This essay examines the central thematic tension between appearance and reality in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Drawing on key scenes and quotations, the paper argues that the play consistently exposes the danger of judging by surface impressions — a flaw shared by Duncan, Macbeth, and others. The essay explores how characters such as Banquo, Malcolm, and Macduff manage to see through false appearances, while those driven by ambition or ego are systematically deceived. It further contends that Shakespeare presents self-deception not as mere victimhood but as a moral failing rooted in individual character, culminating in the downfall of those who believe what they wish to believe.
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When Lady Macbeth learns that the witches have predicted her husband will be king, she greets him with the words: "…look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't" (I.5). The fact that the three "weird sisters" have predicted Macbeth's kingship is interpreted by Lady Macbeth as license to commit the murder of Duncan. Her words establish a contrast between "being" and "seeming" that runs throughout the play. Lady Macbeth urges her husband to appear loyal even while the two of them conspire to kill the king. Yet the play underlines the theme that Macbeth is not the only character who merely makes a show of what he is not: the dangers of making assumptions based upon surface appearances recur throughout Shakespeare's Macbeth. Both Duncan and Macbeth are guilty of this fatal flaw.
Of the Thane of Cawdor — the title Macbeth is awarded at the beginning of the play in accordance with the witches' predictions — Duncan says: "There's no art / To find the mind's construction in the face: / He was a gentleman on whom I built / An absolute trust" (I.4). Similarly, when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill Duncan, they lie about his death, pretending that the king's grooms committed the murder even though it was Macbeth, conspiring with his wife, who did so.
Yet it is not only Duncan who proves a poor judge of character. Macbeth places absolute credulity in the witches when they tell him he will be king. Later in the play, feeling particularly cornered by his adversaries, Macbeth returns to the witches for reassurance that he will remain king. When he is told that "none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth," this seems to guarantee his safety (IV.1). However, Macbeth soon discovers that this is not the case. His most hated enemy, Macduff, was born by Caesarean section — ripped from the womb rather than delivered in a natural fashion. When Macbeth hears this, he realizes he is as good as dead, and that the witches merely seemed to speak the truth — or rather, they spoke a truth specifically designed to deceive and to urge him toward evil. "And be these juggling fiends no more believed, / That palter with us in a double sense; / That keep the word of promise to our ear, / And break it to our hope" (V.8).
As poor a judge of character as the kings are, Shakespeare also demonstrates that this equivocation resides in the mind of the beholder, and not simply because all people are deceitful. People believe what they want to believe. Even though Duncan regards Macbeth as an honest man, when Macbeth makes a show of mourning after Duncan's murder and uses over-inflated language to justify his actions, no one really believes him. Malcolm, the heir, says to his brother: "Let's not consort with them: / To show an unfelt sorrow is an office / Which the false man does easy" (II.3). Unlike his father, who wanted to believe that the former Thane of Cawdor and Macbeth were good men, Malcolm — and Macduff — are able to see Macbeth with clear eyes.
This ability to penetrate the "seeming" of evildoers is further underlined by the fact that Macbeth appears to want to believe the witches when they foretell his future, unlike his companion Banquo, whom he will later murder, who shrugs off their predictions: "And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths" (I.3). Once Macbeth is convinced that he is destined to be king, his ambition causes him to entertain thoughts of murdering Duncan, and while he experiences moral qualms, he eventually yields to his wife's insistence that they act immediately. A better man might have assumed that events would passively and positively allow him to assume kingship, but Macbeth does not. Thus, while he is deceived by the seemingly truthful prophecies of the witches — just as he deceives Duncan — Shakespeare demonstrates that the susceptibility to being lured into foolish or evil actions is also rooted in an individual's character. When Macbeth finally becomes king, the entire kingdom is all too aware that he is a tyrant in borrowed robes who does not deserve his position.
"Banquo, Malcolm, and Macduff resist false appearances"
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Shakespeare Homepage. 4 Jan 2013. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/
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