Theme- Appearance vs Reality

Question 1

characters

Answer 1

Macbeth
- Wears a mask of loyalty while plotting murder. His outer behaviour often conceals inner turmoil and dark ambition.

Lady Macbeth
- Master of deception; appears calm and welcoming while planning Duncan’s death. Her advice to Macbeth highlights the need to appear innocent while hiding evil.

The Witches
- Speak in riddles and paradoxes, making their prophecies seem truthful while actually misleading. They blur the line between appearance and reality.

King Duncan
- Trusts appearances too much—first with the old Thane of Cawdor, then with Macbeth. His inability to see true character leads to his downfall.

Banquo
- Suspicious of Macbeth, but keeps his thoughts hidden. He represents awareness of the danger behind appearances.

Question 2

quotations and analysis

Answer 2

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
- Witches (Act 1, Scene 1)
Analysis: This paradox sets the tone for the whole play—good and evil, truth and lies are all inverted. Nothing is as it seems.

“There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face.”
- Duncan (Act 1, Scene 4)
Analysis: Duncan reflects on how you can’t read someone’s intentions from their face. Ironically, he trusts Macbeth right after saying this.

“Look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t.”
- Lady Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 5)
Analysis: Lady Macbeth advises Macbeth to hide his deadly intentions behind a gentle appearance. Deception is essential to their plan.

“False face must hide what the false heart doth know.”
- Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7)
Analysis: Macbeth agrees that he must conceal his guilt and intentions. He embraces the need to present a false front.

“Is this a dagger which I see before me?”
- Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 1)
Analysis: Macbeth hallucinates a dagger. His mind is confused, showing the blurry line between perception and reality—his ambition distorts his senses.

Question 3

summary

Answer 3

Deception and concealment are vital to the characters’ plans—what they appear to be hides who they truly are.

The witches’ riddles suggest truth, but are laced with misleading ambiguity.

Ambition drives characters to create false appearances, leading to moral corruption and self-destruction.

Shakespeare warns that trusting appearances leads to downfall (Duncan, Banquo).

The theme reflects the broader idea of psychological instability—reality is twisted by guilt, ambition, and fear.