I was an eighth-grader in Southwood elementary school when there was a science fair. It was a school-wide event, and the winner would receive a $500 bursary to perform research over the summer with an esteemed professor from the University of Windsor. This, of course, brought some vivid hype to the academically-inclined kids at my school, including myself.
The reality was, only two kids in Southwood were likely to win the science fair and obtain the bursary: Anas, my best friend, and I. We were both rare prodigies back in our day, so everyone was expecting us to be the main competition.
Two weeks after the science fair had been announced, Anas and I were both well on our respective ways to success. He had chosen to build a conventional miniature Tesla coil, whereas I had opted for a more creative approach: trying to construct an ipod Taser. Video on How to Make an ipod Taser
The night before our displays were due, Anas and I decided to rendezvous to help each other finalize our projects. (We were best friends then, so we did everything together.) He showed me his entire Tesla coil demonstration, which was very impressive. As for me however, I had done some thinking before I had went to Anas's house to show my project to him. I knew that there could be only one person who could win the five-hundred-dollar bursary. I also knew that Anas was the only viable competition that could pose a significant threat to my victory. Therefore, I only showed Anas a very basic model instead of my real project, which was actually stashed under my bed. I presented to him an early prototype that I had made weeks earlier, to give Anas a false idea of the competition that his project was going up against. We both tweaked our projects, and wished each other earnest luck for tomorrow's competition.
You can imagine then, how much of a surprise it was for Anas the next day. As I unveiled my secret, real, glamorous project, Anas quizzically asked, "Did you do this all in one night?" But we both knew the answer to that. It would've been impossible to make that much progress in one night. I had already invested numerous long, laborious nights in order to produce a project of such high caliber.
This incident was the start of the break-up of our friendship. I had lied through my teeth to my best friend, just to win a monetary prize. I did end up winning the science fair, but when I stood up on that podium to claim the award and saw Anas's dejected face in the crowd, I knew that I had also lost something much more.
***
This scenario has a striking similarity to Macbeth's relationship with Banquo. Like Anas and I, Macbeth and Banquo were initially best pals, the most intimate amongst all friends. From the witches' first encounter though, Macbeth started to formulate his own ambitious plans, and eventually betrayed Banquo in the process. When Macbeth became the King of Scotland, he became paranoid and took the witches' prophecies too literally. Afraid of being overthrown, he arranged the assassination of Banquo and his sons. Had his ambitions not drove him to madness, Macbeth would have kept a great friend, who could have helped him stay in power and given him invaluable advice. As for my science fair, if I had played a fair game and not beguiled Anas, I could have kept a friend that would have helped me out in academics for years to come.
Therefore, in both the case of Macbeth and I, one realizes that it is important to not let overwhelming ambitions cause one to betray close friends and sever deep bonds of friendship.
*Note: All similarities to real people in this blog post are merely coincidental. The following events are purely fictional as well.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of undisclosed individuals.
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