Abdul Mahrouse
Mr.Breaton
Monday, October 11, 2018
ENG 3U1-04
Who is the third murderer?
Many theories are speculating around the idea of who could the third murderer be in the third Act in Macbeth. There could be many answers and arguments to this question, but I concluded on that there could never possibly be one right answer no matter what character you could come up with to find out who the role was. I believe that Shakespeare intentionally added this unexplained reason on who the third murderer could be because Shakespeare always seems to like to leave the audience or reader in thought for them to figure out later. I believe that the third murderer was no other than Macbeth himself and here’s why I chose him out of all the other characters in the play.
During around this time of the scene, we can see that Macbeth is very paranoid and was also very anxious to make sure that Banquo had to be killed or else his deepest secrets could be revealed to everyone else in the play because he has the feeling that Banquo knows that he killed Duncan. We see that Macbeth orders these two unknown murderers to kill of Banquo when the time is right. I find that Macbeth and Banquo both have the same skills as a warrior in the way of both of the men can take on the same task and could finish it the right way, especially when it comes to weapons. My theory is that Macbeth couldn't handle the thought of the two murderers he hired to take on Banquo, to finish him off because of how strong Banquo is; and it also wouldn't make sense if two commoners would be that great of a match compared to Banquo’s skills. I think that Macbeth disguises himself to be another person which is why he knows exactly the spot the murderers were hiding to ambush Banquo. We can see that when one of the murderers approaches then the third murderer and asks for him to state his business. “But who did bid thee join with us? Macbeth. He needs not our mistrust; since he delivers our offices, and what we have to do, to the direction just” (III, iii, 1-5). We can see that the first murderer was getting suspicious on the fact of how this random person came up on the two hiding men that were placed in a secret location that only Macbeth knows of since he knows the route that Banquo takes every day. I found that in the scene when Banquo was on the verge of dying, we can see in one of his lines crying out misfortune in a way. “O, treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly! Thou mayst revenge O slave!” (III, iii, 25-26). The significance in these particular lines most likely means that Banquo had recognized Macbeth in the darkness and called him out as a “slave” to his ambition and the prophecies of the witches.
In the end, we can see that there are many characters that we can choose out of all the play but with my evidence I have provided, it makes clear sense that Macbeth was the only person to know everything about Banquo the most which are why Macbeth is the first candidate on the lost on who the third murderer could be.
Critique to Aziz Basics Blog
I find Aziz’s facts to be very well thought and gave solid textual support supporting his theory. I agree on most of the parts that he said about how Lady Mac secretly mentions on killing Banquo herself but one question I have on why she couldnt be the third murderer is because Macbeth doesn't even tell her the plan about killing Banquo in the first place. When Macbeth come back from the conversation back at Scene IV, when the Banquet was held together, Lady Mac asks him what was wrong and if anything had to be done. Macbeth responds with nothing and tells her to “be innocent of the knowledge”. I find this interesting because when I go back to my point about how no one could really be the third murderer, it all just shows you that there are no wrong answers just as Breaton said.
