November 5th, 2010

Lines 10 and 11 of Act 1 Scene 1 state, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air.” Reading this couplet you at first may not be able to tell what it means, but when you dig deeper you can understand that it is a key theme of the play. For the purpose of the play, it is saying that if something appears to be good, it is probably bad, or foul. Furthermore, if something appears to be foul it is probably going to be good. The weird sisters really embody the idea on appearance versus reality. Throughout the whole play they tell other characters things deceitfully, trying to alter their perceptions of reality. This take on appearance versus reality is similar to what Machiavelli believed about appearing to be good rather than actually being good. The weird sisters tell people wonderful things that they want to hear, and make them think that they are these wise spirits, when in reality they are telling them things that aren’t necessarily true, because they are only trying to alter their perception of reality.

“Only look up clear. To alter favour ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me” (1.5.69-71). This quote goes along with the idea of male and female roles. Right after Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband about his strange encounter with the weird sisters, she gets the idea to have him murder the current king so that he will inherit the crown, making her queen. The fact that she says, “leave all the rest to me,” shows that she is more than willing to get involved and get what she wants. Shakespeare gets the idea across that she is very motivated, ambitious, and cunning, which was not the case for most females during the time period this play takes place in. They were supposed to be sweet, kind, and ladylike, whereas she is the opposite. She is not willing to sit back and let her husband do all the work. In fact, in her eyes she thinks that he isn’t capable of going through with her plan because he is not comfortable with killing a man for the sake of getting the crown. With all of these qualities that she has, she creates a dynamic character that will do anything she wants regardless of her gender, even if it means killing someone!

“With one that saw him die, who did report that frankly he confessed his treasons” (1.4.4-5). Throughout the entire play Shakespeare stresses the importance of loyalty and honor ability. In this particular scene, King Duncan and Malcolm are talking about the Thane of Cawdor and how he was a traitor and ended up being executed. Although he did betray his people, he knew how to die honorably by confessing his mistakes and excepting his fate. This is an example of how danger also accompanies honor ability and loyalty. This theme is portrayed throughout the whole play because in the end Macbeth himself gets beheaded for doing the exact same thing. If you think about the Machiavelli belief of the ends justifying the means, it contradicts what Shakespeare is trying to say because loyalty and honor are more important than the throne.