Matthew Petrielli

Ms. Raposo
ENG 3U2
Wednesday January 15, 2020

The Two Masked Men

In a world where technology is improving every day it becomes easier to put on a mask

and become someone you are not, either in real life, behind a screen or even behind a

microphone. “We all understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we

pretend to be.” This quote is relevant to both ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​ and ​1984 ​as both plots

revolve around a protagonist who pretends to be someone he is not and later becomes that

person, this is seen in both Winston in ​1984​ and Macbeth in ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​. Both

George Orwell’s ​1984​ and William Shakespear’s ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​ were written long

before the time of today’s technology, but they both embody the same theme, of a man putting

on a mask to hide his true self, but one is able to embody it more than the other.

“What he hath lost, noble Macbeth hath won.” (Shakespeare 1.2.78) Macbeth is at one

time, the only noble men left in Scotland, but he and Lady Macbeth’s greediness quickly changes

this. Lady Macbeth was able to put a mask on her husband “Look like th’innocent flower/ But be

the serpent under’t” (Shakespeare 1.6.76-77). Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to begin his

murders, starting with Ducan. Killing Ducan is very hard for Macbeth as he is a very good

natured person and feels an extreme amount of guilt, yet he still puts on the mask of a malicious

murderer. Macbeth’s mask consists of his craving to become king and his paranoia of the safety

of his throne. This paranoia trigger’s him to murder anyone he believes is a threat to his throne,

including his best friend Banquo. “His presence at the tyrant’s feast, I hear Macduff lives in
disgrace.”(Shakespeare 3.6.25-26) Macbeth is considered to be a tyrant by Lennox which he

becomes after murdering Macduff’s entire family. Macbeth voluntarily puts on his mask, at first

he puts on a mask to show his wife that he is a man, but later ends up becoming that man to

satisfy the safety of his throne.

When living in a dystopian world, it is very difficult to find happiness, especially in a

totalitarian government which forces you to put on a mask and act joyful everyday. In Orwell’s

1984​, Winston must put on a mask in order to survive. Winston is not very discreet in hiding his

true feelings as Julia is able to see right through him, “As soon as I saw you I could tell you

were against ​them​.” ​(Orwell 122). Julia then attempts to strengthen Winston’s mask by

encouraging him to participate in more state run events. “​It paid, she said; it was camouflage. If

you kept the small rules you could break the big ones. She even induced Winston to mortgage

yet another of his evenings by enrolling himself for the part-time munition work which was done

voluntarily by zealous Party Members. ” (Orwell 129) Winston puts on a full mask illustrating

that he can be the perfect citizen. As he grows as a “perfect citizen”, his hate for Big Brother

also grows and he becomes more rebellious, which gets him caught and tortured into loving Big

Brother. His love for Big Brother was no longer a mask it became real “But it was all right,

everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He

loved Big Brother. (Orwell 298)”.

It is evident that in both ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​ and ​1984​ both protagonists wear a

mask to hide their true selves, however Macbeth in ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​ is able to embody

this theme more than Winston in ​1984​. Although in both situations these men are further

encouraged to put on a mask by their female partners, they both do it for different reasons.
Macbeth knows that the mask he puts on is immoral, he feels a great deal of guilt and at a time

is even reluctant inputting it on. ​“We will proceed no longer in this business. [Duncan] hath

honored me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people” ​(Shakespeare

1.7.34-36). Macbeth’s mask gets him killed not what is behind his mask, which is his good

natured heart. On the contrary, Winston is killed because of what is behind his mask; his strong

hatred for Big Brother. Winston puts on a mask to survive in the dystopian world he lives in.

Due to the circumstances in both settings, Macbeth embodies the theme of a man who pretends

to be someone he is not and later becomes that person more than Winston. Macbeth does this

voluntarily and selfishly, whereas Winston is forced to put on this mask to protect his life.

Written over five-hundred years ago, ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​’s theme, of a man who

puts on a mask and later truly becomes that person, is still very relevant today as also seen in

1984​. Both pieces of literature embody this theme very well, however ​The Tragedy of Macbeth

is able to exemplify this theme more profoundly than in ​1984​. Macbeth and Winston both put on

a mask, but for different reasons; Winston masks himself for his survival, whereas Macbeth

masks himself to hide his good heart and in turn, he develops into a violent tyrant.
 Works Cited

Orwell, George. ​1984​. New York: Signet Classics, 1961.

Shakespeare, William. ​The Tragedy of Macbeth​. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992.