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Popular Culture Review
It is the lines “’tis much he dares;” (50) and “There is none by he / Whose being
I do fear: and under him / My Genius is rebuk’d” (53—55) that are worth
particular attention here. What is it that Banquo “dares”? And if Banquo is
stronger and smarter than Macbeth, what has he done to provoke Macbeth’s fear
of him?
It is also worth noting that while Macbeth has killed Duncan and the guards
he framed for Duncan’s murder Macbeth has yet to have actually lied. In 2.3
following the arrival of Macduff and Lenox, Macbeth neither admits his guilt
nor denies it. Only in two instances could one say he lies; the first, 2.3.52,
Macbeth corrects the lie immediately. Lenox asks, “Goes the King hence to
day?” (2.3.51) and Macbeth replies, “He does:-he did appoint so” (52). Duncan
did, indeed, “appoint so” the day prior—Macbeth corrects his lie here. The next
moment of possible dishonesty occurs between lines 105-116. Macbeth
exclaims during the conversation about the now dead, suspected murders “O!
yet I do repent me of my fury, / That I did kill them” (2.3.103-104). There is no
reason to doubt the sincerity of this cry as Macbeth was shown to feel guilty
following Duncan’s murder, the only other murder we have seen him commit.
Macbeth exclaimed, “To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself. / Wake
Duncan with thy knocking: I would thou couldst!” (2.2.72-73). Thus a guilty
Macbeth is easily accepted during the scene of discovery, a scene taking place
on the heels of his still unresolved guilt over Duncan.
It is when Macduff asks Macbeth, “Wherefore did you so?” (2.3.105) and
Macbeth replies:
Who can be wise, amaz’d, temperate and furious,
Loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man:
Th’expedition of my violent love
Outrun the pauser, reason.—Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin lac’d with his golden blood;
And his gash’d stabs look’d like a breach in nature
For ruin’s wasteful entrance: there, the murtherers.
Steep’d in the colours of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breech’d with gore. Who could refrain,
That had a heart to love, and in that heart
Courage, to make’s love known? (2.3.106-116)
It appears that Macbeth is calling Duncan’s guards the murderers, and that is a
lie. However, not only does Macbeth never use a definitive noun, neither is it
certain if he is answering the question “why did you kill the guards?” but instead
answering “why did you kill Duncan?” Macbeth’s references to the
“murtherers” consist entirely of “their trade” and “their daggers.” Duncan’s
murderers were Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and a few moments prior to this
scene they were “steep’d in the colours of their trade, their daggers /
Unmannerly breech’d with gore” (113-114). Furthermore, Macbeth has shown a
decided knack for becoming lost in his own thoughts in moments of extreme