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Witches
The witches act as equivocators throughout
the play in order to mislead Macbeth. They want him to interpret
what they're saying in such a way that he will react as they have planned
for him. In their speeches they have many paradoxical statements
such as:
"fair is foul, foul is fair." (1.1.11)
"lesser than Macbeth, and greater" (1.3.65)
"Not so happy, yet much happier." (1.3.66)
Their main purpose
is to act as equivocators and they do this best when they provide Macbeth
with his final three prophecies.
Prophecy 1 - "Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware MacDuff..." (4.1.71)
Prophecy 2 - "...for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth." (4.1.80)
Prophecy 3 - "...Macbeth shall never be vanquish'd be until Great Birnam
Wood to
High Dunsinane Hill shall come against him." (4.1.92-94)
The witches
manage to mislead Macbeth with their equivocation and use of paradoxical
statements so much that it leads him to his death.
Macbeth
Macbeth at the beginning of the play is a noble, caring, and loyal Thane.
He's a good man until the witches provide him with the prospect of one
day becoming King. He decides not to wait out this prophecy but instead
make it come true by killing Duncan himself. This is when Macbeth
is forced to become an equivocator in order to hide what he has done.
He misleads MacDuff, Malcolm and the others by appearing as the loyal subject
appalled by the murder of his King.
"Who can be wise, amaz'd, temperate and furious, loyal and neutral,
in a moment?
No man." (2.3.109-110)
This murder
only leads to many more where Macbeth has to disguise the reality of what
he's done. In another act of equivocation, Macbeth convinces Banquo's
murderers that Banquo deserved to die.
"Our fears in Banquo stick deep...there is none but he whose being I do
fear; and under
him my genius is rebuk'd..." (3.1.49-56)
Throughout the novel
Macbeth lied to his friends and family through his equivocation.
However eventually it caught up with him, leading to his death.
LadyMacbeth
Lady Macbeth is a very ambitious and immoral
character. She had a plan to kill Duncan right from the beginning.
She's is an excellent equivocator, seeming to be the innocent wife of Macbeth
while in reality Duncan's murder was her idea. She hides the truth
from the other characters by fainting when she first hears of good King
Duncan's death. The audience can see her intentions to mislead Duncan
by her speech to Macbeth.
"...look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue:
look like the
innocent flower but be the serpent under't." (1.5.63-65)
Lady Macbeth
is possibly the best equivocator in the play until she breaks down under
the pressure and the truth becomes clear to the other characters.
Porter
The Porter uses a great deal of paradoxical
statements when he's drunk. He isn't meant to be an equivocator and
isn't intending to mislead anyone. Shakespeare added his character
as a means of comic relief. These are some of the Porter's lines:
"...it provokes and unprovokes."
"...it provokes the desire but it takes away the performance."
"...it makes him, and it mars him; it sets him on, and it takes him off;
it persuades him
and disheartens him; makes him stand to and not stand to..."
(2.3.28-35)
The Porter's
lines are comedic in their use of paradox but aren't intended to show the
Porter as an equivocating character.
Macbeth is full of equivocating characters including Banquo and MacDuff. At some point all the characters try to mislead someone by means of equivocation. The play is also full of paradoxical statements, such as "fair is foul, foul is fair" which can be said to set the mood for the entire play. This is why paradox and equivocation can be said to be the basis of the play.
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