Skip Navigation


Literature and Theology Advance Access originally published online on July 9, 2009
Literature and Theology 2009 23(4):388-400; doi:10.1093/litthe/frp029
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
23/4/388    most recent
frp029v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fendt, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press 2009; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Macbeth's Banquo: Faux Ami as Christian Friend

Gene Fendt

University of Nebraska, Kearney, USA


  Abstract

One sign of Banquo's nature and authorial intent regarding Macbeth is what we might call Banquo's grammar. In grammar, a faux ami is a word in a foreign language that looks like a word in one's own, but means something quite different. Banquo is the ghost of such a word. In Latin, he would be declined banquo, banques, banquet; but the word does not exist in Latin. So ‘Banquo’ is the ghost of a faux ami; his being and ghost a double edged grammatical pun. His appearance and action at Macbeth's banquets (where Macbeth performs ‘non banquo’) exhibit that he is, moreover, the truest friend.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.