Monday, February 9, 2015

How does the line "fair is foul, foul is fair" reflect the events in Act One?

7 comments:

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  2. Fair is foul, foul is fair means that the only way to get ahead in Macbeth's world is to do things that would be considered unethical. Everyone else does these unfair deeds, and since everyone is doing them, they are what the nobles consider normal and fair. The original Thane of Cawdor betrays King Duncan and rebels against him, and so do many other Scottish nobles. King Duncan executes men without truly knowing if they have betrayed him. Lady Macbeth calls upon sorcery to fill her with cruelty so she can convince Macbeth to kill Duncan and make Macbeth ascend to power. Macbeth is shown to be one of the most fair men in the land, but even he is easily convinced to assassinate King Duncan. He doesn't mind killing someone he likes just for personal gain and is only concerned about his own social standing and no one else. Macbeth in act one acts fair, but is really foul, and since everyone else is foul, all the foul deeds are fair.
    Mark Wright

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  3. The line "fair is foul, foul is fair" is the perfect example of an equivocation and shows the readers how many different meanings words and actions can have. All throughout the play so far the underlying theme seems to be things are not what they appear to be, and having interpreted that one starts to see all the double meanings examples being Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is at first portrayed being a sweet woman but we find out the truth as soon as she reads Macbeth's letter and we see how arrogant and deceitful she is as she plans on convincing her husband to murder for the throne. But even then she can not convince Macbeth to kill without his consent, and now we see Macbeth who is portrayed as one of the fairest, law upholding men in the land and we slowly see him fall from his place of glory down to the level of entertaining cold blooded murder. This just goes to show that the things perceived as fair might actually be foul and those perceived as foul might actually be fair.

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  4. Fair is foul, and foul is fair has become an apparent theme throughout Act One. In this Act, King Duncan is being rebelled upon by a group of thanes, or upper-class nobles, so King Duncan gives orders to kill these rebellious people. While this is happening Lady Macbeth is planning a murder of the King, so her husband Macbeth can step into power. Lady Macbeth uses her cunning power of persuasion to convince her husband Macbeth to be okay with killing Duncan for self gain. This phrase fair is foul and foul is fair reflects on Macbeth's thinking in this situation. With everyone else acting so foul and unethical, it seems to be normal and fair to be foul. Foul is the new fair, and acting foul will bring upon fairness. All his selfish thoughts consume him into believing that killing Duncan is an acceptable thing to do.

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  5. "Fair is foul, foul is fair," is one of the many examples of equivocating language used by the witches. This line helps set an overall theme for the play, suggesting the only way to obtain what one wants or desire to be "fair" is do do immoral and "foul" actions. Macbeth obviously thinks he is more fit and more entitled to be king than Duncan, the current king, or Malcolm, Duncan's son who is next in line for the throne. When the witches told Macbeth of the prophecy that he would be king, they never said anything about Macbeth having to kill for it to come true. Macbeth is one of the most loyal and highly thought of men in Scotland, but even he can simply assume that to get was is "fair", he has to do what is "foul".

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  7. "Fair is foul, foul is fair," is an example of an equivocating language that is an embodies how one can get ahead in Macbeth's world. The quote also resembles what is said in modern times "All is fair in love and war," in that one can do anything in order to get ahead. It is also like "boys will be boys," in that it justifies Macbeth's actions. The line helps to set an overall theme in suggesting that the only way to gain what one desires to be good or "fair" is to perform immoral or "foul" acts. The witches are foreshadowing that Macbeth feels that he is more fit to be king than Duncan, and his desire to be king is the "fair." The "foul," is that in order to become king he must kill Duncan. Macbeth does not want to be king until the witches speak of the prophecy, but they do not tell him that he must commit any foul acts of violence. Although he is one of the most higlhly respected people in the kingdom he is myopic after hearing the prophecy, and only sees murder as a way to become king.

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