In the world of Macbeth, appearances and deception play a major role. Nothing is as it seems. Characters may appear to be loyal on the outside, but inside they harbour secret motives. Their actions illustrate this greatly, particularly in the case of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

One of the most fascinating ways in which Shakespeare explores the theme of appearance and reality is through the characters of the witches. The witches bring with them confusion, which infects the natural order. Night becomes day. Duncan’s horses eat each other. In the world of the witches “fair is foul [and] foul is fair”. Nothing is as it seems. Over the course of the play, they lead to greater confusion in Macbeth’s mind. They seem to promise him good things, but his life subsequently begins to deteriorate. On the night of the murder, Macbeth sees a floating dagger, but can not decide if this “air-drawn dagger” is real or a figment of his imagination proceeding from his “heat-oppressed brain”. His confusion between what is real and what is not seems to increase as the witches’ influence over Macbeth grows.

In the political system of Scotland, everything is tainted with “treasonous malice”. Duncan’s early acknowledgement that “there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face”, reminds us that nothing is as it seems. Cawdor, “a gentleman on whom [Duncan] built an absolute trust,” is shown to be a traitor. Duncan’s trust has been misplaced in this instance, as it will be again when he grants the title of Thane of Cawdor to Macbeth. Macbeth appears to be a loyal, noble and brave soldier. Macbeth, however, is entertaining the notion of regicide to become king himself. Macbeth is concealing his “black and deep desires”, appearing to be a suitable candidate for Cawdor, when he is infact nothing but a threat.

The castle of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is also a prominent example of appearance and reality in this play. While Lady Macbeth prepares Duncan’s “fatal entrance under her battlements”, Duncan is generous in his praise of the castle. According to Duncan, the “castle hath a pleasant seat, the air nimbly and sweetly recommends itself unto [their] gentle senses”. This, unknown to Duncan, is to be his final resting place. The outside of the castle is welcoming and innocent. Inside the castle, the inhabitants are willing to overthrow the natural order to attain their ambitions. While the “summer loving Martlet” lives on the walls of the castle outside, the preparations for Duncan’s murder continue inside. Lady Macbeth insists that Macbeth appear as “the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”. The following feast leads Duncan into a false sense of security. The festivities of the night are in great contrast to the gruesome murder that is the follow and the shocking ramifications that it will have on the Macbeths and Scotland.

As Macbeth’s actions become more tyrannical and savage, the strain of hiding their (Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s) true nature surfaces. The pair quickly begins to lose their grip on reality. Following Banquo’s murder, Macbeth sees his ghost at the feast. Macbeth has lost the ability to differentiate between appearance and reality. The cause behind Macbeth’s murder of Banquo was his inability to accept anything at face-value. Macbeth turns to the witches when he begins to become “cribb’d and confined”. These are the very “hags” behind Macbeth’s original confusion. They very quickly bring Macbeth into a state of mind where he becomes totally disconnected from reality. He takes the witches apparitions and predictions literally, believing that he is safe from any harm. The prediction that Macbeth will be safe until “Birnam Wood reaches Dunsinane” appears to indicate that he will not be threatened any time in the near future. In reality, it is showing him his impending downfall. It is at this stage that the forces of good come together and travel to Scotland to overthrow Macbeth. As the tide turns on Macbeth, the king and queen become more disillusioned and reach the brink of insanity. Suffering from memories of the murder, Lady Macbeth is unable to make a distinction between reality and fantasy. In her panicked state, she takes her own life. Meanwhile, Macbeth is forced to acknowledge that the witches “lie like truth”. They have equivocated. Macbeth is at this stage ready to see the world for what it is, not for what he wishes it to be.

In the final scenes of the play, Macbeth re-attains his self-recognition. He realises that he will not have “troops of friends”. He no longer has the honour or nobility that he earned for himself on the battlefield. He understands that his life is “a tale told by an idiot”. Macbeth is at this stage able to see behind appearances, into reality, as his life is coming to an end. Macbeth faces Macduff on the battlefield in a fair duel, as a soldier. He is ready to face his death and no longer must his “false face hide what [his] false heart doth know”.

The play Macbeth is undoubtedly a very shocking and disturbing play. In the course of the play, the boundaries between reality and appearance are in a constant state of flux. As a result, very little is as it seems in the play. The characters are regularly concealing their true natures and their true ambitions and desires.