Deceptiveness Of Appearances In Macbeth
MACBETH - SIMPLIFYING THE PLOT
Macbeth is an ambitious man who wants to be King but who originally lacks the desire to act upon his ambitions, despite the fact that he is confronted by three witches who predict future glories, including the bestowal of titles and the Kingship. His wife however, is eager for him to achieve his potential, and she plays on his human weaknesses to encourage him to kill the King and usurp power for himself.
The involvement of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the murder of King Duncan at first seems to have achieved its objective. Macbeth and his wife rule Scotland as King and Queen. However, they are plagued by the belief that their reign might be ended in the same way they ended King Duncan's. With this in mind, …show more content…
To this end, the discourse of the deceptiveness of appearances is integral both to our understanding of character but also in the construction of the dominant viewpoint. In the opening phase of the novel, for instance, readers are alerted by the witches to the paradox, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (Act I:i) suggesting that all is not what it seems. As an extension of this idea, Duncan refers to Macbeth as "noble Macbeth" (Act I:ii), yet later we see him constructed as capable of murder. For Lady Macbeth, the appearance of propriety rather than the possession of it, was a useful weapon. When she advises her husband to "look like an innocent flower but be the serpent under't" (Act I:v), she alerts the reader to the potential for deception despite the appearance of bravery and nobility. This is confirmed by Macbeth who observed, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." (Act I: vii) In this sense, the reader is aware of what King Duncan is not, and we quickly become acquainted with the horrible price of his ignorance. In addition to alerting readers to the potential for duplicity, the construction of the appearance versus reality discourse also encourages a re-examination of initial conclusions. This is particularly true of the witches' prophecies, which clearly demonstrate a gap between …show more content…
The journey of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the play focuses on their acquiescence to ambitious impulses which has the affect of altering both their regard for each other and their natural identity. For Macbeth the price of power and ambition is the destruction of valor and morality. For Lady Macbeth it is the destruction of purpose, strength and, by the end of the play, sanity. This essay will explore how the two leading characters were overcome by ambition, and the manner in which Shakespeare foregrounds their undoing in order to construct an impression of the corruptible nature of lust for
Macbeth is an ambitious man who wants to be King but who originally lacks the desire to act upon his ambitions, despite the fact that he is confronted by three witches who predict future glories, including the bestowal of titles and the Kingship. His wife however, is eager for him to achieve his potential, and she plays on his human weaknesses to encourage him to kill the King and usurp power for himself.
The involvement of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in the murder of King Duncan at first seems to have achieved its objective. Macbeth and his wife rule Scotland as King and Queen. However, they are plagued by the belief that their reign might be ended in the same way they ended King Duncan's. With this in mind, …show more content…
To this end, the discourse of the deceptiveness of appearances is integral both to our understanding of character but also in the construction of the dominant viewpoint. In the opening phase of the novel, for instance, readers are alerted by the witches to the paradox, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (Act I:i) suggesting that all is not what it seems. As an extension of this idea, Duncan refers to Macbeth as "noble Macbeth" (Act I:ii), yet later we see him constructed as capable of murder. For Lady Macbeth, the appearance of propriety rather than the possession of it, was a useful weapon. When she advises her husband to "look like an innocent flower but be the serpent under't" (Act I:v), she alerts the reader to the potential for deception despite the appearance of bravery and nobility. This is confirmed by Macbeth who observed, "False face must hide what the false heart doth know." (Act I: vii) In this sense, the reader is aware of what King Duncan is not, and we quickly become acquainted with the horrible price of his ignorance. In addition to alerting readers to the potential for duplicity, the construction of the appearance versus reality discourse also encourages a re-examination of initial conclusions. This is particularly true of the witches' prophecies, which clearly demonstrate a gap between …show more content…
The journey of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth throughout the play focuses on their acquiescence to ambitious impulses which has the affect of altering both their regard for each other and their natural identity. For Macbeth the price of power and ambition is the destruction of valor and morality. For Lady Macbeth it is the destruction of purpose, strength and, by the end of the play, sanity. This essay will explore how the two leading characters were overcome by ambition, and the manner in which Shakespeare foregrounds their undoing in order to construct an impression of the corruptible nature of lust for