Mojo, The Bard, & Me

Would he were here! To all, and him, we thirst,

-Macbeth

Macbeth              Act III, scene iv  Line 89

And we’re back to Macbeth. Third time’s the charm.

This is our protagonist Macbeth talking. The ‘he’ in the line is Banquo. Banquo is his friend who Macbeth has had murdered a scene or two earlier. Now Macbeth is at a dinner and he’s making a toast to Banquo. From my point of view he’s doing one of two things; he’s being completely duplicitous and trying to remind everyone that he’s Banquo’s friend and thereby divert suspicion from himself (the rest of the people at this banquet don’t yet know that Banquo’s been murdered), OR he’s regretting having Banquo killed and he really does wish that Banquo were here, alive and well. And I believe it’s the latter. Seconds before this toast Macbeth saw Banquo’s ghost. He’s tormented by what he’s done. He’s the reluctant bad guy throughout this whole play. For a lot of the stuff it’s his wife egging him on. Behind every great man…

So I think it’s a genuine wish on Macbeth’s part. What do you think? I guess you’d have to read a bit of the play to decide on this one. It’s a good play and worth a read. And readable (as opposed to just seeable). It’s relatively small print in my book, but only 26 pages. I’ve posted links to sites that have the full plays online. If you’re going to start with any of Will’s plays to read, this would be a good one. Well, it’s just a thought.

Let’s see, what else can we say about this one this morning? ‘Would he were here!’ I guess we all have people we could say that about ‘Would he/she were here!’ Maybe they’re gone from this life, or maybe they’re just not right here right now. Luckily most of us wouldn’t say that about someone that we’ve had murdered. So in our case it’s an okay thing to say ‘Would he/she were here!’ It’s very okay. It just means there’s someone out there, or someone who was out there, who is or was a good thing in our life. So we’re thinking about that goodness and we can be glad for that. There, I feel better now. That Macbeth play can really bring me down! Maybe you shouldn’t read it.