In Act III, Scene I, Banquo warns Macbeth of the consequences of putting too much faith in the witches prophecy, he says:
"Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis,
all,
As the weird women promis'd; and, I fear,
Thou play'dst most foully for't; yet it was said
It should not stand in thy posterity,
But that myself should be the root and father
Of many kings. If there come truth from them,—
As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches shine,—
Why, by the verities on thee made good,
May they not be my oracles as well,
And set me up in hope? But, hush! no more."
Banquo chooses the higher moral ground and decides against thinking any further about the prophecy because he sees the temptation in it.
After Banquo's murder, Macbeth has enormous guilt, he begins to see the ghost of Banquo at his party, and begins to realize that he is now deeply involved in dangerous murderous treachery and feels surrounded by his actions. He is suffocating emotionally from the moral strain. In Act III, Scene IV, he says
"By the worst means, the worst. For mine own
good
All causes shall give way: I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.
Strange things I have- in head that will to hand,
Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd."
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