Little Baby Banquo

Assured by his henchman that the foul deed was done, Macbeth came down to dinner and was confronted by Banquo’s ghost, floating wherever he turned his gaze but visible to none but he.

Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
Thy gory locks at me.

Somewhat alarmed at his rambling, guests appreciated Lady Macbeth’s assurances that their lord “hath been from his youth” subject to fits of unsettling self-absorption. Just ignore the strange behaviour, she advised, and sup heartily at the table of his largesse. Then, turning to her husband, she quietly upbraided him for the embarrassing scene. Macbeth, however, could not be silenced.

    …the times have been,
That, when the brains were out, the man would die,
And there an end; but now they rise again,
With twenty mortal murders on their crowns,
And push us from our stools: this is more strange
Than such a murder is.

It is only fiction, of course, but after Macbeth’s defeat, Banquo’s heir restores to the throne a line of rulers just and right.

Act III, Scene IV of the Scottish Play can be enjoyed in full via the link below.

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