he writes to his wife Lady Macbeth to tell her that the battle is over and he relays to her what the witches revealed to him. Lady Macbeth reads the letter and is in shock, but is also worried about her husband. She believes him to be too nice and softhearted to have great power like that. Lady Macbeth has great influence over her husband throughout the play. She questions his manhood and ultimately plays mind games with Macbeth to encourage him to kill King Duncan in Act II. In addition to the belittling of her husband, Lady Macbeth calls upon spirits and begs them to “unsex her and make her blood thick”. She does this to get courage and strength, which are manly traits during this time period. Lady Macbeth is obviously not the traditional wife during this time. It is interesting that she was not accused of witchcraft at a point in the play (Kirsch) she could be considered a silent partner in the murder of Duncan. Macbeth was going mad trying to decide if he should kill Duncan, who was not only a guest in their house, but also his family. In the end, he did take a dagger and kill the king. This was a conscious choice that Macbeth made. He knew what he was doing was wrong because he even said the only reason he wanted to kill Duncan was to have his status. This was a premeditated murder that the three witches had no part in. Once Duncan was pronounced dead his sons fled the country, which left the throne open to Macbeth. The witches then appeared again to Macbeth with three apparitions for him. They told him “Beware Macduff, Beware the Thane of Fife”, “none of women born shall harm Macbeth”, and lastly “ be lion-mettled, proud and take no care who chafes , who frets until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinae Hill shall come against him.” To Macbeth, it seemed impossible for these fortunes to come true. How could a man not be of women born and how would the forest move to Dunsinae Hill? This gave Macbeth an overwhelming false sense of security (Biggins). In the end, Macbeth realizes he was wrong when he comes to battle with Macduff, a man that came into the world through a caesarean section. Macduff slays Macbeth and carries his head while Malcolm proclaimed that order had been restored. It was through Macbeth’s unhealthy ambition and misinterpretation that he betrayed his country and was killed. If he had disregarded what the witches said in the beginning of the play and went on living his life maybe there wouldn’t have been so much misfortune and the prophecies would still have came true, but under different circumstances. The witches’ words may have motivated Macbeth to commit treason and murder; however, there is no one to blame but Macbeth.