G.C.S.E. English Coursework Macbeth Essay

Assignment title: (5) â€Å"Fair is foul and foul is fair†. Show how this image recurs and develops through the play. Throughout the tragedy, the theme entitled â€Å"fair is foul and foul is fair†, is key to the play’s success and dramatisation, as it both recurs and develops as the play continues. The fore mentioned words are used by and against the key characters in the play, as Shakespeare uses his language to portray the theme and characters. The witches are key in performing the appearance versus reality theme. This major theme is first brought on in the first scene of the play, with the spooky, disturbing, oxymoronic verse culminating in â€Å"Hover through the fog and filthy air†, which explains Shakespeare’s intentions for the plot and deeper metaphors and echoes through to act five. The blatant opener is much like the oxymoron of I.3, â€Å"lesser than Macbeth, and greater†, which appears impossible, but sets the later scenes in which Banquo meets his end; because Banquo is lesser when he dies, but will be greater because of his fantastic devotion to good, and he â€Å"shalt get kings†, showing Shakespeare’s desire to impress James I, the possible seed of Banquo, in his theatre. It is clear that, by Hecat’s rhyming speech in III.5, â€Å"strength of their illusion†, that the fiends’ whole purpose and method is to deceive people like the literate Macbeth by situations appearing to mean certain things, but in reality meaning something totally different. This clever characteristic is also displayed by the apparitions: the third real or hallucinative metaphor, â€Å"Be lion-mettled†, tells Macbeth of the seemingly impossible move of â€Å"Birnan Wood the high Dunsinane Hill† that they speak of is the only way i n which to kill Macbeth, and the English pick up the wood as a simple, proverbial but deadly important battle tactic. The genius playwright shows subtly and brilliantly the innocent appearing child holding a tree, giving the rapt main character a clue to the ironic developments. The equivocal meanings along with the ever-present personification, â€Å"Who chaves, who frets†, would excite the audience and provide excellent entertainment. Also in the apparition scene, it seems that the â€Å"masters† are thought by Macbeth to tell him convivial news, but in fact they bring the disagreeable kind after the rhyming first head, â€Å"beware Macduff! Dismiss me, enough.†, has deemed the tragic hero in this typically beautiful narrative, but what Macbeth does not know is that that what the bloody child said about his fate â€Å"none of woman born shall harm Macbeth†, which sends Shakespeare into his ride into the clouds – incorporating the usual elaborate metaphors, â€Å"a bond of fate†, â€Å"sleep in spite of thunder† – when the fantastical plot of Macduff’s Caesarean section sees Macduff as the one with the powers, when he eventually kills the totally believing Macbeth. Shakespeare develops the character of Macbeth as a study of the supernatural when what seems like a worthless guess by three old hags, â€Å"This supernatural soliciting†, turns out, not only to be true, but doubtfully veracious in Macbeth’s mind from the very off, when even he does not know whether it is fair or foul, â€Å"cannot be good, cannot be ill†, in his oxymoronic evaluation of the words of the witches beforehand, creating dramatic Irony. Banquo is the contrast of this with his steadfast righteousness, â€Å"to betray’s in deepest consequence.†, but the evil predictions turn out to be true in Shakespeare’s idealistic plot, (to follow James I’s views in his book, demonology) as the demons drive him to the highs of monarchy and all the way back down again. The soliloquies of Macbeth provide us with excellent insight into this well developed theme. He openly admits he himself is performing his own fair/foul deeds, â€Å"He’s here in double trust†, as what seems to be a feast for Kind Duncan, turns out to be his own murder as Macbeth describes the apocalyptic imagery, â€Å"tears shall drown the wind†, which he sees in the future, after his equivocal change from polysyllabic to monosyllabic words, â€Å"Commends the ingredience†, â€Å"naked new-born babe†, where Shakespeare cannot decide whether to be literally superb or to concentrate on his plot and echoes. This is developed again by the ‘poet’ in the next act when it moves on from the simple, deceiving act of treachery, to disguise of evil, covering up true nature, â€Å"Nature seems dead†, where the malevolence is personified and â€Å"Tarquin’s ravishing strides† bury the seemingly irrepressible mother nature into the ground, as the audience are whiteness to the scene as a dilemma when Macbeth turns into the depraved, perfidious side of him. Macbeth is so rapt at the apparitions scene that he continues to use his poetic licence to great effect as, even when he is shocked, he continues to