Appearances & Deception

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Macbeth's Deception

Macbeth gets better and better at deceiving people as the play goes on. He persistently struggles to hide his inner emotions though.

In Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth he must ‘Bear welcome in your eye, / Your hand, your tongue; look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’ t.’
This simile tells Macbeth that he must put on a welcoming face for King Duncan. She's worried that he can't trick people. She tells him, ‘Your face, my thane, is as a book where men / May read strange matters.’
This suggests that it is easy to read his emotions by looking at him. She says he needs to control his emotions if they're to gain Duncan's trust.

Macbeth seems to be much better at tricking people by the time Macduff finds King Duncan’s body. He says: ‘Had I but died an hour before this chance, / I had liv’d a blessed time, for from this instant, / There’s nothing serious in mortality’ (2,3).
This suggests that life has nothing left to offer now the king is dead. Macbeth seems like a loyal subject (someone under the King’s rule) who is very upset by King Duncan’s death, rather than a murderer who is responsible for it.

Macbeth continues to trick people. He misleads the men he employs to murder Banquo. He makes them think that Banquo was responsible for their misfortune, not him, ‘Know, that it was he in the times past which held you so under fortune, which you thought was our innocent self’ (3,1).

Macbeth still struggles to hide how torn he feels within.
Lady Macbeth tells him to, ‘Sleek o’er your rugged looks, be bright and jovial / Among your guests tonight’ (3,2).
Macbeth agrees. He says they must, ‘make our faces vizards to our hearts, / Disguising what they are.’
A vizard is part of a helmet that covers the face. This metaphor means they must make their faces like masks to hide their true selves from everyone else.

Appearances are shown to be deceiving throughout the play.

Before meeting with Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 4, King Duncan says ‘There’s no art / To find the mind’s construction in the face.’
This suggests that it is difficult to read true intentions by looking at someone. King Duncan regrets that he trusted those around him, like the Thane of Cawdor, who betrayed him.
He does not learn from this though. He is murdered because he trusts the Macbeths just a few scenes later.

After the murder of their father, Donalbain tells Malcolm ‘There’s daggers in men’s smiles’ (2,3).
This suggests that they are surrounded by people who pretend to be friends by smiling, but in fact have murderous plans. He knows that appearances can trick people.

In Act 3, Scene 5, Hecate chants about how she will mislead Macbeth with fake spirits.
She wants to continue pushing him towards his downfall: ‘And that distill’d by magic sleights, / Shall raise such artificial sprites / As by the strength of their illusion / Shall draw him on to his confusion’.