Appearance and Reality in Macbeth Appearance does not always agree with reality. A limited view on an event or topic will likely lead to a limited or even false conclusion. For example, in Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth, the Scottish nobles regarded the main character Macbeth as a "bloody tyrant"; for readers, Macbeth is not a totally evil character, but almost a hero with a lot of physical strength and greatness. Only if he hadn't betrayed his king, he would have been a great lord. This essay will deal with this difference in Macbeth's appearance and reality. Macbeth is a deranged old man with flashes of former greatness. He entered the scene as an honorable man respected by his fellow soldiers and showed great courage and physical strength, fighting under King Duncan. As reported by the bloodthirsty general "Disdaining fortune, with his steel brandished... smoked with bloody execution... he dug his passage... he fixed his head on our battlements." (I, ii, 15-25) From this quote we can imagine Macbeth's heroic qualities: courage, courage and unstoppable. King Duncan highly praised Macbeth for courage and loyalty, but what he did not see from Macbeth's face (appearance) is Macbeth's dark desire that is planning to kill the king (reality). From this moment on, as the witches come the prophecies and the ambition of Macbeth, aided by Lady Macbeth, this heroic character in both the mind of the reader and that of the Scottish nobleman, begins his downfall. After the assassination of King Duncan, quoted by Banquo "...and I fear you have behaved very disgustingly for it." (III, I, 3) all the Scottish nobles suspect that Macbeth has killed King Duncan. Thereafter, Macbeth seems to believe in his philosophy "things that have begun badly grow stronger with evil" (III, iii, 55) and tries to hide his murder by killing more and more. Ultimately, his ambition transformed him from a hero to a tyrant who "burns... tongues" (VI, iii, 10-15) Flashbacks of Macbeth's greatness reappear once again at the end of his tragic story in the speech "Tomorrow , and tomorrow and tomorrow...." (V, v, 15-30) Through this speech we can feel his sadness and his anger towards his meaningless life: "life is nothing but a walking shadow, a poor actor, who struts and frets his hours on the stage, and then is heard no more." When Macbeth realized the prophecies relating to his impending crisis, he said: "If what he claims appear, / there is no 'is neither flying from here nor stopping here.