Blog 10

Fair is foul, and foul is fair, - Macbeth (1.1.11).

In the opening scene of Macbeth, right after famous opening lines of the play when shall we three meet again……, the above lines are spoken by three witch together. The lines provide, “an attention getter” to the audience and give the sense of thriller going to happen. The lines set the same mood as the lines spoken by Marcellus in Hamlet.

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (1.4.90)

If we look closely, the entire Macbeth play orbit around the idea reflected by the above lines same as Hamlet’s rotten affair of a corrupted state. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth try to blend fair with foul and foul with fair. Though their conscience makes strict demarcation between fair and foul, their ambition mixes them together to justify themselves.


Look like th’innocent flower, But be the serpent under’t. (1.5.63)

The lines are spoken by Lady Macbeth to her husband. It’s interesting to note that even in their first contact besides the hereabout letter of meeting three witches and their prophecies send by Macbeth to his wife, she knows what Macbeth is thinking and has already made her plans that parallels her husband thoughts lacking resolute actions. As the king Duncan was coming to one night stand on theirs house, lady Macbeth wants to look her husband cool, normal and full of hospitality hiding his real intention. She asked her husband to approach, “I am not what I am”-(1.1.66) attitude of Iago in Othello.
She acts right as her suggestion in front of king – she totally hides her serpenty and displays her fake floweriness. Since Hamlet got no particular suggestion for his image by his close confident and associate Horatio, he uses insanity in stead of floweriness to hind his serpenty towards his Uncle Claudius whereas Claudius uses soft and diplomatic language to hide his serpenty towards all particularly to his nephew Hamlet in the play Hamlet.


There’s daggers in men’s smiles (2.3.33)

The lines are spoken by Donalbain to his elder brother Malcolm, the next heir to the Scottish throne, after they knew that their father had been murdered. Though they saw everybody swearing loyalty to their murdered father and calling for revenge and justice, they trust no body. All people are pretending to be their allies but as Donalbain says further, The near in blood, The nearer bloody.(2.3.36). These young princes are aware of the fact that everybody meets them with smile and respect but do not show off what is inside their mind. So, Malcolm plans to flew to England and Donalbain to Ireland. They wants to hide their identity before they really know the real traitor as for them all people appear traitor behind their smiling faces.
Though I did not came to me a precise character and lines resembling to the above line in other plays of Shakespeare (may be the meaning of the line is so obvious in Hamlet and Othello that it’s hard to notice a single one- in fact Iago and Claudius character is what the lines suggests), but I found some lines by Polonius advising his son Laertes before leaving for France in Hamlet where the above lines fits.

Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar
There’s daggers in men’s smiles

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgement.
There’s daggers in men’s smiles