macbeth essay plan

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Macbeth essay - appearance vs reality

"never trust the flower for the serpent lives just beneath" is a lesson we should all take from Shakespeare's Macbeth. consider the nature of appearance vs reality in Macbeth thus far.

the kindom seems fine from the outside world but witches are plotting and lords are unfaitful to there kind. the crown is not with its rightful owner and animals are eating eachother

macbeth is seem as a brave and valiant warrior yet he is a coward and he is evil he has been so corrupted by the witches that he cannot een see himself for who he is and instead blames everyone else for his wrong-doings.

planning:

paragrpaph one: macbeth is cowardly

amition starts to seep in+ lady macbeth and macbeth lose ight of there morals because of ambition and decide to kill duncan to get the throne

altough macbeth struggled with the murder of duncan , the power he gains reinforces his perception of himself as a brave warrior and macbeth murders banquo, not afraid because he knows he wont be questioned due to his pwer ad king and still sees himself as brave and noble, justifys his cowardice " it is only he whos being do i fear"

Intro : when one considers the nature of Shakespeare's writing, surely it comes as no surprise that once the words "fair is foul and foul is fair" has escaped the mouths of the witches in the first scene ,that nothing would truly be as it outwardly appeared to the naked eye. In a play heavily leaden with the supernatural, and an immense sense of ambiguity, Shakespeare uses Macbeth as a center piece for the theme of appearance vs reality, in order to delve in the darkest parts of the plotting and scheming human mind when under the influences of ambition and power.It is only through expressed opinions regarding the seemingly valiant and brave character of macbeth, and the true thoughts of this malevolent thane expressed in asides and soliloquies ,that one can begin to understand the immoral affects that the desire of supremacy an have of the human mind.

paragraph one : while macbeths carachter is introduced quite late in the play, we have already built up an image of him as a strong and brutal warrior through the rumors circulating in the kingdom. we first hear of his courageous behavoir when we meet the seargent in act 1 , who speaks of the brave macbeth with such high esteem. he describes his brutal performance vivaciously, recalling how he "unseam'd him from the nave to the chaps", painting the picture of and admirable warrior adrimable indeed he must be, as the king himself then goes on to refer to him as "o valiant cousin" and " worthy gentleman". such high praises from the king, ordained by god himself, must only be bestowed opon the most commendable of men.he is even given an iambic pentameter when we first meet him, a clever use of language signifying nobility. this hightens our cnfusion furher as an audience, wehn we first meet macbeth as we are thrown by his lack of bravery. is this the same macbeth in the rumors? it is as he stands back to think, allowing banqou to do all of the talking in the presence of the "wither'd" hags that are the witches, that we first notice that all may not be as we thought.

paragraph two: the witches tell there prophecies and , although commanded by macbeth to stay and tell him more , they disregard his feeble sense of authority and banish. at first, macbeth seems disinterested in the prophecies, yet when he is first give the title of thane of cawdor, he seems confused and tried to reject the title, exclaiming about being dressed in borrowed robes ,however he quickly begins to change his tune. we see a use of clever asides come into play, as he exclaims to himself, that the best is yet to come, goes on to thank ross and angus, and then finally begins to peak to banqou about the prophecies. perhaps this macbeth is not the trustworthy warrior he first appeared be. through these asides we see macbeths ambition seep in and change his frame of thought so he decided that "if chance wil have me king,why,chance may crown me".the affects of the longing installed by the witches is starting to take place.perhaps this is why macbeth, under the influence of his own ambitons, and his wifes, finally decieds to kill duncan, while playing the ever gracious host to the kind king. we even see him battle with his own thoughts in a soliloquy shortly before the murder, however this is the last of macbeths als we see, as the struggle for power clouds his vision, and changes his perception of right and wrong.

paragraph three: although macbeth struggled after the murder of duncan as his morals punished him by creating strangen figments of daggers following him and unwashable blood on his hands, the power he felt once he became king fortified the idea of his own bravery. nevertheless we know him to be a coward through evidence shown in the play so far, such as his weakness when it comes to his manipulative wifes llying and his fear of his own concious. it is through this false sense of heroism that he manages to lull himself into the false reality that banqou is the only weakness that his has. we see this in a soliloquy in act three in which he says "here is none but he whose being i do fear". the timing of this soliloquy is also quite genius on shakespeares behalf as it is timed just so that weve seen the good impression acbeth gives off as king, comfortable using the royal we and planning banquets, but the soliloquy then pulls us back tot he reality of his cowardly plotting and scheeming mind. his power as king,nd his growing ambitions supply macbeth with the boldness he needs in order to decide to murder banqou, as he knows he cannot be questioned because he is king. this time however he has planned ahead to outwit his own concious, and hires others to kill banqou ,and even conviences them that they want to do it, so that he does not hold the blame.

conclusion it has finally become clear to us the macbeths morals have been completely eradicated by his abitions and power, and that macbeth has not only lied about the reality of the situation, but has descended into the reality of his own lies, and no longer has a grasp on what is true and what is not. shakespeare has cleverly used macbeths circumstance in the first scene, and the theme of appearance vs reality to show us as and audience the affect that to much power and drive can have on the human mind, and how quickly a weak person can turn immoral and corrupt.