Deception in Shakespeare's Plays | Barbara L. Parker (essay date 1970)
Barbara L. Parker (essay date 1970)
SOURCE: "Macbeth: The Great Illusion," in The Sewanee Review, Vol. LXXVIII, No. 3, July-September, 1970, pp. 476-87.
[In the following essay, Parker argues that self-deception, such as Macbeth's delusion that he can defy destiny, is a main theme of Macbeth, and that Shakespeare presents the characters and action in the play in contradictory terms in support of this theme.]
The opening scene of Macbeth comprises exactly eleven lines. Yet within its imagery and the dual and paradoxical nature of its dialogue is embodied virtually the whole thematic structure of the play.
With the very first words ("When shall"), the element of future time is initiated. There is also the introduction of the witches, whose prophetic statements immediately ally them with the forces of destiny as well as with future time. Additionally, the witches are linked with disordered nature (thunder and...
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