Notes

In this scene, Macbeth is portrayed as deceptive because once he hears the news of Malcolm having a possibility of being King, he decides to say that Malcolm is just another obstacle in the way and he must step over him in order to become King. This then creates the impression of Macbeth being tyrannical even at the start and deceptive when beforehand, he pretended to be happy and glad that Malcom would be King next. Macbeth says 'let not light see my black and deep desires' which shows how he does not want God (the light) to see what he will do next to become King and what he wants to do. The word 'light' has connotations of peacefulness and calmness which is immediately contradicted with the words 'black' and 'deep'. Black has connotations of mystery and death, whereas 'deep' shows how Macbeth might have thought before of this and has been ingrained in his heart for a while to become King. Not only could it symbolise how Macbeth will do anything in his power to become King next, but it also foreshadows his belief in religion weakening. In the Jacobean times, as many were Christian, they believed that God would see everything that you did and punish you if you sinned. Here, Macbeth is clearly showing that he will sin to be King but wants the light, God, not to see his actions which would be impossibly and shows his downfall with religion in the first Act which becomes even worse as the play progresses. For a Jacobean audience, they would start to ask questions about Macbeth and not look at him the same way as they did at the start as a strong and ruthless soldier as he is planning to eradicate any chance of Malcolm becoming King but also considering treason which was the worst crime you could do. I think Shakespeare did this in order to show how ambition, and especially later on in the play, is not always a good thing and if you have too much of it, it can ruin your life and others and make you less respected. This scene is important to the journey of Macbeth as we see him become more tyrannical as this is one of the first times where we see him go against religion and almost ignore the facts they had in place at that time. Shakespeare would have done this to create a sense of mystery to Macbeth and have the audience who were extremely religious question his faith. This then links to the idea of ambition and later on guilt as your actions always have consequences and Macbeth is hit hard by that throughout, and especially, the end of the play. This shows he is deceptive as he will pretend he is someone but in reality, he acts differently and thinks differently of the situation which also links to the theme of 'appearance vs reality' in the play.