Appearance vs. Reality in Macbeth

In the Act I Scene iii, when Macbeth has his first encounter with the witches, he says, “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” He utters these words in reference to the victory he has just achieved over the revolting MacDonwald. The triumph, while beautiful, or fair, was also bloody, or “foul”. Although Macbeth and his army eradicated the threat of the perfidious Thane of Cawdor, lives were paid in expense. This quote also introduces the beginning of his ascendancy to kingship, which is “fair”, while it is also the genesis of his downfall to the powers of evil.

“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.” (Act I, Scene iii) “Not so happy, yet much happier.” (Act I, Scene iii) These two lines are asserted in reference to Banquo. The first line is in relevance to the humanity of Banquo. Although i

Although Macbeth at first finds himself distraught at the mere thought of assassinating the king, his wife assuages his fears with aspirations of royalty. She instills her ideals of disloyalty in him. She describes to Macbeth how he must be devious. “Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, /But be the serpent under't.” (Act I, Scene v) Lady Macbeth instructs her husband to appear loyal and trustworthy in his actions and his words, while biding his time to manifest his disloyalty and abuse of Duncan’s trust.

During Macbeth’s dagger soliloquy, he is overcome with a false vision, as the following quotation supports: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. / I have thee or, and yet I see thee still. / Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / to feeling as to sight? Or art though but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”(Act II, Scene i) The dagger is a hallucination, seen only by Macbeth, and demonstrates the difference in appearance to reality in the play, because Macbeth is seeing only a figment of his imagination due to his conscious. This quote is defines the theme of appearance versus reality. Although to Macbeth’s guilt-wrought mind there is a dagger in front of him, in actuality there is nothing before him.

In Act three, Scene six Lennox speaks to an unspecified Lord. He tries to present himself as a supporter of Macbeth, but also probes the Lord to see if perhaps he is against Macbeth. Lennox does this with suggestive words, and near sarcasm in the following, “It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain / To kill their gracious father? Damned fact! / How it did grieve Macbeth! Did he not straight / in pious rage the two delinquents tear, That were the slaves of drink and thralls of sleep? / Was not that nobly done? Aye, and wisely too; / For ‘twould have angered any heart alive / To hear the men deny’t.” Lennox appears to be a Macbeth supporter, but this could also be interpreted sarcastically, which is his intention.

t may appear that Macbeth is due more reverence due to his rank, the reality is that the one due more respect is Banquo, who is the better individual. The second line is in relevance to their own lives. Although Macbeth may seem happier due to his power in society, in actuality Banquo is happier because he is content with his life whereas Macbeth yearns for more.

Duncan’s description of Macbeth’s, found in Act one, Scene six, is also very ironic. Duncan says of it, “This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air / Nimbly and sweetly recommends itse

Some topics in this essay:
Lady Macbeth, Act Scene, Scene Macbeth, Macbeth Macduff, Macbeth Macbeth, Malcolm Donalbain, Scene Macbeth’s, III Scene, II Scene, , act scene, lady macbeth, appearance reality, iii scene, act scene iii, scene iii, scene lady, play macbeth, ii scene, scene macbeth, scene lady macbeth, act scene macbeth, encounter witches, act scene lady, act scene six,