rearrange the two opposites while using alliteration to its fullest, â€Å"blood-boltered Banquo†. He continues in the exact same state of mind in the following pages, as Shakespeare develops Macbeth as an assertive, yet easily persuaded character, when the minor Lennox receives the same attention as the rest – none – â€Å"The castle of Macduff I will surprise†, as he ponders on how to kill the feared Macduff: Ironic because he holds the opinion that Macduff is foul, although he is fair and he believes the witches speak fairly, but their intentions are very foul. Much like in IV.1, Macbeth performs a soliloquy in his distressed state of mind while Seyton is present, in V.1. The theme is much more developed here where the philosophical Shakespeare tells his now entranced audience that â€Å"Life’s but a walking shadow†, displaying Macbeth’s depression, followed by his metaphorical, negative description, â€Å"Struts and frets†, of a thing that is thought of as virtuous by the majority of people. This comes after the so- called ‘bad news’ of his wife’s death, but he seems to think that a foul thing like that seems quite fair, â€Å"She should have died hereafter†, even though he appears as the other, sympathetic half of himself, â€Å"find her disease†, before again changing disposition, â€Å"Would scour these English hence†, where he self-centred like concentrates on his own, fragile destiny, as Shakespeare plays around and jumbles the character of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is an excellent example of the fair/foul theme. She is a lady and is thought to be a kind, loving and lady-like, but her dramatic, alliterative entrance in I.5, â€Å"And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers†, is the real Lady Macbeth, while the play write shows superbly how she is seeming to be fair in front of guests, â€Å"Look to the lady†, but in fact she is the real villain of the play, tormenting the audience and every-one’s innocent ignorance of women. The theme is somewhat reversed towards the end of the script because Shakespeare – with his depraved repetition, â€Å"To bed, to bed, to bed† – has not made Lady Macbeth such an enemy to his enthralled audience, that they can’t really feel sorry a little for her illness, â€Å"This disease is beyond my practice†, as she becomes more fair in the juggled end of the play. The wife of Macbeth also appears un-hurting, senseless and cruel, before we see the start of her more fair side in II.2, â€Å"Had he not resembled†¦ I had done’t†, as the writer teases the audience with his confusing, twisting plot and monosyllabic dialogues. She repeats a more feeble side of herself in a more complex way as the play develops, â€Å"dwell in doubtful joy†, and she becomes a weaker character. Her contributions to the fair foul/foul theme change as she slowly becomes less of a villain, but her grip on her husband gets much weaker, â€Å"Be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck†, as he becomes more of the evil one, whilst continuing to use oxymoronic personification, â€Å"Light thickens†, because before, he was looking to be just deception intended by the witches, â€Å"In their newest gloss†, where the lady attacks Macbeth’s masculinity, â€Å"then you were a man†, but in the second and third murders, a brave man being brought down by the witches. Lady Macbeth is also a great believer in the theme as a disguise for the couple’s actions, â€Å"Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t†, as the great, evil mind of the lady, developed very early on in the play, plots to kill the king. She and him both exhibit their earlier intentions after the murder, â€Å"outrun the pauser reason†, and â€Å" What, in our house†, when suitably the predictions by the witches to be literal and an excuse to gain power, but the bad acting would show off Shakespeare’s talent of producing dramatic irony, frustration and repetition to show women as being insignificant, â€Å"O Banquo, Banquo! Our royal master’s murdered†, which he does throughout the play. In the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth has an important role, as her argumentative side is apparent. This is so because she is taking the predictions by the witches to be literal and an excuse to gain power, but the well educated Macbeth sees the foul deception by the witches, â€Å"In their newest gloss†, where the lady attacks Macbeth’s masculinity, â€Å"then you were a man†, but in the second and third murders the she has no involvement. He dismisses her with his over stunning oxymoron, â€Å"restless ecstasy†, and alliterative metaphors, â€Å"life’s fitful fever†, so Shakespeare can show off to James I. The hallucinations of particularly Macbeth display the appearance versus reality theme because the objects appear, but are not reality. The dagger, well portrayed by some productions as a shadow, is the first time that Macbeth begins to