Appearance And Reality In Macbeth Essay

Words: 445
Pages: 2

In Act 1- Scene 1, Shakespeare presents the theme of appearance and reality by using the quote “fair is foul and foul is fair”. The theme of reality is portrayed in this quote with the contrast between fair and foul. This means that what you may see differs to what you know. Later in the play the witches are suggested to be evil, which are more than likely the correct intentions of the witches, but are then seen in a different light to Macbeth.[c]
In Act 1- Scene 3, the witches are being shown as evil. This is shown by the quote “I’ll drain him dry as hay” which translates to “I’ll drain the life out of him”. This infers that the witches are planning to kill someone. Another quote that supports the image of evil is “he shall live a man forbid” and this translates to “he shall live a cursed man”. This shows that they are willing to do everything in their power to make a person’s life as miserable as they can. However, when Macbeth enters the scene with Banquo; the three witches instantly take turns to say: ‘all hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis’ ‘All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor’ ‘ Hail to Macbeth, hail thou shalt be king hereafter’. [d]Three witches make prophecies to Macbeth and Banquo, Macbeth questions the witches but is secretly intrigued with the idea of being king. Three witches then leave and Macbeth is later told that King Duncan has given him the thaneship of Cawdor- one of the
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This is shown in the quote ‘ Let not light see my black and deep desires’. Darkness has negative connotations such as evilness, violence, witches and also associates with the devil. Then you have Light which has positive connotations of mortality, purity and truth. Throughout this play, darkness and light are juxtaposed. The use of this juxtaposition creates an image of Macbeth blocking out the light of goodness to carry out a murder which is following the dark of