Iskander
04-12-2011, 01:48 PM
Macbeth, III:iv:39-42:
Macbeth: Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present,
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance!
Banquo's not present at the feast, because Macbeth ordered him murdered in first scene of the Act. The murderers did their job in the previous scene, and at the top of this one, they report their success. The textbook dramatic irony is not only that we, the audience know he's dead, but also that, alone in the scene, we can see Banquo's ghost sitting on Macbeth's stool: The king hasn't noticed him yet and the spectre is invisible to the rest of the guests.
It's a great moment in a rather good play: at the pinnacle of his success, his first banquet as king, Macbeth's hubris is laid bare for the audience, and there follow half a dozen lines of dialogue where we relish the imminent reveal to Macbeth.
We know Banquo's dead. We know Macbeth had him killed. We can see Banquo's ghost, right there in the king's place. We know that Macbeth is just about to see the ghost. And for a non-trivial part of that scene, we're left enjoying the suspense before he does.
So why do we care?
Every time we conceive of a secret for one of our characters, aiming for a cool reveal later in the session or campaign, what are we going to get out of it? There's huge pleasure in the reveal for everyone of course (assuming your secret is not a big ol' chunk of d-baggery), and we get to enjoy having our secret and planning the reveal, but there's always a chance that events will just have passed us by, or something else that's happened will mean that the secret doesn't make sense when we get to the moment of truth, and then nobody gets any pleasure out of our clever idea.
On the other hand, if we share our character's new secrets with the other players at the table, everyone gets to enjoy the rising tension and the potential for dramatic irony, and there's much less chance that the other players will inadvertently poop on our surprise. Even better, we can draw that tension out far longer, because everyone at the table can live with the secret knowledge and enjoy the knowing/not-knowing interactions of our characters.
I'm not saying all secrets are bad, but I'm encouraging you to think of the alternative to playing your character's cards close to your chest: Sometimes an open hand leads to more satisfying play, sometimes the secret is better, and sometimes there's a balance to be struck.
Macbeth: Here had we now our country's honour roof'd,
Were the graced person of our Banquo present,
Who may I rather challenge for unkindness
Than pity for mischance!
Banquo's not present at the feast, because Macbeth ordered him murdered in first scene of the Act. The murderers did their job in the previous scene, and at the top of this one, they report their success. The textbook dramatic irony is not only that we, the audience know he's dead, but also that, alone in the scene, we can see Banquo's ghost sitting on Macbeth's stool: The king hasn't noticed him yet and the spectre is invisible to the rest of the guests.
It's a great moment in a rather good play: at the pinnacle of his success, his first banquet as king, Macbeth's hubris is laid bare for the audience, and there follow half a dozen lines of dialogue where we relish the imminent reveal to Macbeth.
We know Banquo's dead. We know Macbeth had him killed. We can see Banquo's ghost, right there in the king's place. We know that Macbeth is just about to see the ghost. And for a non-trivial part of that scene, we're left enjoying the suspense before he does.
So why do we care?
Every time we conceive of a secret for one of our characters, aiming for a cool reveal later in the session or campaign, what are we going to get out of it? There's huge pleasure in the reveal for everyone of course (assuming your secret is not a big ol' chunk of d-baggery), and we get to enjoy having our secret and planning the reveal, but there's always a chance that events will just have passed us by, or something else that's happened will mean that the secret doesn't make sense when we get to the moment of truth, and then nobody gets any pleasure out of our clever idea.
On the other hand, if we share our character's new secrets with the other players at the table, everyone gets to enjoy the rising tension and the potential for dramatic irony, and there's much less chance that the other players will inadvertently poop on our surprise. Even better, we can draw that tension out far longer, because everyone at the table can live with the secret knowledge and enjoy the knowing/not-knowing interactions of our characters.
I'm not saying all secrets are bad, but I'm encouraging you to think of the alternative to playing your character's cards close to your chest: Sometimes an open hand leads to more satisfying play, sometimes the secret is better, and sometimes there's a balance to be struck.