How would the plot outline, story, and characters in Macbeth change if Banquo aligned himself with Macbeth?
I like your ideas! Let me add a little: Since the murder of Banquo is the climax of the play (turning point–Macbeth overreaches himself, and his fortunes begin to decline), this changes would make a BIG difference in the remainder of the plot. Malcolm’s role would have to become greater, and Macduff’s would be a big question. Since he’s suspicious of Macbeth even before the murder of Banquo, it’s very possible that he would still defect to Malcom, in England, and that his family would be murdered; but without the killing of Banquo as an intermediate step, Macbeth might not be hardened enough to order the killing of an innocent woman and children. The play might proceed somewhat as Juliuis Caesar does, with Banquo as a kind of Cassius to Macbeth’s Brutus–in role only, not personality/character. Lady Macbeth might become a character more comparable to Richard III’s Anne or Julius Caesar’s Portia–either riding passively to power on her husband’s coat tails or driven out of her mind by
