Shakespeare’s plays are peppered with instances of people and events not being what they seem. He uses this theme of ‘appearance and reality’ for both comedic and dramatic effects, and the theme comes in many forms. Here are a few:
- intentional deception
- unintentional misunderstandings
- false loyalty and friendship
- mistaken gender and class
- wise fools and foolish wisemen
- hidden motivations
- lies and confessions
- bickering lovers and kissing foes
Here's an example: In I.iv., King Duncan is discussing his relationship with the then-in-office Thane of Cawdor, and how he is surprised to hear of the thane's disloyalty. When describing this revelation, Duncan explains that there is "no art / To find the mind's construction in the face (I.iv.12-13.) This notion is naive at best, and in saying so Duncan is demonstrating his lack of ability to see a man’s true intentions. Of course not all men wear their “mind’s construction” upon “their face.” Many times an individual’s true thoughts and are purposely hidden away, and the expression upon one’s face is anything but a reflection of his or her true intentions. It is called lying. This flaw is the very flaw that leads to Duncan’s own death. If he had realized that seeing a man’s true thoughts is very much an “art,” then he would have seen Macbeth’s true intentions and never spent the night at his home.
Your task: Find a moment of deception – either intentional or intentional, either literal or figurative – somewhere in Act I and II. Cite the passage and explain how and why it is a moment of deception. Be sure to read all of the comments. We’d like to try to avoid repeats. The rules of composition apply – complete sentences, grammar, correct citations, etc. Keep in mind, some of the examples you’ll find in the play are pretty subtle. Be sure to examine character actions and intentions and motivaitons as well as the words they merely say. Please note, we are not looking for plot generalizations. We are looking for specific moments in the text that demonstrate this theme. Quotations and citations are mandatory.
Extra credit: If you wish, you may comment on your peer’s responses, either agreeing or disagreeing with their responses. If you do decide to engage in this aspect of the blog, be sure to add something to the conversation. Simply agreeing or disagreeing will not take the discussion forward. You need to support your responses.
Suggestion: You probably want to construct your response in Word, for spell check and revision purposes, and then copy and paste it into the blog field.
Perhaps the greatest and most central deception of the play is Macbeth's deception against Duncan. There is no deception towards the audience, it is very clear to them that Macbeth has treasonous thoughts, however, Duncan has no idea of this. He admires Macbeth saying, "We love him highly and shall continue our graces towards him." (I.vii.37-38) Macbeth appears to be a loyal and valuable soldier, a servant of Duncan, one willing to carry out his will for the better of the kingdom. When Duncan entrusts himself to Macbeth by staying at Inverness the reality is soon revealed. Macbeth says to himself, "Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell." (II.i.76-77) Macbeth than proceeds to murder Duncan betraying his trust and admiration and showing the reality of his disloyalty.
ReplyDeleteJoe - You bring up a very interesting idea -- Macbeth's deception towards the audience. You said he doesn't. I wonder if you are correct, however? Can anyone find an example of Macbeth decieving the audience?
ReplyDeleteA true great of deception in the play would have to be Lady Macbeth. As it is true for the audience to see, Lady Macbeth seems to have her own agenda. She encourages Macbeth when he tells her about the three weird sisters tell Macbeth about him being "king hereafter!" (I.iii.53). But when she is alone reading the letter received from Macbeth, she says to herself "I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue" (I.vi.29-30). It seems that Lady Macbeth is only looking to benefit herself in Macbeth's becoming king, and she is willing to just about anything to do it.
ReplyDeleteAs the main deception of the Act I and II is obviously Macbeth to king Duncan, it is also the deception by Banquo that cost Duncan his life. While Macbeth was the one that preformed the deed of killing Duncan, Banquo was with Macbeth when the three witches told Macbeth his future of becoming king. Therefore, he knew Macbeth had to kill the king in order to gain the crown. When the king arrives at Macbeth’s castle the night of his murder instead of warning him about what might happen he discusses with the king how, “the air is delicate” (I.vi.12) and how wonderful the castle is. He also has a hidden motive not to tell the king what was going to happen because just as Macbeth’s future was give to him by the three witches, so was Banquo’s. His future was to be, “lesser than Macbeth and greater” (I.iii.68) and also, “thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” (I.iii.70). He did not say anything to Duncan about Macbeth killing him because he knew his kids would be king one day, so Duncan needed to be killed for his kids to be crowned after Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteMany characters in the play have deceived one another, yet it takes a lot for a character to deceive himself. “Is this a dagger which I see before me” (II.i.44), Macbeth’s mind is hallucinating and tricking himself to seeing intangible objects that do not exist. He is becoming delusional because he is worried about the murder of Duncan, as shown is this line, “Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.” (II.i.51). When Macbeth says this is confirming the delusions and misconception from his head. “Come, let me clutch thee. I have the not.” (II.i.47), this shows that the dagger is not present because when he reaches for it his hand just passes through it.
