Macbett and Banco's Comradeship

Macbett and Banco's Comradeship is a relationship forged in service to Duncan and strained when Duncan rewards Macbett with a title Banco had expected to receive. Their exchange makes loyalty sound at first like a common and stable ground: both profess devotion to their sovereign, and Banco calls Macbett a friend and brother. But the witches' knowledge of the coming reward exposes how quickly public favor can turn comrades into rivals. The tension lies not in a declared betrayal, but in the widening gap between Banco's confidence in Macbett and Macbett's awareness that accepting Duncan's favor may injure that confidence.

Shared Service and Allegiance

After the two men have won the war, Lady Duncan arrives seeking news for Duncan and hears Banco confirm the victory. She first mistakes him for Macbett, inviting him to rise as though he were the other general. Banco corrects her: “I'm not Macbett. I'm Banco.” The brief confusion distinguishes the men even as it places them together in the aftermath of the same military success. The scene offers no account of their battle conduct, but it establishes that they have returned from a victory important enough for Duncan to seek immediate news.

When Duncan rewards them, Macbett and Banco answer in parallel. Each thanks him, and each says, “We would have been faithful.” Macbett adds that their service would have continued even without reward, then says, “Serving you is its own reward.” Banco repeats the same declaration. Their near-identical responses frame comradeship as a shared political posture: at this point, both present their service to Duncan as an allegiance that does not depend on payment. Yet Macbett also acknowledges that Duncan's bounty satisfies their natural greed. The speech therefore holds sincere-sounding loyalty beside awareness of material appetite, a tension that becomes consequential when the king's favor is not distributed equally.

The Title That Divides Them

The witches announce the coming inequality before Banco has learned it from court. The Second Witch hails him as one who will not become thane of Glamiss. Banco is startled that they know the title was meant for him and rejects the possibility that he will lose it. The First Witch then supplies the circumstance: Glamiss has died by drowning, and Duncan intends to give the title Baron Glamiss to Macbett while reclaiming the estates for the crown. Banco is to be passed over, and Macbett is to receive the title without the land attached to it.

Banco initially refuses to interpret the decision as evidence against his friend. He reasons that the title alone would have been enough and insists that Duncan is loyal and keeps promises; he cannot understand why Duncan would give the title to Macbett or punish him. The witches answer by naming the altered relation directly: “Macbett is your rival. Your successful rival.” Banco counters with an emphatic catalogue of intimacy and trust: “He is my companion. He is my friend. He is my brother. He is loyal.” The exchange places two readings of the same bond side by side. To the witches, the reward has made rivalry an objective fact; to Banco, comradeship remains the stronger truth, and Macbett's character seems to make suspicion unreasonable.

Different Responses to the News

The news reaches Banco through both prophecy and an officer from the Archduke's court. Alone onstage, Banco recognizes that the witch was right and wonders how she learned the decision so quickly. His attempts to explain her knowledge range from a possible court contact to fanciful technologies for transmitting voices and distant images. This sequence matters to the relationship because Banco does not move directly from surprise to accusation. He searches for an ordinary explanation for the prophecy, then asks whether Macbett might have plotted for the title and whether Duncan has disregarded the risks he took in the king's defense.

Banco's questions mark an actual disturbance in his trust, but he repeatedly resists allowing suspicion to settle. He wonders whether anyone can be trusted, then rejects the thought that he should suspect Macbett, whom he knows too well to doubt. He assigns Duncan's decision to Duncan's own nature rather than to a prompt from Macbett, and imagines that Macbett has not yet heard the news and will refuse to accept it. His loyalty is therefore not simple ignorance: the witches' prediction and the officer's report have given him grounds to reconsider, but he chooses, for now, to preserve his account of Macbett as loyal and virtuous.

Macbett's response reveals a different pressure. He enters calling repeatedly for Banco, explaining that a messenger has summoned him to court and Duncan has told him he will inherit Glamiss's title, though not the lands. He says he tried to object: Banco and he were friends, Banco had done nothing to deserve being passed over, and he had served Duncan loyally. Duncan would not listen. Macbett thus recognizes the injury to Banco before the two men meet to discuss it; he does not present himself as the architect of the decision.

Loyalty Under Strain

Macbett's dilemma is framed as a conflict between personal attachment and obedience to Duncan. If he accepts the title, he may lose Banco's friendship; if he refuses, he risks Duncan's displeasure. He asks whether he has the right to disobey a king whose orders he follows when sent to war, and treats refusal of a reward as a possible act of contempt. His explanation that Baron Glamiss is only a title, since Duncan has annexed the lands, reduces the material value of the prize but does not remove its symbolic force: Banco was passed over, and Macbett was chosen in his place.

The men's differing expectations leave the friendship suspended rather than resolved. Banco expects Macbett to refuse the title, while Macbett wants to explain himself but also admits that he may prefer to wait. He calls the situation tricky and wonders how the witches knew of it and whether their other predictions will come true. Their prophecy has begun to shape the bond before either man has directly confronted the other: Banco tries to protect his trust by imagining Macbett's refusal, while Macbett weighs obedience against the cost to their companionship. The available scenes establish the pressure on their comradeship, not its final outcome. Its significance lies in that early fracture: a title with no estates is still enough to make friendship vulnerable to the distribution of power.