Class Blogger #7-34 12/12/18

We began today's lesson with an analysis of Banquo's character. Specifically, we took the lines "Thou hast it now - King, Cawdor, Glamis, all as / As the Weird Women promised, and I fear / Thou played'st most foully for 't." (III, i, 1-3) Here, we looked at Banquo's thoughts and feelings in this point in the story. After a general class discussion, we concluded that Banquo is suspicious of Macbeth's behavior due to everything in the prophecy from earlier in the story coming into fruition.

Then we began our reading of Act III, Scene I as a class. Several of our classmates read and acted out the parts of the scene.

In addition to that, we would occasionally interrupt with our own analysis. At this point in the story, Banquo and Macbeth are very wary of each other. Macbeth fears that because of the prophecy, Banquo's children will take the crown from him and his family. Banquo, on the other hand, fears that Macbeth might murder him on his path for power. With this, we lead into the discussion about character foils.

Character foils are characters that come from the same background or position but have opposing ideologies that counter one other.

Thor and Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe are a notable example of character foils. The two of them are a pair of brothers that were raised together. However, Thor's traditional heroic ideologies oppose Loki's dishonest ones. Other examples in media include Scar and Mufasa from the Lion King in addition to Anakin and Obi-Wan from Star Wars. Jack and Ralph from the Lord of The Flies which we read previously is another good example of this.

In Macbeth, Banquo and Macbeth are character foils. Both men were war heroes that were in great favor with King Duncan. Macbeth, however, is consumed by ambition and is willing to do anything to gain power whereas Banquo, though he has ambitions, settles for whatever fate gives him.

Lastly, at the point in the story where we left off, Macbeth is trying to convince two poor and desperate men to murder Banquo. He blames Banquo for their troubles and mocks their masculinity. This is strikingly similar to what Lady Macbeth does earlier in the story. Earlier in the story, Lady Macbeth tries to convince the passive Macbeth to murder Duncan by both mocking him and enticing him. Now, Macbeth uses the same strategies to convince the two men to murder Banquo. Everything in Macbeth keeps changing and roles keep getting reversed. As the quote goes, "Fair is foul, foul is fair".