<P> Banquo's role in the coup that follows the murder is harder to explain . Banquo's loyalty to Macbeth, rather than Malcolm, after Duncan's death makes him a passive accomplice in the coup: Malcolm, as Prince of Cumberland, is the rightful heir to the throne and Macbeth a usurper . Daniel Amneus argued that Macbeth as it survives is a revision of an earlier play, in which Duncan granted Macbeth not only the title of Thane of Cawdor, but the "greater honor" of Prince of Cumberland (i.e. heir to the throne of Scotland). Banquo's silence may be a survival from the posited earlier play, in which Macbeth was the legitimate successor to Duncan . </P> <P> Banquo is in a third of the play's scenes, as both a human and a ghost . As significant as he is to the plot, he has fewer lines than the relatively insignificant Ross, a Scottish nobleman who survives the play . In the second scene of the play, King Duncan describes the manner in which Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, and Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, bravely led his army against invaders, fighting side by side . In the next scene, Banquo and Macbeth, returning from the battle together, encounter the Three Witches, who predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, and then king . Banquo, sceptical of the witches, challenges them to predict his own future, and they foretell that Banquo will never himself take the throne, but will beget a line of kings . Banquo remains sceptical after the encounter, wondering aloud if evil can ever speak the truth . He warns Macbeth that evil will offer men a small, hopeful truth only to catch them in a deadly trap . </P> <P> When Macbeth kills the king and takes the throne, Banquo--the only one aware of this encounter with the witches--reserves judgment for God . He is unsure whether Macbeth committed regicide to gain the throne, but muses in a soliloquy that "I fear / Thou play'dst most foully for' t". He offers his respects to the new King Macbeth and pledges loyalty . Later, worried that Banquo's descendants and not his own will rule Scotland, Macbeth sends two men, and then a Third Murderer, to kill Banquo and his son Fleance . During the melee, Banquo holds off the assailants so that Fleance can escape, but is himself killed . The ghost of Banquo later returns to haunt Macbeth at the banquet in Act Three, Scene Four . A terrified Macbeth sees him, while the apparition is invisible to his guests . He appears again to Macbeth in a vision granted by the Three Witches, wherein Macbeth sees a long line of kings descended from Banquo . </P> <P> Many scholars see Banquo as a foil and a contrast to Macbeth . Macbeth, for example, eagerly accepts the Three Witches' prophecy as true and seeks to help it along . Banquo, on the other hand, doubts the prophecies and the intentions of these seemingly evil creatures . Whereas Macbeth places his hope in the prediction that he will be king, Banquo argues that evil only offers gifts that lead to destruction . Banquo steadily resists the temptations of evil within the play, praying to heaven for help, while Macbeth seeks darkness, and prays that evil powers will aid him . This is visible in act two; after Banquo sees Duncan to bed, he says: "There's husbandry in heaven, / Their candles are all out". This premonition of the coming darkness in association with Macbeth's murders is repeated just before Banquo is killed: "it will be rain to - night", Banquo tells his son Fleance . </P>

Where was banquo going when he was killed
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