Motif+of+Masks,+Clothing+and+Appearance+in+Macbeth

Motif of Appearance, Clothing and Masks in ‘Macbeth.’

By Georgia Bellve and Karishma Patel

The motif of ‘Appearance, Clothing and Masks’ appears frequently during the play ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare. This motif is used to hide and highlight the Macbeths’ false roles as royalty. This motif centres predominately on the Macbeths. This motif is shown in three ways: covering their crimes on their appearance, hiding their guilt and showing their position as royalty.

The Macbeths, at the beginning of the play, are not yet royalty and after Macbeth hears the prophecy of him becoming King, his ambition consumes him and he, with the help of his wife Lady Macbeth, realises they must commit murder to get to the throne. Lady Macbeth covers her crimes by ordering Macbeth to don a nightgown after the King’s murder to hide what they have been doing and to make them appear as if they were innocent. This reoccurs when Lady Macbeth is sleep talking later in the play. Before killing the King, the motif of masks appears as he says he must cover his guilt and conscience. “False face must hide what false heart doth know.” –Act One Scene Four, Line 82. The mask is used to deceive others of what he is to do, effectively protecting the Macbeths from detection. This aspect of the motif appears again in Act Three, Scene Two, Line 34, hiding Banquo’s (Macbeth’s former best friend) murder conducted by Macbeth: “Make our faces/ vizards to our hearts, disguising what they are.” The motif of masks is connected to the heart’s true feelings which must be hidden on the face by a false mask. This shows the unnaturalness of these masks donned by the Macbeths as they go against their hearts’ true emotions.

The motif of appearance and masks is used to hide the Macbeths’ shared guilt over their horrible deeds. After Banquo’s murder, orchestrated by Macbeth, his ghost appears to him during a banquet, emphasising Macbeth’s guilt and dissatisfaction at the fact that Fleance (Banquo’s son) lives. Lady Macbeth orders him to appear natural, furthering this motif of appearances. “Why do you make such faces?” Act Three, Scene Four, Line 66. To have a true face, unmasked, would be the downfall of the Macbeths as their faces then would show nothing but guilt and worry. Similarly, in Act Five Scene One, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and sleep-talking due to the heavy strain on her conscience. “Wash your hands, put on your nightgown,/ look not so pale,” she orders in line 60. Her guilt over the murders forces her to recall the nights when King Duncan and Banquo were murdered, where she said words that are very similar to those above.

Finally, the motif is expressed to highlight the unnaturalness of the Macbeths being King and Queen. According to the Natural Order and hierarchy of that society, Macbeth is not to be King after King Duncan of Scotland’s death; Duncan personally named one of his sons, Malcolm, as his successor. Thus, it is extremely unnatural when Malcolm does not become King after Duncan’s murder, but rather Macbeth does and Lady Macbeth is his Queen. In Act Five, Scene Two, Line Seventeen it is said that the King’s robes do not fit Macbeth as the throne is not rightfully his. “Now does he feel his title/ hang loose about him like a giant robe/ upon a dwarfish thief.” He is ‘dwarfed’ by his clothing by as he is not of a royal bloodline and because he is not suitable to be King as the power has transformed him most horribly so he is not a good King for Scotland. Macbeth succumbs to evil and this disrupts ‘The Great Chain of Being’ and destroys the Macbeths’ sanity. Macbeth began as an honourable man and was referred to as “Brave Macbeth” in Act One, Scene Two, Line Sixteen but this not the case by the end of the play. Macbeth is not the rightful King and therefore his role as King is a false one.

The motif of ‘Appearance, Masks and Clothing’ is important for identifying the Macbeths’ falseness and unnatural positions as royalty. Macbeth’s murderous deed resulted in them having to cover up their shame and the above motif recognises and symbolises this.