ReplyDeleteMany characters in the play have deceived one another, yet it takes a lot for a character to deceive himself. “Is this a dagger which I see before me” (II.i.44), Macbeth’s mind is hallucinating and tricking himself to seeing intangible objects that do not exist. He is becoming delusional because he is worried about the murder of Duncan, as shown is this line, “Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.” (II.i.51). When Macbeth says this is confirming the delusions and misconception from his head. “Come, let me clutch thee. I have the not.” (II.i.47), this shows that the dagger is not present because when he reaches for it his hand just passes through it.
ReplyDeleteBlake Stark said...
ReplyDeleteThe main moment of deception takes place in (I.vi.37) when Duncan arrives as a guest at Macbeth's castle. Lady Macbeth is there to greet him and is slowly setting him into a trap that will lead to his imminent death. When Duncan says "To his home before us. Fair and noble hostess, we are your guest tonight." He is clearly convinced that Macbeth and his wife mean well. He is clearly caught in the trap leading to death.
There are many forms of deception in this play but one form of deception is between Macbeth and the witches. The witches tell Macbeth of their predictions, however, they do not tell Duncan any predictions for himself making it obvious that the witches have want some sort of bond with Macbeth. Unintentionally, Macbeth lets what the witches say get to him. They tell him he will become king and call him great names like "Thane of Cawador" and "Thane of Glamis" The Second Witch says when the battle is lost and won, that is when they want to meet Macbeth. Macbeth starts to believe in what they say is true. He lets what he wants come before who he really is. He starts to believe that "false face must hide what the false heart doth know" (I.vii.95) meaning that if he hides his doubt he will be able to go through with the murder and become king "Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires" (I.iv.55) By following the witches predictions and making them become true Macbeth is forming a relationship with the witches. This could be very deceiving because the Witches may be predicting only bad things for Macbeth but making him think they are good things.
ReplyDeleteLady Macbeth is the most deceiving character in this book. She convinces Macbeth that killing Duncan is what has to be done in order to become king, but really Lady Macbeth just wants to be queen she has no intentions of helping Macbeth in any way, shape, or form. The audience sees this selfish behavior of Lady Macbeth in Acts I and II, but Macbeth himself does not and neither do any of the other characters. She does a very good job acting innocent when King Duncan is killed and she covers up Macbeth's slip up by saying "help me hence,ho!" (II. iii.138), this just proves she does not have any intention in helping anybody but herself, and she will take down anybody to do it.
ReplyDeleteSo far is this book, there seems to be a great amount of deception. But one of the very first lines of this book, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair,"(I.i.11) is the main set on this book. This quote meaning, things that seem to be evil can be good and things that seem to be good can be evil. The witches, who said this quote, basically deceived Macbeth. Telling him the future put strange thoughts of deception in his mind. then Macbeth put those same thoughts into Lady Macbeth's mind. Using her thoughts, she deceived Macbeth so Macbeth would deceive Duncan. This is a series of stabs in the back.
ReplyDeletesteven minkus
ReplyDeleteThree charters whom are overlooked by their lack of presence in the book are the witches. Even though they are not a character seen often, they do have a big part in the play. I believe that the witches try to act tough, but they are not, in fact they are wimps. In the first scene Shakespeare tries to portray the witches as tough, by having the witches schedule there next meeting “in thunder, lightning, or rain” (Ii2). When I read this I portrayed the witches as some hardcore tough witches. As I continued to read the play and got to act three scene five, the witches are shown in line 36 that they are not tough, but wimpy. They were talking to a character named Hecate and she was yelling at the witches which made them scared enough to run away, because “She’ll soon be back again” (IIIvi36). This quote shows that the witches were not tough enough to retaliate, but a big enough wimp to run away.
