Sometimes what people appear to be isn't always who they really are. This is a major idea in Macbeth Act 1 and is shown throughout the rest of the play as well. A quote that exemplifies this would "Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, that my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry 'Hold, hold!'  (Enter Macbeth) Great Glamis, worth Cawdor, greater than both by the all-hail hereafter, they letters have transported me beyond this ignorant present, and I feel no the future in the instant" (1.5.48-56) Lady Macbeth, who says this quote, changes her character very suddenly, when Macbeth enters. In the beginning of this quote, she is very angry and talks about how she wishes that she could just kill the king, because she knows her husband won't do it. When Macbeth walks in though, she talks sweetly to him, and very nicely, not at all like she was talking in the beginning. She wants to talk Macbeth into killing the king, and to do this she is acting very sweet around him. Machiavelli would definitely approve of this idea, in fact, he had some advice similar to what she is doing now. His advice was that you don't have to have all good qualities, but you must seem like you do. Lady Macbeth definitely is not sweet like she appears to be, but she is doing that because she wants something. Another example of this tactic would be "The eye wink at the hand" (1.5.52). This is saying that you should ignore whatever bad deed you do. In Macbeth's case he wants to become king (which is good) but he has to kill to get there (which is bad). This relates to Machiavelli’s idea, because if he’s king he would seem very good, but the truth is that he murdered somebody.

Today, there is no specific way that men and women are supposed should act. Both genders can vote, have different jobs, can stay home and cook and clean, or do anything else that once only a certain gender could do. However, when Shakespeare was writing this play, things were much different. Men were supposed to work, and put dinner on the table, and women were supposed to stay home cooking, cleaning and taking care of their kids. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare switches the roles of women and men. In this play, Shakespeare writes, "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood stop up th' access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose nor keep peace between th' effect and it" (1.5.38-45). This quote is said by Lady Macbeth after she reads Macbeth's letter telling her about his prophecy. After she reads this letter, she thinks of her husband as weak because he doesn't want to kill the king, and she realizes that she would do it. In this quote, she is saying that she wants to become a man, because she wants to kill the king, and it isn't acceptable in her society if a woman were to kill someone. Women were supposed to just stay at home, and not really be all that bright. In the quote in the first paragraph, you can see how she changes when her husband comes back, because if he really knew how she felt, and what her thoughts were, he probably wouldn't have married her. How she is acting isn't how a normal wife would have normally acted in those times. Shakespeare, in this play, has taken the male role and put it into Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth thinks that Macbeth is weak because he won't kill somebody, when today, showing resistance to killing someone is a sign of strength. 

Loyalty and honor play a very important role in the story of Macbeth and they are reoccurring themes throughout the entire play.  Many of the characters start out as being trustworthy and honorable, but then end up dangerous. For example, in the beginning, Macbeth is very honorable, and people look up to him as a hero. Shakespeare states in his play, "Yes, as sparrows eagles, or the hare the lion! If I say sooth I must report they were as cannons overcharged with double cracks, so they doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe" (1.2.35-38). In the beginning of this quote, the eagle and lion represent Macbeth and Banquo, and says that even though they were tired, they went on to fight the King of Norway. As you can see, Macbeth is one of the most honorable people in the beginning. As the play goes on, however, Macbeth becomes obsessed with the idea of murdering people that get in the way of him becoming king and becomes less and less honorable. In the next scene , King Duncan says, " He was a gentleman on whom I built absolute trust" (1.4.14-15). He is referring to the Thane of Cawdor, after just have been told about his honorable death. Trust is one of the key idea in Macbeth, and in the play, you are always trying to figure out who you can trust, and who you can't trust. As people change, so does their loyalty. In the beginning, Banquo and Macbeth are very loyal to each other, but I know that in the end, they turn out to be enemies. What changes where our loyalty lies, is different for different people, but in this play there seems to be a theme of greed. Macbeth wants to become king so badly, that he changes from being loyal to King Duncan, as he was in the beginning to trying to kill him. Overall though, loyal and honesty are one of the themes that make this play so memorable.