This definitions covers Key Terms for This Topic within Banquo and the Witches for GCSE English Literature. Revise Banquo and the Witches in Macbeth for GCSE English Literature with 10 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 9 of 14 in this topic. Make sure you can use the exact wording confidently, because definition marks are often lost through vague language.
📖 Key Terms for This Topic
- Foil
- A character who, by contrast, highlights the qualities of another character. Banquo is Macbeth's foil: same situation, opposite response, illuminating Macbeth's ambition as a choice.
- Equivocation
- The use of language that is technically true but deliberately misleading. The witches' prophecies are equivocal — each is accurate, but structured to lead Macbeth to the wrong interpretation.
- Dramatic irony
- When the audience knows something a character does not. Dramatic irony saturates Banquo's scenes: we know he suspects Macbeth; Macbeth does not know he is suspected.
- Soliloquy
- A speech addressed directly to the audience, revealing a character's true thoughts. Banquo's brief soliloquy in 3.1 ("I fear thou play'dst most foully for't") is dramatically ironic because Macbeth has already planned his murder.
- Tragic structure
- In five-act Shakespearean tragedy, Act 3 is the structural hinge — the point after which the tragic hero cannot reverse course. Banquo's murder in 3.3 and the ghost in 3.4 mark this hinge precisely.
Practice questions for Banquo and the Witches
Which characters speak the line 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair' in Act 1 Scene 1 of Macbeth?
Explain how Shakespeare uses Banquo as a foil to Macbeth. What argument does this structural choice allow Shakespeare to make? [2 marks]
Quick recall flashcards
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
<div class="fc-quotation-meta"><span>The Witches</span><span>Act 1 Scene 1</span><span>Appearance vs Reality · Moral inversion · Structure</span></div><p><strong>What it shows:</strong> Shakespeare opens the entire play with four words that invert the moral universe. The chiasmic structure (fair/foul → foul/fair) performs the confusion it describes. Nothing will be what it appears: Duncan's loyal thane will kill him; his wife's loving support is murderous planning; the witches' truths are traps.</p><div class="fc-quotation-significance"><strong>Significance</strong>This is the play's thesis statement in one line. Shakespeare places it before any character or plot has been introduced — the audience enters a world where inversion is the rule. Every subsequent appearance vs reality moment (Duncan's "O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!", the serpent/flower instruction) extends this opening inversion.</div><div class="fc-quotation-deployment"><strong>Use in essays on</strong>the witches; appearance vs reality; the supernatural; ambition; the play's moral structure; how Shakespeare uses form to argue.</div>
What is equivocation, and how do the witches use it?
Equivocation is language that is technically accurate but structured to mislead. The witches' prophecies are equivocal: 'none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth' is literally true (Macduff was delivered by Caesarean section) but Macbeth hears it as absolute protection. Each prophecy gives Macbeth a truth that leads him to a wrong conclusion. Shakespeare uses the witches' equivocal language to argue that evil exploits the gap between what is said and what is understood.