Macbeth, That Shalt Be King Hereafter He Stops Talking to Himself

A weak title, I know.

So as we all know, we've at last begun reading (in my case re-reading, for like, the third time) that ever-famous Shakespearian play, Macbeth.

Sadly, not the 'Macbeth in Space' version.

So as Macbeth and his best pal Banquo travel, the encounter the infamous trio of witches who prophesize his rise to greatness, from being Thane of two separate places to eventual kinghood.

Now, honestly- I don't know much about how government worked back then, but I'm fairly certain being a Thane of wherever is a pretty big deal. And because of that I'm kind of wondering what the Hell the King was thinking- like, you're gonna make Macbeth a DOUBLE Thane? Really? I don't know what kind of perks being a Thane entails, but it's clear that it makes you a pretty damn important person- which means it'd cause a heck of a lot of problems.

For one, I'm pretty sure that gives Macbeth a significant amount of influence, moreso than any other Thane (I don't know how many thanes there are though. Are Glamis and Cawdor the only ones? Beats me.) which is pretty clearly favoritism and would probably make the other hypothetical thanes really jealous and/or angry. Also, it'd probably bloat Macbeth's ego. (Which it does, in part thanks to the witches, because now he wants to be king. So really, good job there, your highness.)

After he gets named UberThane of Glamdor (Glamis + Cawdor) Macbeth proceeds to stand off to the side and talk to himself for a while. It's at this point that I found myself laughing a bit at the play, as Macbeth goes on a long tangent (I'm not sure if he's staring into space and thinking his lines, or if he's actually just standing out of earshot muttering to himself) and Banquo periodically interrupts him to say to the other two "Gee look, there's our good pal Macbeth, still talking to himself. He sure is uh, doing that. Yep, still going. Not stopping." Before he finally has to say "Hey, uh, Macbeth, we're kind of waiting on you to leave, you uh... gonna be done soon?" (I'm paraphrasing, of course.)

"Really, I don't know what Banquo is on about. It's perfectly normal to talk to yourself, right?"

The idea that Macbeth is actually just standing to the side going on this monologue while Banquo watches and wonders what the heck he's doing amuses me to no end. Macbeth is certainly a weird, funny guy, but he should probably stop letting all that prophecy go to his head.