If you can look into the seeds of time, / And say which grain will grow, and which will not, / Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear / Your favours nor your hate.
Act I, Scene 3 · Banquo
Context
Banquo, having received no direct prophecy for himself, challenges the witches to tell his future if they truly possess the power to predict what will happen.
Analysis
The extended metaphor of time as a field of grain waiting to sprout turns fate into an agricultural process—some seeds will grow, others won't—which sounds natural and inevitable but quietly removes human agency from the picture. Banquo frames himself as someone who "neither beg nor fear," using balanced antithesis to perform emotional neutrality, yet the very act of asking suggests he's more invested than he admits. His claim of indifference is undercut by the specificity of the request.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Banquo isn't as immune to the witches' lure as he pretends—his elaborately casual request for prophecy reveals curiosity he's trying to disguise as philosophical detachment, showing that even the "good" character is tempted by foreknowledge.