Macbeth kills Banquo because he sees Banquo as another threat to the throne. In the Witches’ original prophecy, they proclaim that Macbeth will be king but that Banquo’s son and descendants will be the future kings, while Banquo will never be king himself.

Macbeth says, “To be thus is nothing,/But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo/Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature/Reigns that which would be feared” (52-55).

Macbeth has every reason to fear Banquo because Banquo represents an end to Macbeth’s rise to power. In fact, the witches reveal that Banquo’s sons will be kings. Even though Macbeth is prophesied to be king himself, his children will not follow him in the reign; Banquo’s will.

Banquo seems kingly, and he is brave and wise and loyal. Further, Macbeth is jealous of Banquo because Macbeth has no heirs of his own, and Banquo does. “No son of [Macbeth’s]” will succeed him, unlike Banquo, whose descendants will, he is told, go on to become kings (3.1.

The murderers kill Banquo, who dies urging his son to flee and to avenge his death. One of the murderers extinguishes the torch, and in the darkness Fleance escapes. The murderers leave with Banquo’s body to find Macbeth and tell him what has happened.

Why does Macbeth say he can’t kill Banquo himself? He doesn’t want to risk his and Banquo’s friends finding out.

He is worried that Banquo’s son will take over from him. Even though Banquo is his best friend, he pays some thugs to murder him and his son. The thugs brutally stab and kill Banquo, but his son, Fleance, runs away.

Macbeth killed Banquo because of the prophecy that his sons would be king, and because he thought Banquo was suspicious that Macbeth got his crown through less than proper ways. Macbeth was right.

In act 3, scene 1 of Macbeth, Macbeth convinces two murderers to kill Banquo and Banquo’s son, Fleance, by inciting their anger and resentment toward Banquo for denying them promotions and keeping them in lowly, subservient positions.

How Macbeth persuade the murderers to kill Banquo? He convinces them by talking about how good they would feel to get rid of the man who pushed them towards an early grave and put their families in poverty forever. He tells them that unless they are the worst, most scared type of man they should be able to kill him.

Macbeth tells Macduff and Lennox that when he went to Duncan’s room and found him dead, he became enraged by the sight of the guards, covered in blood and holding the daggers, and killed them. He claims it was in his grief he committed the murder to avenge Duncan’s death.

She pretends to faint in order to distract Macduff’s attention away from Macbeth and to avert suspicion from herself and her husband. She was an instrumental participant in Duncan’s murder and deliberately pretends to faint to give the impression that she is shocked by the tragic situation.

Macbeth

King Duncan is a kind and gracious king, but he has definable weaknesses. Throughout the first act he exhibits a susceptibility to being challenged and overcome, since he is unable to quell rebellions himself and must rely upon his warriors.

Lady Macbeth says that she didn’t kill Duncan because he looked too much like her father as he slept. Perhaps she feels, deep down, that as a woman she is not capable of committing murder; or perhaps Shakespeare just gave her this weak excuse to keep the focus of the plot on Macbeth and his deeds.

He realizes the truth. Macbeth killed Duncan and then killed the two guards to keep them from giving any evidence. They were dead men anyway from the time Macbeth and his wife hatched the plot to murder Duncan. The grooms were to be smeared with blood and found that way when Duncan’s body was discovered.