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GCSE English Literature · key term
A mask; Macbeth uses the word metaphorically for faces that conceal people's true feelings and intentions.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
A mask or face covering. In Macbeth’s metaphor, a face becomes a ‘vizard’ that conceals the feelings and intentions of the heart.
Revise: Appearance and realityBefore the banquet in Act 3 Scene 2, Macbeth says that he and Lady Macbeth must ‘make our faces vizards to our hearts’. ‘Vizards’ are masks: their faces must conceal rather than express their feelings and intentions.
Paper 1
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A mask; Macbeth uses the plural 'vizards' to describe faces that conceal the feelings and intentions of the heart.
As king, Macbeth says they must "make our faces vizards to our hearts," in Act 3 Scene 2. A vizard is a mask. The metaphor turns the face from a means of expressing feelings into a barrier that conceals them.
Paper 2
A mask; Macbeth uses the word to describe faces that conceal what is in people's hearts.
Revise: Appearance and realityIn Act 3 Scene 2, he describes the need to ‘make our faces vizards to our hearts’. A vizard is a mask: the face conceals rather than communicates the heart's intentions.
Component 1
Revise: Appearance and realityBefore the banquet, Macbeth says in Act 3 Scene 2 that he and Lady Macbeth must “make our faces vizards to our hearts,”. A “vizard” is a mask. His metaphor develops the earlier division between face and heart: deception is now an ongoing requirement of their public life, not merely preparation for one crime.
