Appearance Vs. Reality In Shakespeare's Macbeth

Throughout the play of Macbeth, the theme of appearance versus reality is a major theme that is focused on in various parts of the play, and is shown in both the language and dramatic techniques that Shakespeare employs. For language, Shakespeare clearly presents what appears to be real and what actually is the truth in many situations, for example, in the first act, the three witches claim that 'Fair is foul and foul is fair '. Here, what seems to be real is actually not, thus confusing the audience as to whether what is good is actually bad and vice versa. 'Fair is foul ' indicates that what is good may not turn out to be as innocent as it seems, while 'Foul is fair ' shows that what was initially thought of as bad was actually the correct way of upholding justice. Therefore, this highlights that fact that what appears to be good, is actually not all rainbows and sunshine, and one needs to wait out a bit longer in order to uncover the morbid truth. Later on, King Duncan states that Macbeth 's castle 'hath a pleasant seat; the air / Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself ' which also contains elements of dramatic and proleptic irony. This is as the audience knows that Macbeth is planning to murder King Duncan in this tranquil setting. 'Pleasant seat ' refers to where the castle is built, and appears to be built in a nice place; 'Recommends itself ' might allude to how Lady Macbeth later overflows with polite compliments that make the audience suspicious, thus