‘Fair is foul and foul is fair,’ (Act I, sc. i, line 10). Deception is a key theme throughout the play of Macbeth. Throughout the play there are many instances where appearances are deceiving. The initial prophecy given by the three weird sisters ultimately sparks the start of a chain of deception that finally leads to the downfall of Macbeth. This initial deception causes more lies and deception throughout the play. The characters the Three Weird Sisters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are all the culprits of deception. The Three Weird Sister’s play a key role in the deception throughout the play. There initial ‘half truth’ sparked the initial link of deception. Through the prophecy they lay out to Macbeth they state that he would become the Thane of Glamis and then the Thane of Cawdor and then finally be crowned king. When the first two prophecies come true this caused Macbeth to believe that he would soon also be crowned king. This however was a half truth as this was not actually bound to happen but rather happened out of their own ambition. This is shown through the statement "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.", as it is saying that the …show more content…
She had come up with the idea itself to murder Duncan after reading the letter about the prophecies of the Witches. She falls for the initial deception of the Witches that causes her own ambition to take control. After convincing Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to take the throne she plots to deceive Duncan. “Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under ’t” (Act 1, Scene 5, Page 3). She was plotting to look innocent, being welcoming to Duncan after her husbands promotion. However, she was planning to be the serpent underneath by getting Macbeth in order to commit the deed of murdering Duncan. Due to them falling for the first initial deception by the witches this causes the ultimate downfall of
Prior to Duncan’s death, Lady Macbeth recognizes Macbeth’s inner turmoil and she takes matters into her own hands. Lady Macbeth advises him of her plan to kill Duncan and explains that she will conduct the evening's events. She states, “Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,/ Your hand, your tongue. / Look like th' innocent flower,/ But be the serpent under ’t. /He that’s coming / Must be provided for, and you shall put / This night’s great business into my dispatch, / Which shall to all our nights and days to come” (Shakespeare 1.5.55-61).
As portrayed in the play, lying can be a big deal because it can alter one’s decisions, causing confusion and other dangerous changes in the future. One character who tells many lies throughout Macbeth is Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth. One type of lie she tells is delusion, defined by Ericsson as “the tendency to see excuses as facts”
She struggles with the notion that she had a hand in King Duncan's murder. She did not want to murder King Duncan herself because she saw her father in him. This caused her to force Macbeth to do the deed himself. When he failed to plant the weapons on the guards, Lady Macbeth had no other option but to go and do it herself. This caused her to see King Duncan dead in his bed and get her hands dirty with his blood.
The weird sisters vanish and appear when they feel the need to. This makes Macbeth and other characters want more from them. It leaves everyone shocked and hooked on what other events are going to take place and how to survive them. The paradoxical language of the witches' display Macbeth's confusion and “Fair is foul, foul is fair” lets Macbeth see the truthful foul lifestyle he is living. Despite the witch's ability to foreshadow events the blame on individual's downfall is not based on the weird
After she read the letter that her husband addressed to her she said, "Hurry home so I can twist your thinking with my sharp words toward the obstacles that stand in the way of your crowning, a rise to greatness that destiny and the witches have promised" (I.V.24-29). She had a sneaky plan to murder King Duncan. Lady Macbeth didn’t see a problem or anything wrong with killing King Duncan; she only saw it as a way to gain more power and a way to take over the throne. Lady Macbeth called upon the evil supernatural spirits to help get her in the frame of mind to peer pressure Macbeth into doing what she wants and says. She said, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe topful of direst cruelty. "
Eventually, Macbeth became king, began a descent in to madness, and unknowingly planned his own murder. All of this was done because Macbeth loved his wife, Lady Macbeth, and through supernatural prophecies given by Three Witches. The Three Witches laid the foundation and set the tone and theme of the entire play in the very beginning of the play. They do this by declaring “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Shakespeare, Act I, Scene I).
All through the play of Macbeth, there are many circumstances that the witches show how they messed up Macbeth's better half. “Surely
Lady Macbeth plans to invite king Duncan over for dinner, but really she is convincing Macbeth to murder him. She influences him to kill Duncan because he is the only one standing in the way of Macbeth becoming king. Lady Macbeth plans the killing but convinces Macbeth to do the dirty deed. Lastly, Lady Macbeth is one of the causes of Macbeth’s failure because she repeatedly questions Macbeth’s manhood until she persuades him to make a bad choice. “When you durst do it then you were a man” (1.7.53-58).
“Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many”. This quote was written by a Roman poet, named Phaedrus around 370 BCE, long before Shakespeare’s time. Thousands of years later, Shakespeare incorporates many deceiving motifs in Macbeth that put the words of Phaedrus into action. The use of ill-fitting clothes, sleep, and bloodshed is all examples of imagery used to illustrate that not everything that looks genuine is so. Just as clothes appear to fit well, they can be very uncomfortable at the same time.
As soon as she heard Macbeth’s prophecy, she was willing to do anything to get him into the position of king. She was even willing to aid in the murder of innocent people who stood in the way of Macbeth’s ascension to the crown like, King Duncan. Her greed led to Macbeth’s downfall. When Macbeth stated that he was questioning his intentions to kill the king, she pushed him and assisted in the plotting. “We will proceed no further in this business. /
Macbeth wrote a letter addressed to his wife telling her the recent events in his life, Lady Macbeth wants to take the crown just as much as Macbeth does, or more. While Kind Duncan visits Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth plans to have him kill the king. She tells him, “Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t.” (I. vi. 67-68). He should look like an innocent flower, greeting the king with a welcoming expression, but be the snake hiding under the petals.
She is only focused on completing her goal of murdering King Duncan so her husband can usurp the throne. She realizes that her husband’s personality is rather meek, and that he would not go through with murdering King Duncan because of a quality that he has, his humanity, which she considers his greatest weakness. Deliberating with herself, she thinks of Macbeth and his potential in regard to what could come to pass: “Yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way” (Shakespeare l.v.16-18).
She planned all of details of murdering voluntary and put back the bloody dragger on the hands of soldier after his husband killed Duncan. She had not direct killed King Duncan but is one impactive pushing reason that inspired Macbeth’s homicide. She is guilty as Macbeth. “If the assassination could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease susses”(I,vii, 2-3) mentioned his plan of assassination of King Duncan. “I go, and it is done…
She wanted the title of being queen and King Duncan was in her way of that, so she got into Macbeth’s head. Macbeth was reluctant at first, which also shows that he is not wholly evil. A true wholly evil person wouldn’t be reluctant about killing someone. Throughout the play, it is evidence that Macbeth is not wholly
This perversion of one of the most sacred acts of motherhood enhances the horror of the length she would cross to achieve her goal. However, it also implies that considering Lady Macbeth as merely a brutal, malicious woman stirring her husband to slaughter a poor old king- is a misevaluation and understatement of this character. In Defense of Lady Macbeth An attempt to investigate who actually planned the murder of Duncan, can be referred to the findings of A. C. Bradley in the essay, “When Was the Murder of Duncan First Plotted”, in his Shakespearean Tragedy: A good many readers probably think that, when Macbeth first met the Witches, he was perfectly innocent; but a much larger number would say that he had already harboured a vaguely guilty ambition, though he had not faced the idea of murder.