Theme Of Appearance Vs Reality In Macbeth

In Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that they need to keep their thoughts and emotions to themselves in order to hide from others what they plan to do. William Shakespeare’s insane play, Macbeth, reveals the theme of appearance vs. reality through its complex characters and plot interactions. In the very beginning of the play, the three witches appear and are planning to meet again, but next time with Macbeth. They present the line, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air.” This line presents an idea of appearance vs. reality throughout the play, meaning what appears to be good is bad and what appears to be bad is good. Phaedrus, a Roman poet said, “Things are not always as

It doesn’t work so much for Macbeth. He begins to see illusions and starts to go crazy. At the beginning of Act II he hallucinates saying, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch / thee…” Macbeth is already starting to feel guilty because he knows killing Duncan would be wrong, especially since he just made Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth hears a bell, believing it is a sign for him to kill Duncan, which leads him to commit the murder. The King is now murdered and Macbeth goes into a state of awe. Macbeth walks out with the bloody daggers still in his hands and Lady Macbeth wonders why. She tells him, “Go carry them and smear / The sleepy grooms with blood.” Lady Macbeth is extremely clever because she is trying to put the evidence of the murder on the guards; so there’s a better chance she and Macbeth won’t get caught. She is making it appear to others that Macbeth and herself are devastated and so upset about King Duncan’s death, but in reality they aren’t upset because they both know they will become King and

This time, he plans to kill Banquo and Banquo’s son because he is suspicious that Banquo knows it was he who killed the King. In Act III, he begins to say to lady Macbeth, “Oh, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! / Thou know’st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives.” Macbeth is already feeling guilty about wanting to kill Banquo, but he decides to hire the murders anyway. They succeed in killing Banquo, but his son, Fleance, gets away. The murders report to Macbeth to tell him what happened, but Macbeth doesn’t take it too well. Macbeth now knows that Fleance is loose and will someday plot for revenge. Macbeth starts to see the ghost of Banqo, he feels haunted and guilty for what he has done. Macbeth is truly becoming an evil person, but his appearance makes it seem as if he is scared of everything. Macbeth is worried he will loose power because of Macduff and Macduff’s children. Macduff has fled so Macbeth plans to kill his wife and children. Lady Macduff says in Act IV, “His flight was madness. When our actions do not, / Our fears do make us traitors.” It appears to Lady Macduff that Macduff does not care about them, but in reality he is devastated when he finds out they were murdered. It always appeared to Macbeth that he would be okay because of the witch’s prophecies, but when he meets up with Macduff in Act V, that changes. Macbeth begins to realize that the witches were really fooling him when