What goes around comes around.

William Shakespeares tragedy, Macbeth, expresses this as one of its important themes in the play. In the play, Macbeth, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are so ambitious and resort to deception to achieve their goals. These deceptive deeds lead them both to their downfall and death as they too become victims of deception. Shakespeare brilliantly demonstrates the moral, that deception for the sake of appeasing ambition will torment the deceiver through guilt and returned deception. Throughout the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deceive to satisfy their ambitions. Macbeth aspires to become king, thus he and his wife decide to murder Duncan. However, Macbeth reconsiders the plot, but Lady Macbeth, ambitious too, deceives him to follow through. When Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth of cancelling the plan, she says, When you durst do it, then you were a man; / And, to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man (1.7. 49-51). In hopes of having Macbeth rejoin in the plan, Lady Macbeth deceives Macbeth by challenging his manhood. She states that rejection makes him less a man and murdering would do viceversa. Macbeth with his masculinity in question is deceived to believe that murder is the necessary, noble, and masculine way of achieving his ambition. Soon after, Macbeth murders Duncan and the next morning, creates an alibi and a false face as an honourable person in order to be chosen king. When asked why Macbeth killed the guards, he responds, there, the murderers, / their daggers / Unmannerly breechd with gore: who could refrain (2.3 115-117). Macbeth, through his lie, deceives others by blaming the guards, hiding his responsibility. His sadness and anger of Duncans unfair death enraging him into killing the guards deceives them, believing that Macbeth is honourable

through his loyalty to Duncan, as seen with his just action, making him a good successor. Deceived into believing that Macbeth is a true nobleman, they elect him as king. He becomes more ambitious, hoping he will father generations of future kings. Fearing the prophecy that Banquo will interfere with his ambition, Macbeth executes his murder and deceives by covering it up. As the guests ask Macbeth to commence the banquet, he remarks, Were the gracd person of our Banquo present; / Who may I rather challenge for unkindness / Than pity for mischance! (3.4 41-43). By his displeasure towards Banquo, the guests believe that Macbeth really has no idea why Banquo did not attend. They would then not blame Macbeth because he showed no signs of knowing the murder. On the inside, Macbeth is happy, believing that his children shall be kings. One can see that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth often deceive to attain their aspirations. As a result of their deception, Macbeth and Lady Macbeths actions return to haunt them as they can not emotionally handle their crimes and they themselves are deceived. Macbeth, fearing for his ambitions through deception, has the witches give him advice, where he then becomes confident of his success. When the witches tell him the apparitions, Macbeth states, Then live, Macduff: what I need fear of thee? ... / That will never be: / Who can impress the forest, bid the tree / Unfix his earth-bound root? (4.1 82, 94-96). Macbeth, interprets the apparitions as impossible, ridicules them and assumes that nothing shall harm him. This makes him over confident that he will continue his success and goes on carelessly with his life. After this, Lady Macbeths deception returns as a curse, she is guilt ridden. She sleepwalks and talks to herself such as, Heres the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes / of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. (5.1 48-50). In the beginning of the play, she is not worried of the guilt, however now

subconsciously the guilt is taking over her. Every night, she worries how the guilt can never leave, which overwhelms her and leads to her suicide. She would not have been guilty and dead had she not deceived. In the end, as Macbeth is fighting, he finally realizes that the witches have deceived him, sending him to his death. When he tells Macduff that none of woman shall harm him, Macduff explains that he was born of Csection. Macbeth responds, Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, / For it hath cowd my better part of man. (5.7 46-47). Macbeth finds out that Macduff was technically not born of woman. This meant that Macbeth had been deceived by the witches by making him interpret the apparitions differently than intended, making him over confident, which gets him killed by Macduff. Macbeth would not have gone to the witches if he did not perform countless deceptions. Thus one can see how deception comes with the price of guilt and deceptive response. The use of deception to aspire leads to the consequence of regret and treachery by deception itself. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deceive to achieve their ambitions of the crown and royal descendants. But in the end, the deception makes Lady Macbeth guilty, forcing her to commit suicide, while deception betrays Macbeth, fooling him into his death. Macbeth is a successful play because Shakespeare exemplifies a timeless, universal concept; actions come back with similar consequences.

Deception: Action and Reaction

Benjamin Weng Ms. Dinaro ENG-2D8 April 22, 2010

Bibliography:
Shakespeare, William, and Roma Gill. Macbeth. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1991. Print.