Banco—Duncan

Banco—Duncan traces the collapse of a political bond: Banco serves Duncan with his own army, resents the king’s demands on his property and forces, and ultimately joins in killing him. The relationship moves from service through conspiracy to regicide, then survives in Banco’s retrospective guilt, where loyalty and grievance no longer offer him a defense against what he did.

Service and Grievance

Banco’s position under Duncan combines personal military service with economic subordination. He says that he fought for the king at the head of his own personal army, yet Duncan continues to take ten thousand chickens a year from his estates, along with their eggs. Banco presents this extraction as an enduring condition: his estates remain as they were, while the king’s claim on their produce persists. His complaint makes the bond feel less like reciprocal service than a relationship in which Banco supplies resources without gaining greater security or standing.

The military arrangement is also under threat. Duncan wants to merge Banco’s personal army with his own, and Banco fears that the king intends to turn Banco’s men against him. Macbett answers that Duncan wants to do the same to him, making Banco’s resentment part of a wider shared grievance rather than an isolated dispute. Yet it is Banco who specifies the danger to his force: an army that has served under his own command may be absorbed into the king’s power and used against its former leader. His military service thus becomes the very ground on which he anticipates losing control.

From Service to Conspiracy

Banco and Macbett turn their complaints into a demand for self-rule and agree that Duncan must be driven out. Banco calls for Duncan’s overthrow, while Macbett joins the declaration. Their language marks a decisive change in Banco’s relation to the king: the former commander who fought for Duncan now treats the king as the obstacle to governing their own affairs.

The proposed replacement, however, reveals that their opposition does not amount to an equal partnership. Macbett suggests dividing the kingdom, but reserves the throne for himself and offers Banco the position of chamberlain. Banco reformulates that offer as second-in-command. The exchange establishes a new hierarchy before Duncan has been removed: Banco participates in the plan to overthrow the king, but Macbett imagines himself as sovereign and Banco as subordinate. Their shared hostility therefore rests alongside an unequal distribution of anticipated power.

Regicide and Reversal

When Duncan is trapped during the confrontation, Banco and Macbett both denounce him as a murderer. Duncan calls them murderers in return. The accusation is sharpened by what follows: after Duncan is brought down, Banco strikes the first blow, and Macbett stabs him again. Banco’s action makes the change in their relationship physical and irreversible. The man who once fought at the head of his own army for Duncan becomes one of the king’s killers.

Banco later explains that he acted because he bore Duncan a grudge. He also recalls that Duncan could not constitutionally have transferred the throne by abdication, so Macbett’s ascent depended on Duncan’s death or on taking power by force. This retrospective account connects Banco’s personal resentment to the political consequence of the conspiracy: his grievance helps him participate in an act that clears the way for Macbett’s rule, though Banco does not receive the throne he had helped make possible.

Remorse and the Meaning of the Bond

After the killing, Banco cannot treat his former service as an exoneration. He admits that he had a hand in Duncan’s murder and says that he is sorry; the deed continues to occupy his thoughts. He also recognizes the resemblance between his own breach of loyalty and Macbett’s: Macbett had promised to be faithful to Duncan and then killed him, just as people may say Banco did. The comparison does not undo Banco’s distinct grievance, but it strips that grievance of its power to make the killing seem innocent.

Banco’s remorse is intensified by the contrast between his outcome and Macbett’s. Macbett has gained power and success, while Banco doubts that the promised chamberlainship will be honored and has no comparable advantage to stifle his guilt. His final reflections turn away from Duncan toward the future promised by The Witches: Banco imagines fathering a line of rulers, although he has no children and is not married. That projected dynasty offers some consolation, but it does not settle his present relation to Duncan. The bond ends not in restored loyalty or political reward, but in Banco’s acknowledgment that resentment led him to kill the king he once served.