Monday, March 14, 2016

Explain the quote "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face." How does it relate to Lady Macbeth in Macbeth?

The quote you reference is originally spoken by King Duncan in Act 1, Scene 4 of Shakespeare's Macbeth. In context, the quote references how the former Thane of Cawdor fooled Duncan and betrayed him. Basically, in this quote Duncan is acknowledging how difficult it is to know what's going on in someone else's mind based on their outward appearance. In other words, it's easy for someone to hide his or her real feelings in order to betray someone.


This quote could certainly apply to Lady Macbeth on multiple occasions, as she proves adept at hiding her true feelings for most of the play (until, of course, she's goes crazy and dies). The most obvious example of this is Act 2, Scene 3, at which point King Duncan's murder is discovered. At this point, we know Lady Macbeth had a role to play in the murder. That said, you wouldn't guess it from the way she pretends to be surprised, and then emotionally/physically weakened by the grisly "revelation." Indeed, Lady Macbeth carefully hides her guilty conscience by pretending she is too "weaK" to deal with the news of Duncan's murder. As such, at this point in the play Lady Macbeth's outward appearance certainly masks her "mind's construction."

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