Themes
Macbeth
of Cawdor. However, Banquo is suspicious of the witches’ motives and warns Macbeth that their predictions may mask a darker reality: ‘And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s In deepest consequence’ (Act 1, Sc 3)
Macbeth fails to heed Banquo’s advice; the witches’ equivocal language appeals to Macbeth’s sense of ambition, and as a result he chooses a murderous path. Later in the play (Act 4, Sc 1) the witches equivocate again, presenting Macbeth with three
apparitions which also influence his behaviour. He is shown an armed head that warns him: ‘Beware Macduff’. He then sees a bloody child that says, ‘none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth.’ Finally he is presented with a crowned child that predicts, ‘Macbeth shall never vanquished be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him.’ These equivocal predictions encourage Macbeth to attack Macduff’s family and also give him false courage. He doesn’t realise that Macduff was not technically ‘of woman born’ as he was delivered by caesarean section. Similarly, the idea that Birnam Wood could move seems implausible until Malcolm orders his soldiers to cut down branches from the wood to disguise their numbers. The decisions Macbeth makes are based upon the witches’ equivocation. Hecate realises that Macbeth’s confidence will be his final undoing, ‘And you all know, security / Is mortals’ chiefest enemy’ (Act 3, Sc 5). The equivocal apparitions encourage this overconfidence and play on Macbeth’s prideful nature. The theme of appearance vs reality is also explored through the many acts of deception in
the play. Ironically, Duncan is the first to recognise deception as a threat. He describes how he placed much trust in the former Thane of Cawdor and was then deceived by this apparently loyal subject: ‘There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face’ (Act 1, Sc 2). In an echo of this, Lady Macbeth uses deception as a strategy within the play. She sees how
important deception is in attaining power. She worries that Macbeth may appear troubled by the murder and warns him to ‘look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t’ (Act 1, Sc 5). She continues to use deception to divert suspicion away fromMacbeth. She frames the chamberlains for Duncan’s murder by smearing their bodies with blood: ‘I’ll gild the faces of the grooms withal; / For it must seem their guilt’ (Act 2, Sc 2). After the body is discovered, Macduff questions why Macbeth killed the chamberlains; Lady Macbeth diverts attention from her husband by fainting. Many commentators believe this to be a feigned swoon and further testimony to her deceptive nature. In the banquet scene, LadyMacbeth tries to deceive the thanes by explaining awayMacbeth’s bizarre outburst as a fit he suffers from regularly. Macbeth also values deception as a tactic.He understands that hemust hide his crimes fromthe
public gaze and adopt an innocent appearance. Macbeth pithily sums up this idea shortly before he kills Duncan: ‘False face must hide what the false heart doth know’ (Act 1, Sc 7). True to his intention, he appears shocked when Macduff discovers Duncan’s body: ‘Had I but died an hour before this chance, / I had lived a blessed time’ (Act 2, Sc 3). Shakespeare uses themotif of hallucinations to deepen the discussion of appearance vs reality.
Shortly before he murders Duncan,Macbeth sees the vision of a dagger floating in the air (Act 2, Sc 1): ‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?’Macbeth suspects the vision is a product of the stress he is under, that it is a ‘dagger of themind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain’. Shakespeare uses this visual spectacle to reveal howMacbeth’s hold on reality is slipping. The same idea is continued after the murder. Macbeth, in a state of confusion, thinks he hears voices: ‘ ‘
...sleep no more! /Macbeth does murder sleep’ ’ (Act 2, Sc 2). Some critics argue that Banquo’s ghost is an hallucination of Macbeth’s. Lady Macbeth sees it
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