appearance vs reality

Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Act 1 Scene 1 - The play’s mantra, suggesting that things are rarely what they seem.

He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust

Act 1 Scene 4 - Referring to the traitorous Thane of Cawdor - people are duplicitous

Look like the innocent flower, / But be the serpent under ’t.

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth instructs her husband to play the perfect host while plotting murder

Pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth invokes darkness and hellish forces to conceal the murder of King Duncan

He’s here in double trust… kinsman… subject… host…should shut the door, not bear the knife myself

Act 1 Scene 7 - Macbeth is aware of the expectations of his reality as a subject but chooses to deceive

False face must hide what the false heart doth know

Act 1 Scene 7 - Macbeth concludes that he must use deception to cover his guilt

Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?

Act 2 Scene 1 - This hallucination questions Macbeth’s sense of reality

There’s daggers in men’s smiles

Act 2 Scene 3 - Donalbain realises that those who act most friendly are the most dangerous

Sleek o'er your rugged looks; Be bright and jovial among your guests to-night

Act 3 Scene 2 - Lady Macbeth is urging Macbeth to hide his inner turmoil and appear cheerful and welcoming at a banquet to cover up their recent regicide

Make our faces vizards to our hearts, Disguising what they are

Act 3 Scene 2 - The Macbeths know they must put on a facade / mask to hide their true, evil thoughts and murderous intentions

Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes

Act 3, Scene 4 - Macbeth is trying to convince himself the Ghost isn't real by pointing out it lacks the biological signs of life

This is the very painting of your fear

Act 3 Scene 4 - Lady Macbeth is telling him that the Ghost is not a physical supernatural entity, but a "picture" created by his own mind. To her, his fear is the artist, and the Ghost is merely the artwork