Reality Check

          MACBETH --- another masterpiece by William Shakespeare. It is considered to be the darkest and most powerful tragedy. For those who doesn't know, let me tell what it's about briefly. It  tells the story of a man who let his greed for power take over himself, eventually dethrones the king's position by killing him and everyone who he thinks a potential threat to his power. Macbeth was a very brave, good and noble at the beginning  but once the three witches revealed their prophecy about Macbeth being the king of Scotland in the future, he then started to do such merciless crimes.

            The play started with the conversion of the three witches (Act I, Scene I) where they talked about their plan of talking to Macbeth and mentioned the words "FAIR IS FOUL AND FOUL IS FAIR" afterwards. Seven simple words yet it could sound enigmatic. However, I still came up with some simple words to explain what this means which is what appears to be good is bad and what appears to be bad is good.

            "FAIR IS FOUL" - Things are not always what they seem. People are not always who they seem. When Macbeth and Banquo first encountered the witches, they described them as withered-looking and crazily dressed.  But after Macbeth has heard their prophecies, he considered them "fair" just because of the pleasant things they have said, without them realizing that in reality, the intentions of saying such is something that is a "foul". In my opinion, some things would only appear to us like an illusion. We have to understand them first, not to think that seeing is believing but is also deceiving. Let us put it this way: the prophecies are revealed for Macbeth to understand them as riddles but not to be taken literally. It served only to suggest what awaits him in the future, not to affect it. The three witches predicted that Macbeth will become king, but not kill the king. He may seem such a great man at the start, but nobody expected that he'll go against the king. Although these are brief and absurd prophecies by the three witches, it still affected Macbeth's life by turning his life upside down.             

            "FOUL IS FAIR" - Perhaps the last move by the English people is what gave justice to Duncan's death and even Macduff's family. What Macbeth did was such an unforgivable act. It took the lives out of somebody's loved ones. At the end, revenge prevailed. It may seem bad to the eyes of some people but it definitely has to be done. Macbeth deserves to die, for he has done things a person shouldn't do. It's legitimate. It is for Macbeth to pay for murdering people who has done good deeds to him.

            Once again, "FAIR IS FOUL AND FOUL IS FAIR" --- a lesson which I can surely keep in my life. For me, it could simply teach me not to judge a book by its cover. Admit it, we already have judged a person by his/her appearance and most of the time, we do it with the person whom we doesn't know the story of. People have their own stories behind their appearance, smiles and tears. One word and you'll never know how much you can hurt a person. Also, make your eyes wide open. Sometimes, seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing. Do reality checks. Seek for the truth. Again, things are not always what they seem. Don't let evil thoughts take over your mind and heart. Always think before you act for you will never know what would be the result in the end. I may sound I am going so far from the main point of what I was saying at the start but I believe those seven words are our key to some lessons we can use in REALITY.