Macbeth- appearance vs. reality

A detailed Summary of Macbeth- appearance vs. reality


Appearance versus Reality

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, many themes ad motifs are repeated throughout the entire

play. The most important theme is appearance versus reality. Throughout Macbeth, things that appear to be good are, in fact, bad. Macbeth appears to be kind and honorable, but he is actually a ruthless murderer. Lady Macbeth appears to be strong and ruthless, when, in fact, she becomes very remorseful. Other important parts of the play that emphasize the theme are when the witches give Macbeth his two sets of prophecies which seem good and clear cut, but are really paradoxes. The best way to fully understand the importance of appearance versus reality is to carefully look at the development of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the witches' prophecies.

In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a brave captain that serves his king with great honor. After Macbeth hears the prophecies from the witches, a change in his thought process is noticed immediately. His ambition is noticed, but it does not drive him to murder early in the play. One important thing that Macbeth states is that "I have no spur/ to prick


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The other important things that illustrated appearance versus reality were the witches' prophecies. They all seemed to be true and good, but were really harmful to Macbeth and most of the people that he knew. The first set of prophecies was what led Macbeth to kill the king and begin his killing fiasco. If it had not been for the prophecy of Macbeth being king, he probably would have never killed anyone and would have gone on with his merry life. The second set of prophecies was really what caused Macbeth's downfall and his death. There were two very important prophecies that sounded so good that Macbeth became over confident in the fact that everything would be fine. The prophecies were "Laugh to scorn/The pow'r of man, for none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth... Macbeth shall never vanquished be until/ Great Birnam Wood to High Dunsinane Hill/ Shall come against him"(IV, I, 79-94). Macbeth did not realize two things, first, the witches were not telling the whole story, and second that security is man's downfall. Macbeth is killed by Macduff, who was taken from his

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Approximate Word count = 824
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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