hallucinate. His rapt, overpowered state of mind is skilfully shown by Shakespeare to provide us with a pocalyptic imagery personified, â€Å"fatal vision†, and the thought that a â€Å"false creation† could turn a seemingly fair fate into such a foul ending. When the blood and gore become a reality, â€Å"the cry of women†, â€Å"Untimely ripped†, and Macbeth meets his sword-shaped death, which he speaks of in that soliloquy, â€Å"moves like a ghost†, as personification and simile spell out the real fate. At the turning point of the play, III.4, it is questionable whether Macbeth is hallucinating or not. This is still a good example of the fair /foul theme because Banquo’s death was supposed to be a good thing for Macbeth, but it turned out to be bad, whether in the mind of Macbeth (maybe through the witches’ speculative powers) or as the genuine ghost that is scripted by Shakespeare, with some in-appropriate, pretty language. The ghost of Banquo represents the change of feelings, of and towards the Macbeth couple, because Macbeth is sent into an even more psychotic, but still repetitive rapture, â€Å"It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood†, while the innocent flower withers and di es and havoc and evil reign in his kingdom, â€Å"turned wild in nature†, but lady Macbeth becomes seriously mentally ill. At the start of act five, it is lady Macbeth’s turn to be hallucinatory. In scene one of that act, she admits she is really the evil one, as she was the one who projected the idea of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, although disguised by Macbeth’s polysyllabic personification, â€Å"Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight†, and she ends up as the wolf. Shakespeare attempts to redeem her and not leave her on such a sour note as Macbeth, but possessive, selfish, un-dignified metaphors, â€Å"Hell is murky†, â€Å"All the perfumes of Arabia†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , only drive the indifferent, spoilt character more into the role as the villain, before Macbeth kills mercilessly. Dramatic Irony shows the theme superbly because the audience can know of the truth while the characters do not. We first see Macbeth as being fouler than we originally thought when he initially makes his metaphorical lies. The now persuaded and focused Macbeth uses Shakespeare’s dramatic irony as the audience are aware of his thoughts as he deceives the righteous Banquo, â€Å"I think not of them†, when he first shows the audience that he is a traitor, while the killed traitor was replaced by him. When the play has turned against Macbeth, so has the dramatic irony. We heard in V.4 that the prophecy of the witches has deceived Macbeth and the Bard so comically yet sincerely with his own metaphors shows Macbeth hearing the news, â€Å"The wood began to move†, where the tragic hero is told of a seemingly fair protection against death, turned foul against him into certain fate. The tone is not such a happy and pleased one in IV.3. We can imagine the audience distraught and upset when the unfortunate Macduff is first lied to by Ross, but then the news breaks. Shakespeare increases the tragedy by Ross’ equivocal words â€Å"They were well at peace† to increase the dramatic irony before he sickens the audience with his blunt upheaval of alliterative comparison, â€Å"your wife and babes savagely slaughtered†, drawing people away from the idea that death is rest, first touched upon by the mercurial Macbeth. The disturbed Shakespeare is very obsessed the death of young characters. The people visiting the play will be very distressed by the playwright’s veracity to beguiled murderers as first a small boy is brutally hacked down by the assassins, â€Å"He has killed me mother†, (and even he can use metaphor, â€Å"shag-haired villain†) followed by a teenager losing his life in vain, â€Å"Thou liest, abhorred tyrant!†, as the bewitched main character goes on his last run. This shows dramatic irony because we already know that â€Å"only one of women born shall harm Macbeth† so Shakespeare shows off his literary skills as the characters in Macbeth show their true states of mind through their language. Virtually the whole play contains the fair/foul theme; from the very first scene, until the moment in which Macbeth dies. As his evil world disintegrates, Malcolm concludes saying that righteousness is returned and the end of Macbeth signals the absence appearance versus reality, â€Å"That fled the snares of watchful tyranny†, and that Scotland will continue under his reign and significantly, James I’s. He believes that Macbeth was not the totally guilty one, â€Å"Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like queen†, but the dead Lady is. Shakespeare must end the play relevant especially to James I, as a happy ending because the king would not like to see his fears the witches win or his possible ancestors lose.