Deception and Motivation in Macbeth

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In everyday setting people pretend to hide their real personalities, faults and avoid negative consequences. Appearance that contrasted with reality is an important theme in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The playwright portrayed the theme in the figure of Macbeth as he deceived the other characters in the play. The need to hide his intention of becoming king, to conceal the crime that he has committed and the influence his wife, Lady Macbeth motivated Macbeth to project an image different from reality. The desire to have throne urged Macbeth to appear loyal to Duncan while harboring the thoughts of murdering the king. In order to hide the fact that he killed the king, Macbeth deceived his friend Banquo. The influence of Lady Macbeth encouraged Macbeth to portray a fake appearance to deceive others. By analyzing and inferring from the quotations in the play, I will explain the deception of Macbeth to Duncan, Banquo and Lady Macbeth and his motivations.
In order to hide his true intentions of the throne, Macbeth had to project an image as a loyal general to the king. Upon his arrival at Forres, Macbeth told Duncan that he will do “everything / Safe toward your love and honor” which is a false statement because he was thinking of murdering the king instead of protecting him during his conversation with the witches. His words implied that he was convincing not only the king but also to himself that he is loyal to Duncan. After the king arrived in Inverness, Macbeth had an inner discussion to himself and he revealed that he “…have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition…”(act 1 scene 7). His statement confirmed his only reason of killing the Duncan was his ambition and to hide his ambition to...

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... us to be watchers…”(2.2) the night after the king was murdered. Macbeth is urged to deceive others because of the orders of Lady Macbeth.
Our every action has an intention. Like any one of us, Macbeth was also motivated by different factors. The goal of being a better person, the concealment of his crimes and the encouragement of his wife are his motives. Deception portrayed to us by Shakespeare is one side of a bigger argument. Deception is not always bad; deception could be a great tool if used properly. It could be used to prevent chaos by not telling the passengers of a boat the situation until the captain has fixed the problem or a father deceiving the police by saying he committed a crime even though it is really his son who is the one at fault. Whatever the reason of the deception is, we must make sure that it is ethical and morally correct.

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