Meet Macbeth

      Macbeth is introduced initially through indirect characterization by the Sergeant. The Sergeant glorifies Macbeth as a warlord and this is only proven through his entrance of impaling a head on a pike. But Macbeth is not a pure brute, he has self reflection. This can be seen through the foreshadowing of the witches. The witches tell Macbeth that he will ascend to the throne of a living man, which means he's going to die. They also say that his wife is going to chew him up every chance she gets. Shakespeare's exposition uses characterization to develop the characters and the story. The audience understands that the witches are setting out the play while the characters are the dancers. Macbeth is characterized as if he is a tragic hero and this allows a tone of sympathy and regret to come through when Macbeth is present. Today in class we noted that a central theme of the play is "Fair is foul and foul is fair". Everyone in this play is under the pretence that their fair appearances will hide their foul realities. Lady Macbeth is seen as a feminine wife, when in reality her evil soul rots her away.