TEXT:
ACT III - SCENE I. Forres. The palace.
Enter BANQUO
BANQUO
Thou hast it now: king, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird women promised, and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for't: yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity,
But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings. If there come truth from them--
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine--
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? But hush! no more.
Sennet sounded. Enter MACBETH, as king, LADY MACBETH, as queen,
LENNOX, ROSS, Lords, Ladies, and Attendants
MACBETH
Here's our chief guest.
LADY MACBETH
If he had been forgotten,
It had been as a gap in our great feast,
And all-thing unbecoming.
MACBETH
To-night we hold a solemn supper sir,
And I'll request your presence.
BANQUO
Let your highness
Command upon me; to the which my duties
Are with a most indissoluble tie
For ever knit.
MACBETH
Ride you this afternoon?
BANQUO
Ay, my good lord.
MACBETH
We should have else desired your good advice,
Which still hath been both grave and prosperous,
In this day's council; but we'll take to-morrow.
Is't far you ride?
BANQUO
As far, my lord, as will fill up the time
'Twixt this and supper. Go not my horse the better,
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or twain.
MACBETH
Fail not our feast.
BANQUO
My lord, I will not.
MACBETH
We hear, our bloody cousins are bestowed
In England and in Ireland, not confessing
Their cruel parricide, filling their hearers
With strange invention: but of that to-morrow,
When therewithal we shall have cause of state
Craving us jointly. Hie you to horse: adieu,
Till you return at night. Goes Fleance with you?
BANQUO
Ay, my good lord: our time does call upon 's.
MACBETH
I wish your horses swift and sure of foot;
And so I do commend you to their backs. Farewell.
Exit BANQUO
Let every man be master of his time
Till seven at night: to make society
The sweeter welcome, we will keep ourself
Till supper-time alone: while then, God be with you!
Exeunt all but MACBETH, and an attendant
NOTES:
Banquo
Banquo - Thane of Lochabar - was not a historical figure. He appears in Holinshed as if he were one, but this is a fiction cooked up by another ‘historian’ Hector Boece. Boece wrote A History of Scotland in 1526, and fabricated Banquo’s importance as a means of legitimising the claim of his patron, King James the Fifth (grandfather of James the Sixth, the First of England.) Shakespeare likewise seems eager to flatter his patron, King James VI of Scotland and James I of England.
Sennets
The sennet seems to have come from Italian trumpet signal called a sarasinetta. We often hear of sennets and tuckets together, although they were different calls. It seems likely that trumpet calls and announcements were so familiar in Shakespeare’s England that he could manipulate them for dramatic effect. So here, for example - Macbeth’s entrance is heralded by the most extravagantly formal trumpet, for only the most powerful kings. Has Macbeth earned this accolade just yet?
The Arden Dictionary of Music in Shakespeare has a long description of the exciting tale of stage - and musical - directions in the quartos and folios of Shakespeare plays. It attempts to chart the history of when sennets start appearing in the texts - primarily in the Folio - and whether this was a reflection of fashions in the 1620s or Shakespeare’s own stage directions.
Parricide
Not to be confused with homicide (killing a person), regicide (killing a monarch) or patricide (killing a father) - here parricide is the killing of a parent. It can also be used for the murder of any close relative. In some instances, it can also be the noun for the perpetrator of the crime.
Scottish Accents
This is something that hasn’t much crossed my mind but perhaps bears thinking about. I’ve seen at least thirty productions of Macbeth (in several languages!) but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a version performed in Scottish accents. Given that Shakespeare’s Italian plays are not performed with Italian accents - although somehow a tradition of Shylock speaking with a kind of Fiddler-on-the-Roof Eastern-European accent seems hard to avoid - it makes sense that Macbeth isn’t performed in faux-Scottish brogues. And that’s surely a good thing.