Appearance and Reality in Macbeth:
In Macbeth, Shakespeare effectively creates an alternate, and invariably
supernatural, world where nothing is as it seems; a world in which characters are
driven to evil and madness as they spiral into insanity, acting on the witches’
prophecies, lying to friends and communing with evil spirits. The vision of the dagger,
the appearance of Banquo’s ghost and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking all serve as a
representation of the extent to which protagonists lose touch with reality throughout
the play and become increasingly engulfed by uncertainty before reason, thus further
transgressing into an abyss of insanity.
In the extract, Shakespeare shows Macbeth vacillating believing in and rejecting the
world of the supernatural, yet he ultimately seems to accept their oxymoronic and
equivocal promises due to his ‘vaulting ambition’ and uncontainable excitement in
relation to attaining kingship. The dagger causes him to wonder if the supernatural
influences are in fact a hallucination caused by the ‘heat-oppressed brain?’. At this
point, Macbeth seems sufficiently aware of mental torments to distrust the vision,
rejecting it as a sign of his mental degradation. The original audience, watching in an
era without modern special effects, would have seen an actor grasping at thin air,
which essentially depicts a sense of irrationality and ridicule towards Macbeth’s
demise into delusionality. Subsequently, Macbeth wonders aloud if his sight is in fact
heightened and ‘worth all the rest’ of his senses. This suggests that Macbeth
believes that he is developing a supernatural ability to see beyond reality, which
instead, would have invoked a sense of humour and ridicule within the audience, as
they resolve that Macbeth is being fooled. Later, Macbeth ruminates on the world of
night in which ‘witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate’s off’rings’. It seems that Macbeth
has crossed from the world of reality into the unreal world of the supernatural,
viewing himself as one of the witches and ghosts of the night. This boundary now
crossed, Duncan faces grave danger under the influence of Macbeth’s sinical
intents.
Later in the play, Shakespeare presents how Macbeth creates an aura of majesty
and hospitality whilst, in fact, being a murderous ‘tyrant’. Before the banquet, Lady
Macbeth clearly advises Macbeth to be ‘bright and jovial’ in front of their guests, to
which she evidently acknowledges that, in order to consolidate their power, they
must perform the role of monarchs, and attain a sense of stability, rather than appear
as their true selves: scheming murderers who essentially violate their duty of
hospitality by killing three of their guests. Macbeth follows after her pretence,
speaking in prose while stating that he will ‘play the humble host’ in an attempt to
gain their respect, as a factor which contributes to their hidden, malevolent plan of a
massacre. This false humility appears calculated to gain the approval of their guests
and to hide the truth lurking beneath their warm and welcoming façade. Although,
the appearance of Banquo’s ghost shames Macbeth and causes Lady Macbeth to
reveal the duplicity and dishonesty of her persona to the audience as she publicly
commands the thanes with a series of imperatives and berates Macbeth for his
actions, seemingly more suited for a ‘woman’s story at a winter’s fire’ in an attempt to
warn Macbeth to continue with their previously established plan. This also shows
that Lady Macbeth knows their power is slowly diminishing and fears that, once the
Thanes see through appearances to the reality of Macbeth’s tyranny, a rebellion and
uproar will follow, which foreshadows the future uproar of Scotland under Macbeth’s
In Macbeth, Shakespeare effectively creates an alternate, and invariably
supernatural, world where nothing is as it seems; a world in which characters are
driven to evil and madness as they spiral into insanity, acting on the witches’
prophecies, lying to friends and communing with evil spirits. The vision of the dagger,
the appearance of Banquo’s ghost and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking all serve as a
representation of the extent to which protagonists lose touch with reality throughout
the play and become increasingly engulfed by uncertainty before reason, thus further
transgressing into an abyss of insanity.
In the extract, Shakespeare shows Macbeth vacillating believing in and rejecting the
world of the supernatural, yet he ultimately seems to accept their oxymoronic and
equivocal promises due to his ‘vaulting ambition’ and uncontainable excitement in
relation to attaining kingship. The dagger causes him to wonder if the supernatural
influences are in fact a hallucination caused by the ‘heat-oppressed brain?’. At this
point, Macbeth seems sufficiently aware of mental torments to distrust the vision,
rejecting it as a sign of his mental degradation. The original audience, watching in an
era without modern special effects, would have seen an actor grasping at thin air,
which essentially depicts a sense of irrationality and ridicule towards Macbeth’s
demise into delusionality. Subsequently, Macbeth wonders aloud if his sight is in fact
heightened and ‘worth all the rest’ of his senses. This suggests that Macbeth
believes that he is developing a supernatural ability to see beyond reality, which
instead, would have invoked a sense of humour and ridicule within the audience, as
they resolve that Macbeth is being fooled. Later, Macbeth ruminates on the world of
night in which ‘witchcraft celebrates pale Hecate’s off’rings’. It seems that Macbeth
has crossed from the world of reality into the unreal world of the supernatural,
viewing himself as one of the witches and ghosts of the night. This boundary now
crossed, Duncan faces grave danger under the influence of Macbeth’s sinical
intents.
Later in the play, Shakespeare presents how Macbeth creates an aura of majesty
and hospitality whilst, in fact, being a murderous ‘tyrant’. Before the banquet, Lady
Macbeth clearly advises Macbeth to be ‘bright and jovial’ in front of their guests, to
which she evidently acknowledges that, in order to consolidate their power, they
must perform the role of monarchs, and attain a sense of stability, rather than appear
as their true selves: scheming murderers who essentially violate their duty of
hospitality by killing three of their guests. Macbeth follows after her pretence,
speaking in prose while stating that he will ‘play the humble host’ in an attempt to
gain their respect, as a factor which contributes to their hidden, malevolent plan of a
massacre. This false humility appears calculated to gain the approval of their guests
and to hide the truth lurking beneath their warm and welcoming façade. Although,
the appearance of Banquo’s ghost shames Macbeth and causes Lady Macbeth to
reveal the duplicity and dishonesty of her persona to the audience as she publicly
commands the thanes with a series of imperatives and berates Macbeth for his
actions, seemingly more suited for a ‘woman’s story at a winter’s fire’ in an attempt to
warn Macbeth to continue with their previously established plan. This also shows
that Lady Macbeth knows their power is slowly diminishing and fears that, once the
Thanes see through appearances to the reality of Macbeth’s tyranny, a rebellion and
uproar will follow, which foreshadows the future uproar of Scotland under Macbeth’s
