Macbeth: Lesson III: Review Questions I & II

When Macbeth talks about a "fruitless crown" and "barren scepter", he's obviously not talking about the actual inanimate objects bearing young! What he means to say by this is that his rule is meaningless if his hiers can't sit on the throne. And acording to a trio of witches, it's not gonna happen. Earlier in the play, the witches tell a small, trivial truth to win Macbeths trust. This makes him belive in the next prediction, and eventualy spurs him to violent action. In an echo of this, the witches make Macbeth see someone who was once a freind as a threat to the crown by telling his that Banquo's heirs will one day sit on the throne. And once again, this leads Macbeth to a terrible murder.