Appearance Versus Reality in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

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Appearance Vs. Reality
Throughout the course of their life, every human being will experience a time during which they are deceived by what appears to be true, while there is an underlying reality that they are utterly unaware of. People use words, actions, and emotions to deceive people into believing they are genuine thus keep reality concealed. In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the dichotomy of appearance vs. reality is incessantly used to intensify the plot of the play. The characters are blinded by what they see to be true, making it difficult for them to be able to distinguish between what is actually real and what appears to be real. The detachment between appearance and reality all through Macbeth adds suspense to the play and deepens the drama within the plot.
The play Macbeth opens with a disorderly scene where the three witches are introduced. All together they say, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair:” (Act I, scene i, line 11), which sets the evil tone for the play, and initiates the idea of appearances being misleading and deceptive. What is seen to be good and pleasant to the witches may be seen as awful and bad to others, and vise versa. Later on when Macbeth is told he shall be king by the weird sisters, he is unable to see the true malicious intents of the witches because he can only think of the good that they are telling him. He says “This supernatural soliciting/ Cannot be ill, cannot be good; if ill/ Why hath it given me earnest of success,” (I, iii, 131-133). Macbeth questions why they would pledge to him something so magnificent if they are supposedly so evil. He cannot see the ill will that truly lies within them because he is deceived by their false appearance of virtue. This is the starting point of ...

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...pleasant and secure to Duncan, the reality is Macbeth is planning on killing him. Duncan is completely unaware of his fate, creating dramatic irony as well as a great deal of suspense for the audience.
The division of reality and appearance within Macbeth generates a great deal of tension and suspense into the plot of the play. The deceivingly good appearances and immoral intentions of the characters makes it difficult to deduce what their true intent is. The separation between what is real and what appears to be real is plays an extremely important role in the play. Without the detachment between appearance and reality, characters would never be triggered to their downfall because they would never be mislead from what the honest truth is. Thus, the contradiction between appearance and reality is necessary to magnify the drama and anticipation within the plot.

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