In the 1606 play Macbeth, Shakespeare presents the difference between appearance and
reality as a prominent and pivotal force which led to the downfall of the tragic hero, Macbeth.
By presenting the witches’ deceptive nature, then Macbeth’s “deep” and hamartia disguised
by his masculinity and finally the detrimental consequences of mistakenly taking appearance
as truth, Shakespeare urges his audience to reject the evil deceptive occult instead of
upholding the divinity as suggested by James I’s doctrine in Daemonologie as it is the only
way to sustain integrity and peace within the oneself and the realm.
Early on in the play, Shakespeare presents the instability between appearance and reality
through the portrayal of witches as malicious equivocators in order to warn against the
dangers of the occult. The witches deliberately distort reality in their chiasmus ‘fair is foul and
foul is fair’, where the paradoxical “fair” and “foul” signals an inversion of appearance and
reality. This foreshadows the overturning of morality (“fair”) and evil (“foul”) when Macbeth,
the lesser figure, murders the divinely ordained King Duncan. Alternatively, the chiasmus
suggests a complete amorality, as if “fair and “foul” can be used interchangeably, suggesting
how appearance and reality are not just inverted rather dismissed as a whole. Furthermore,
while the witches appear to have the ability to choose three weathers between “thunder,”
“lightning” or “rain”, they are however, three similar stormy settings which instead signals a
lack of choice. This collapse of apparent choice is a recurring motif in the play where
Macbeth’s initial violence of “unseaming” when he murders the traitor Macdonwald
eventually makes Scotland ‘bleed’ — signaling the vast reversed gap between appearance
and reality. Moreover, the gap between appearance and reality becomes entirely fragile
when the witches spread their evil through “fog” and “filthy air”. The “fog” symbolizes a moral
blindness, foreshadowing how Macbeth becomes “rapt” and loses the ability to see moral
truth. At the same time, the “filthy air” evokes Jacobean ideas about the “thick” air which was
filled with plague, suggesting how evil is airborne and cannot be fought with “steel,” making
the “reality” of integrity increasingly masked. Hence, Shakespeare presents how under the
evil influence of Satanic supernatural, appearance are deliberately distorted in order to
create chaos and manipulate human desires.
As the play progresses, Shakespeare presents how the seemingly noble can disguise their
evil intentions in the core, creating a cautionary tale around anxieties of hideous treason in
the aftermath of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. While initially praised as “Brave Macbeth” and
whose loyalty is proved through the consent to become “Bellona’s bridegroom”, worthy to
marry the goddess of war, inside, Macbeth embodies a darker side of reality. He admits the
desire for “stars” to “hide” their “fires” so that his “black and deep desires” are hidden. In
particular the adjective “deep” reinforces how his realistic ambition is rooted in his
personality, cautiously hidden in the colour of “black”. In addition, “black” symbolises
concealment the demonic, suggesting how his attempt to suppress unchecked ambition will
lead to moral downfall. Moreover, the earlier portrayal of his “brandished steel”
“smoking”which, on the surface displays Macbeth’s unmatched bravery and speed he
slaughters, however, it could be interpreted as performative — he is using his outward
display of ‘execution’ to drown his own “black and deep desires” even then. Moreover, by
attempting to disguise his ambition, his mind becomes “heat oppressed” linking to the Furies
of the Greek classics who were made to torment and incite madness in the guilty’s mind,
suggesting how the reality of his unchecked ambition overrides his human conscience. Thus,
by aligning the gap between appearance and reality with contemporary fears of hidden
reality as a prominent and pivotal force which led to the downfall of the tragic hero, Macbeth.
By presenting the witches’ deceptive nature, then Macbeth’s “deep” and hamartia disguised
by his masculinity and finally the detrimental consequences of mistakenly taking appearance
as truth, Shakespeare urges his audience to reject the evil deceptive occult instead of
upholding the divinity as suggested by James I’s doctrine in Daemonologie as it is the only
way to sustain integrity and peace within the oneself and the realm.
Early on in the play, Shakespeare presents the instability between appearance and reality
through the portrayal of witches as malicious equivocators in order to warn against the
dangers of the occult. The witches deliberately distort reality in their chiasmus ‘fair is foul and
foul is fair’, where the paradoxical “fair” and “foul” signals an inversion of appearance and
reality. This foreshadows the overturning of morality (“fair”) and evil (“foul”) when Macbeth,
the lesser figure, murders the divinely ordained King Duncan. Alternatively, the chiasmus
suggests a complete amorality, as if “fair and “foul” can be used interchangeably, suggesting
how appearance and reality are not just inverted rather dismissed as a whole. Furthermore,
while the witches appear to have the ability to choose three weathers between “thunder,”
“lightning” or “rain”, they are however, three similar stormy settings which instead signals a
lack of choice. This collapse of apparent choice is a recurring motif in the play where
Macbeth’s initial violence of “unseaming” when he murders the traitor Macdonwald
eventually makes Scotland ‘bleed’ — signaling the vast reversed gap between appearance
and reality. Moreover, the gap between appearance and reality becomes entirely fragile
when the witches spread their evil through “fog” and “filthy air”. The “fog” symbolizes a moral
blindness, foreshadowing how Macbeth becomes “rapt” and loses the ability to see moral
truth. At the same time, the “filthy air” evokes Jacobean ideas about the “thick” air which was
filled with plague, suggesting how evil is airborne and cannot be fought with “steel,” making
the “reality” of integrity increasingly masked. Hence, Shakespeare presents how under the
evil influence of Satanic supernatural, appearance are deliberately distorted in order to
create chaos and manipulate human desires.
As the play progresses, Shakespeare presents how the seemingly noble can disguise their
evil intentions in the core, creating a cautionary tale around anxieties of hideous treason in
the aftermath of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. While initially praised as “Brave Macbeth” and
whose loyalty is proved through the consent to become “Bellona’s bridegroom”, worthy to
marry the goddess of war, inside, Macbeth embodies a darker side of reality. He admits the
desire for “stars” to “hide” their “fires” so that his “black and deep desires” are hidden. In
particular the adjective “deep” reinforces how his realistic ambition is rooted in his
personality, cautiously hidden in the colour of “black”. In addition, “black” symbolises
concealment the demonic, suggesting how his attempt to suppress unchecked ambition will
lead to moral downfall. Moreover, the earlier portrayal of his “brandished steel”
“smoking”which, on the surface displays Macbeth’s unmatched bravery and speed he
slaughters, however, it could be interpreted as performative — he is using his outward
display of ‘execution’ to drown his own “black and deep desires” even then. Moreover, by
attempting to disguise his ambition, his mind becomes “heat oppressed” linking to the Furies
of the Greek classics who were made to torment and incite madness in the guilty’s mind,
suggesting how the reality of his unchecked ambition overrides his human conscience. Thus,
by aligning the gap between appearance and reality with contemporary fears of hidden