In the play Macbeth, there have been many scenes with deception. When King Duncan tells Ross, “What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won”(I.iii.78). King Duncan is explaining that Macbeth has earned becoming Thane of Cawdor. What King Duncan does not know is that Macbeth soon does not only want to be Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth has the three witches, and Lady Macbeth convincing him that he wants to become king. The only way for Macbeth to become king is to kill the man in his way, King Duncan. Even though King Duncan is awarding Macbeth with being Thane of Cawdor it is not enough for Macbeth, leading to false loyalty toward King Duncan.
ReplyDeleteThe moment of deception that stood out to me was when Lady Macbeth was saying "Your hand, your tongue. Look like th' innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't" (I.vi.76-78) to Macbeth. This quote clearly shows how deceiving and is skilled at persuading other people around her. First of all, she is telling him to "fake" the loyalty he has towards Duncan, which leads Macbeth to be guilty of deception, too, by deceiving Duncan. Second of all, she is manipulating Macbeth to kill Duncan by trying to help him to have his own aspiration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Michelle. Perhaps, people who read this play would agree that Lady Macbeth is the most deceiving character in the book. By looking at the story so far, Lady Macbeth is the one who manipulated Macbeth (although he tried to blame others than himself), which led him to kill Duncan and deceive Banquo.
ReplyDeleteThe most deceitful person with a hidden agenda of her own is Lady Macbeth. The main thing that keeps her mind fueled is greed. That single emotion is what keeps her going on with the task for Macbeth to become king. It all starts when Macbeth comes home to tell his wife that a witch has told him"All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"(I.iii.53). That little bit of news is all it took for her to begin to plan the king's downfall. She wishes she could accomplish the task herself but she is not man since she has to convince Macbeth to accomplish the task to become king. But don't let this fool you,this isn't just for her husband , she wants to be the wife of the king which in doing so gives her power as well. She portrays herself to others as a innocent wife of the Thane of Cawdor but there is a secret ambition to her that no one knows but herself. She is basically using Macbeth for her own self gain for power.
ReplyDeleteThere's a character that may or may not show moments of deception but I feel that Macduff is leading up to that important moment. At the end of act II,scene vi,Macduff talks with Ross and the old man about the killing of Duncan and Macbeth being announced king. Ross and Macduff have a conversation: Ross asks "will you to scone?"(II.vi.49), Macduff replies "no,cousin, i'll to Fife"(II.vi.50). I believe that by Macduff saying he's going to stay at Macbeth's castle that he will snoop around or try and get to the bottom of what happened because it doesn't sound right that Malcolm and Donalbain would set up someone to kill their father when he was always there to support them. Also Macduff would go to the crowning of Macbeth because he's a noble. So even though it wasn't as much of a direct moment of deception I feel that being part of the audience it gives of the feeling that Macduff is turning against Macbeth.
ReplyDeleteJoe I agree with your posting 50 percent because, Lady Macbeth provoked Macbeth to change himself into a murder which would not be fair to say the king saw him the wrong way, since he changed over that time. It is evident that Macbeth would have never been able to go through with the murder if he was not provoked by Lady Macbeth. For example, if you look at scene III iv line 128, Macbeth thinks that Banquo is a ghost and is going to come kill him for revenge, showing he does not have the mental strength to murder. In conclusion I believe Macbeth changed over that period causing the kings attitude towards Macbeth to be wrong. Now if you should have said Lady Macbeth, I would agree 100 percent for nobody would have known Lady Macbeth is really a future murderer.
ReplyDeleteMany characters throughout Act I and Act II of Macbeth have been seen deceiving each other in many different scenes and situations. It is apparent that Macbeth has deceived King Duncan by acting loyal and earning Duncan’s trust. It is also apparent that Lady Macbeth has deceived Macbeth by manipulating him. These two examples of deception are not the only two cases found in this literature. Another situation found is when Macbeth deceives himself. During II.vi, Macbeth questions, “The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” Macbeth describes the dagger his mind sees in front of him. Because of this imaginary weapon he sees floating, he believes that the dagger is guiding him to kill Duncan. Macbeths mind deceives him by making him think it is okay to follow the way in which the dagger is pointing. Macbeths mind deceives him into doing the wrong thing by telling him it is the best thing to do.
