Your Name _________________________________________
The name of your partner ______________________________
To be thus is nothing..(III.1.51-76) Macbeth won’t be happy
until Banquo and his son are out of the way.
With a partner, read sections of the soliloquy. Your partner should
comment after each poem, and YOU WRITE DOWN ON YOUR SHEET
WHAT YOUR PARTNER SAYS. (leave room for your own
interpretations, too)
To be thus is nothing.
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question, comment, clarify, connect
But to be safely thus.
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Our fears in Banquo stick deep
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And in his royalty of nature reigns
that which would be feared.
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‘Tis much he dares, and to that
dauntless temper of his mind he
hath a wisdom that doth guide his
valor to act in safety.
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There is none but he whose being
I do fear;
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And under him my genius is
rebuked, as it is said Mark
Antony’s was by Caesar.
He chid the Sisters when first they
put the name of King upon me,
and bade them speak to him.
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Then, prophet-like, they hailed
him father to a line of kings.
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Upon my head they placed a
fruitless crown and put a barren
scepter in my gripe,
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Thence to be wrenched with an
unlineal hand, no son of mine
succeeding.
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If’t be so, for Banquo’s issue have
I filed my mind
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For them the gracious Duncan
have I murdered;
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Put rancors in the vessel of my
peace only for them
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And mine eternal jewel given to
the common enemy of man to
make them kings, the seed of
Banquo kings!
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Rather than so, come, Fate, into
the list, and champion me to the
utterance!
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Who’s there?
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1. What are Macbeth’s reasons for wanting Banquo dead? Give at least two.
2. Given these reasons, does he have any choice? Is there any other way he can feel
safe?