Banquo: The Honest Man Who Stays Silent

Banquo hears the same prophecies as Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 3. The witches tell him his descendants will be kings. He does not act on it. He is curious, even sceptical: 'oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths.' He stays loyal to Duncan.

But he also suspects Macbeth. After Duncan's murder, Banquo says privately that he thinks Macbeth 'played'st most foully' for the crown. He does not go to anyone with this. He keeps silent, and Shakespeare gives him no clear justification for that silence, which makes him morally complicated rather than simply good.

Macbeth has him murdered in Act 3, Scene 3. His ghost then appears at Macbeth's feast, silent and bloody, and the sight destroys what composure Macbeth has left. Banquo's descendants do become kings: James I of England claimed descent from the historical Banquo, which is almost certainly why Shakespeare wrote the character as he did.