Macbeth Group
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gbeatty Teacher
College - FreshmanPosted by gbeatty on Monday October 29, 2007 at 6:03 PMSure. There are lots of such moments in Macbeth. Start with the first scene, in which the witches say, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
This tells us that throughout the play, there will be a gap between appearance and reality.This continues throughout. Look at the start of scene 2: "What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state."Duncan's words indicate that a man's appearance should relate to what he's been through and his level of knowledge. There should be a reality-appearance link...but it is disrupted.
Of course, some of the biggest examples are the visions Macbeth and Lady Macbeth see; are these ghosts or are they mad?
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amy-lepore Teacher
High School - 12th GradePosted by amy-lepore on Monday October 29, 2007 at 6:39 PMMacbeth says of the witches that he can't really trust his eyes..."you appear to have beards, but you also look like women". He also says he doesn't know if he imagines them or not since they just melt into the wind.
Again, Lady Macbeth tells her husband to "look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it" when it comes time to kill Duncan. Their house appears warm and inviting, but they intend to kill him and they succeed.
Lady Macbeth appears to be a tough and callous woman--immune to all guilt and feeling, but we see her fall apart after Duncan's murder. She sleepwalks and is apparently not at all what she first seemed.
Of course, there are also the witches' prophecies. Macbeth doesn't realize the prophecies can mean anything other than how he interprets them. Of course, Macduff was born by c-section, so he was not technically born of woman. The armies advance up the hill from Birnam Wood with tree branches before them which makes it appear the wood is walking up the hill.
You get the idea. Good Luck!
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blacksheepunite Teacher
High School - 12th GradePosted by blacksheepunite on Tuesday October 30, 2007 at 10:03 PMDuncan also says he can't find the mind's construction in the face, meaning he can't tell what people are truly like from what he sees on the outside.
In contrast to their father's inability to see the potential for danger beneath the surface, Malcolm and Donalbain say that where they are there are "daggers in men's smiles"--meaning, that they see smiles on the outside but they know that danger is beneath the apparently friendly appearance.
Also, Duncan says, "This castle hath a pleasant seat" upon arriving at Macbeth's castle, and, of course, as pleasant and restful as the castle looks on the outside, it is anything but that on the inside.
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jailhousesmile Student
College - FreshmanPosted by jailhousesmile on Friday November 2, 2007 at 12:58 AM"The terror the tragedy inspires is due to the abyss that lies between the inner natures of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and the murder which they perpetrate" J.J. Chapman, "A Glance toward Shakespeare"
The disparity between M's and LM's words and actions; After killing Duncan M overdecorates (II.iii.4-13), the banquet scene (III.iv) in which M’s words belie his knowledge of Banquo's death. Or their actions and understandings: a character able to express such convincing horror before Duncan's murder would likely be incapable of committing the crime.
Equivocation itself. Equivocation is very relevant to the context of the play. You can use the Porter scene, all the witch’s prophesies and the witches themselves (beards but women, call their "masters" to them as servants etc).
The disparity between M's perception of reality and ...well... everyone else’s. Is it supernatural or M's guiltridden hallucinations?
The larger theme of inverted natural order. It is often considered that as M hides from his guilt in false hospitality his inner nature, once "full of the milk of human kindness" and now tormented, is embodied in the developing inhospitality and degradation of the natural world, (IV.iii & II.iv). The natural world appears foul but is fair (warning people), M's artifice appears fair but is really foul (hiding his murderous intent)