ReplyDeleteMany characters throughout Act I and Act II of Macbeth have been seen deceiving each other in many different scenes and situations. It is apparent that Macbeth has deceived King Duncan by acting loyal and earning Duncan’s trust. It is also apparent that Lady Macbeth has deceived Macbeth by manipulating him. These two examples of deception are not the only two cases found in this literature. Another situation found is when Macbeth deceives himself. During II.vi, Macbeth questions, “The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” Macbeth describes the dagger his mind sees in front of him. Because of this imaginary weapon he sees floating, he believes that the dagger is guiding him to kill Duncan. Macbeths mind deceives him by making him think it is okay to follow the way in which the dagger is pointing. Macbeths mind deceives him into doing the wrong thing by telling him it is the best thing to do.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, I think your first point of the deception of Macbeth by his wife is much more valid than the second. The instance in which he sees the dagger in front of him is deception of the mind, but I don't think that it is actually what leads him to kill Duncan. Even though his mind breaks at that one point, the majority of the time he was struggling a great deal with his concious and reasoning. Deception towards Macbeth is primarily from the witches and his own wife.
ReplyDeleteIn the play Macbeth, there are many deceptions in all scenes in different formats – such as figuratively or intentionally. In II.i., Macbeth sees a dagger pointing in a different direction, “Come, let me clutch thee. I have the not.” (II.i.47), but wasn’t able to contact the dagger. Macbeth has become delusional; he has encountered an internal conflict while Lady Macbeth is insuring that Macbeth is doing the right thing, Macbeth feels guilty and disloyal to Duncan because Duncan has called him his “worthy Cawdor!” (I.iv.48) He is confused and is not sure what the right thing to do is; his brain has been brainwashed by Lady Macbeth because she is determined to become queen.
ReplyDeleteOne of the greatest deceptions is that of the true timeline and turn of events. By that The Three Witchs telling Macbeth " All hail Macbeth, That shalt be king hereafter"(I.iii.17). It sets in turns of motion that change the timeline causing an alteration of events from that of which should of happened. By Macbeth hearing that simple line he tells his wife, motivating him to further more kill Duncan. If Macbeth had never heard The Three Witchs prophecy then he would never have set these gears in motion. Is is that further more that the greatest deception is that to the timeline, or what should have happened.
ReplyDeleteKelly I would have to disagree, I fail to see any benifet or profit The Witchs could have from a bond with Macbeth. The Witcs never say anything necessarily bad or good they simply tell the future, and their is nothing they convince Macbeth to do, there is no persuasion in any of thier discussions so far.
ReplyDeleteOne deception that is usually overlooked is that of when the witches tell Banquo of his fortune. After the witches tell Macbeth's future, Banquo also wishes to know what the future holds for him. They tell him than he will be "lesser than Macbeth but greater," and "not so happy, yet much happier"(I.iii.68-69). The witches told Macbeth's future. They told him that he "Shalt be kind hereafter," and the words that they told Macbeth made him contemplate his loyalty to Duncan and his countrymen.(I.iii.53) Is it not possible that Banquo could have had similar feelings that we are unaware of? Banquo could have desired to become king as much as Macbeth would. As Joey said in his response, "If Macbeth had never heard The Three Witches prophecy then he would never have set these gears in motion." Banquo could have had "these gear in motion," as well. If Banquo was not the person he was, then he could have been the person to kill Duncan, and possibly Macbeth. Instead, the witches' deception made Macbeth turn on an ally.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite moment of deception is when Macbeth is in the castle with all of the other men (including Macduff, Lennox, Donaldbain, and Malcolm) and he puts on a front that in and of itself, is deceiving. This is found in act II, scene iii. Him saying "Who can be wise, amazed, temp'rate, and furious, Loyal, and neutal, in a moment? No man" (II.iii.27/28) is all one big phony talk coming out of his mouth. Who is the one man who can do all those things at once, and still be mentally unstable? Macbeth is. He is deceving everybody not only with his faulty actions of killing Duncan, but also with how he tries to act sane. He is cheating himself of truth by not admitting his internal insanity. To me, it strikes me in awe to see a character who was so bold and important in the first act, completely crumble ending the second.
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