On Macbeth’s entrance we know what Banquo means: he says to Macbeth—and it is the first time he refers to the subject unprovoked,
His will is still untouched: he would repel the ‘cursed thoughts’; and they are mere thoughts, not intentions. But still they are ‘thoughts,’ something more, probably, than mere recollections; and they bring with them an undefined sense of guilt. The poison has begun to work. The passage that follows Banquo’s words to Macbeth is difficult to interpret:
To you they have show’d some truth.
Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
We would spend it in some words upon that business,
If you would grant the time.
It shall make honour for you.
In seeking to augment it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counsell’d.
Macbeth’s first idea is, apparently, simply to free himself from any suspicion which the discovery of the murder might suggest, by showing himself, just before it, quite indifferent to the predictions, and merely looking forward to a conversation about them at some future time. But why does he go on, ‘If you shall cleave,’ etc.? Perhaps he foresees that, on the discovery, Banquo cannot fail to suspect him, and thinks it safest to prepare the way at once for an understanding with him (in the original story he makes Banquo his accomplice before the murder). Banquo’s answer shows three things,—that he fears a treasonable proposal, that he has no idea of
