Common Misconceptions

⚠️ Common Misconceptions

Misconception 1: "The witches made Macbeth do it" (Sin 1 — plot retelling / Sin 4 — characters as real people)

This is the most common error in the play — treating the witches as causes of the tragedy and Macbeth as their victim. Shakespeare refuses this reading through Banquo. Both men hear the same prophecy. Only Macbeth imagines "horrible imaginings" — Banquo does not. The witches cannot make Macbeth imagine murder; they can only confirm a desire that was already forming.

The essay-level error is to write: "The witches told Macbeth he would be king, so he decided to kill Duncan." The correct analytical move is: "Shakespeare positions the witches as an amplification system, not a motor — they speak to the desire already present in Macbeth, and Banquo's calm response to the same words proves the desire is Macbeth's own, not the witches' creation."

Misconception 2: "Banquo is just a good person who gets unlucky" (Sin 4 — character as real person)

This treats Banquo as a sympathetic man caught in the wrong place. Shakespeare is more precise than this. Banquo suspects the murder ("I fear thou play'dst most foully for't") and says nothing. He is morally compromised by his silence — not a villain, but not simply a victim. Shakespeare uses this compromise to argue that moral neutrality, when you know evil is occurring, is its own form of failure. The essay that says "Banquo was innocent" misses Shakespeare's more complex positioning of him as a foil who is himself flawed.