Deception And Deception In Macbeth

Throughout the play of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, things always have a twist to them. Deception, which is defined as “the act of tricking someone by telling them something that is not true”, can be seen in the play through the main characters of deception, which are Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the witches.
Women characters are portrayed as manipulative and deceiving characters throughout the play. In the very first scene, it begins with the witches saying “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”. In other words, this can be seen as advice from the witches indicating that playing “fair” will not let you achieve your ambitions, but playing “foul” will allow you to get what you want. This also foreshadows the upcoming deception in the world …show more content…
Macbeth is then surprised and sparked by the fact that he can become a king and this shows betrayal as he is willing to believe the witches’ speech and acts on it, rather than being loyal to his friend and his king. Consequently, the theme of deceit can also be seen when Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to “look like th’innocent flower but be the serpent under’t”. “Flower” usually has a positive connotation of purity, while in contrast, “serpent” has a connotation of evil spirits and the cunning personality. “Serpent” also cannot be said without a hiss, and thus, this indicates that she has an evil plan in mind. She advises Macbeth to look pure, but be evil deep inside. This clearly shows Lady Macbeth is manipulative and is very skilled in persuading others to do whatever to achieve what she wants, in this case killing King Duncan, thus portraying the theme of deception. In addition, Lady Macbeth acts stunned from Duncan’s death in the stage directions “Exit Lady Macbeth, helped”. This shows that Lady Macbeth is pretending to be horrified by Duncan’s death, so that she and Macbeth are not suspected of committing treason. The wording of “helped” implied that she acts as though her …show more content…
Macbeth is obsessed with being a king that he betrays his acquaintances for his own benefit. In the quote “Is this a dagger which I see before me” suggests that he is captivated by the fact that he could be king himself that he starts to hallucinate items that motivate him to commit treason against King