Macbeth is one of the most gruesome plays ever in the history of theater and play writing. Throughout the play, there were various acts or quotes that gave example of the dark and bloody theme of the play. One of the many themes of this play, is fair is foul, foul is fair. This theme shows how foul play and evil helps the characters succeed in their lives. Many times, this foul play gets the characters into trouble. The theme fair is foul, foul is fair is a great theme to express the feeling and tone set in this play
As the play begins, three witches are gathered together chanting fair is foul, foul is fair. Right in the beginning the mood is set in a gloomy tone. A bloody man then came in to report that Macbeth and Banquo had fought. For Macbeth’s bravery, Duncan made Macbeth thane of Cawdor. This is a good thing because it gave Macbeth more power. The bad part is that later Macbeth will kill Duncan to become king. Not to long after, Macbeth looks at the weather and says, “So foul and fair a day I have not seen. ” This refers to the gloomy weather that has come over, which also helps in setting the tone.
In the play, Macbeth also mentions, “If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir. ” This basically means that if Macbeth is crowned as king, he will not have a problem with that, but he is not going to go out of his way to become the king. Lady Macbeth had a few things to do or say, which incorporated into the theme fair is foul, foul is fair. Lady Macbeth is a woman, but is meaner, and fiercer than a man. She also casts spells to make herself even more evil and manly. This phase slowly declines as the play goes on, and she becomes more and more afraid of what she has done.
Also, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to look like an innocent flower, but be serpent under it. This is a great example of fair is foul, foul is fair. She is basically telling Macbeth to look kind and innocent, but to act out his evil that is deep down inside of him. Death is also an object used to fit into this theme in various parts of the play. One general example is the killing of Duncan. Macbeth had thought this would be a good idea and would make him become king. But it actually made him have to keep killing others and eventually it leads him to his own death.
There are many parts that are related to death that show the theme fair is foul, foul is fair. A son killing a father is considered unnatural, yet Duncan’s sons were blamed for his death. Also, Duncan is better off dead because he is at peace, and Macbeth is not. Macbeth’s life will slowly go downhill. If Duncan had stayed alive he would only be faced with more problems, especially with Macbeth. Also, dead people are supposed to stay dead, and not come back to life. In the play, Banquo comes back to life at a banquet and Macbeth can see his spirit sitting at one of the chairs.
This sight frightens Macbeth, and with his horrified reactions, people think that he has something wrong with him. Again, the theme fair is foul, foul is fair, is a perfect theme to show the tone and feeling throughout this famous play. The mood of this play is definitely one of darkness and gloominess. Macbeth had horrible time living after he had killed Duncan. It came to a point where it was harder for Macbeth to recover for what he had done than it would be to just keep killing others. This theme came into play in many different times and helped with dark and bloody progression of the play.