Macbeths Analysis

25 Pages 6336 Words

de even now
Was heavy on me (I.4 13-18).

Macbeth, who will soon betray Duncan's trust even more than the earlier Thane, echoes the treacherous first Thane of Cawdor. As in all Shakespeare plays, mirroring among characters serves to heighten their differences, and Macbeth is no exception. Thus Macbeth, the young, valiant, cruel traitor/king has a foil in Duncan, the old, venerable, peaceable and trusting king. Lady Macbeth, who casts off her femininity in her very first scene and claims to feel no qualms about killing her own children, is doubled in Lady Macduff, who is a model of a good mother and wife. Banquo's failure to act on the witches' prophesy is mirrored in Macbeth's drive to realize all that the witches foresee.
Much of the play is concerned with the relation between inner and outer worlds. Beginning with the equivocal prophecies of the Weird Sisters, appearances seldom align with reality. Lady Macbeth, for example, tells her husband to "look like th'innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't" (I.v 76-77). Macbeth appears to...