Macbeth themes: Appearance and reality

Macbeth themes: Appearance and reality

1. Equivocation of the witches

   • appear to be guiding Macbeth but in reality they are luring him to his death
   • 'Fair is foul and foul is fair'
     • 'when the battle's lost and won'
   • 3 apparitions
     • Give Macbeth a false sense of security
       • "None of woman born shall harm Macbeth"
   • Also reflected in their appearance
     • 'you should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret so'
       • ambiguous puzzling nature in their appearance as well as their words

2. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragic play full of lies and deceit. Characters are constantly lying about who they are and commenting on their inability to trust other people’s words and outward appearance. The three witches and their misleading prophecies show how everything is not as it seems, and the hallucinations that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have because of their guilt also display how reality and illusion can become indiscernible. Through the use of the supernatural, hallucinations, and statements by differing characters, Shakespeare displays the theme of appearance versus reality.

3. Lady macbeth

   • 'Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t'
     • she appears the 'honoured hostess'
     • Biblical reference to Adam and Eve
   • they seem innocent and completely loyal to the king, Duncan, during his visit, but really they are carrying murderous thoughts.
   • Macbeth
     • 'the false face must hide what the false heart doth know.'
       • appearing innocent and pleasant but with evil intention

4. Treason

   • 'There's daggers in men's smiles'
   • 'There's not art to find the construction in the face'
     • Duncan- too trustworthy of his thanes
       • Irony

5. Contrast and change in Macbeth's character between the beginning at the end

6. Light and darkness imagery

   • antithesis
     • 'stars, hide you fires, let not see my black and deep desires'

7. Even you own mind can deceive you

   • 'Is this a dagger which I see before me'
     • confusion, uncertainty
     • blood on his hands
       • 'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?'