Popular Culture Review Vol. 20, No. 1, Winter 2009 | Page 58

54 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