Conflict

After seeing how the whole situation with Banquo played out, I was reminded of a song which to me seems to accurately describe the conflict between Banquo and Macbeth. This is assuming that Banquo was a ghost who could only be seen by Macbeth, and not just a hallucination. A Youtube video of the song should appear below. The video isn’t that great, but the lyrics to the song seem really accurate in their description of the Macbeth v. Banquo conflict.

The ghost of Banquo feels betrayed by how his close friend lied to him about not thinking about the prophecy, and then, of course, had him murdered in cold blood. He is angry but also hurt. The person who is “gluing tinsel” to Macbeth’s crown is Lady Macbeth. What it means is that she’s psyching him out to do what he has to do for power, and making him feel that he has the power to do whatever he wants. This ultimately causes Macbeth to become brash and filled with overconfidence. Macbeth’s love for his wife and her stealthy coercion forces him to feel compelled to betray another relationship. Banquo would want nothing more than to forget their friendship, but he wants to see Macbeth again to remind him of his guilt, knowing that Macbeth would be overwhelmed by it.
(Here’s a link to the lyrics: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Kissing-The-Lipless-lyrics-The-Shins/E034340DEE79CB2148256DDF000BA30F.)