What does Lady Macbeth mean by the line "look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it"?

In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth advises her husband to "be like the innocent flower, but be the snake underneath". By that, she meant that he had to appear innocent to believe in his murderous and insidious plan. However, despite his innocent appearance, he still has to die or be as poisonous as a snake.

 By telling Macbeth to "look like an innocent flower", she wants him to look harmless and harmless in order to make her victims feel comfortable so that his plot will surprise and others will not suspect him. After all, who would be afraid of a flower?

However, under this mantle of deceitful innocence, he should be ready to hit Duncan like "the snake underneath [the flower]". This line is similar to the concept of "looks can be deceiving" or "don't judge a book by its cover". In fact, Lady Macbeth even tells her husband in this same scene, when she urges him to kill for the throne,

Your face betrays strange feelings, sir, and everyone will be able to read it like a book. To fool them, you have to appear as they expect.

So basically what she meant by "looks like an innocent flower, but is a snake underneath" is that Macbeth has to trick people - especially Duncan - into thinking he's innocent of his thoughts. killing. Lady Macbeth is ambitious. She longed to share the throne when her husband killed Duncan and so she trained him. It continues with:

Greet the king with a welcoming expression in your eyes, hands, and words. You should be like an innocent flower, but be like a snake hiding under the flower.

Lady Macbeth chills down her spine when she hears her advice to her husband. So having instructed him, the stage was set, so to speak, for Macbeth to kill the king and then seemingly have nothing to do with his assassination.

Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth to hide his emotions, saying his facial expressions are too much like a "book" where others can read "foreign matter". In other words, Macbeth seems like he has something to hide.

Since she and Macbeth planned to assassinate Duncan that night when the king was invited to their home, no one doubted what was required. Lady Macbeth to Macbeth in

Welcome in your eyes,

Your hands, your tongue.

 

 

In other words, Macbeth had to act as if nothing had happened. He had to act like he was happy to see Duncan. To take the score home, she repeated the saying that Macbeth must look as innocent as a flower. Once there, urging him to become a "snake", Lady Macbeth reminds Macbeth that he must be like Satan - always smiling on the surface but secretly ready to attack treason. 

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The serpent was associated with betrayal because Satan entered the Garden of Eden in the guise of a serpent and, while pretending to provide kindness, entice Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.

This comment came shortly after Macbeth told Lady Macbeth that King Duncan would visit Inverness, their castle, later that evening. Macbeth craves power, hopes to eventually be named and crowned King of Scotland, so this seems like an opportunity to remove an obstacle to achieving her goal.

Lady Macbeth, however, did not trust her husband to act on his own without revealing his true desires and thoughts about King Duncan. She encouraged him to be a respectful and considerate host to King Duncan, making sure that his facial expressions and actions did not reveal their plans against the king.

Your face, my thane, is like a book where you can read strange things. To deceive time, to resemble time; welcome to your eyes

She wants him to appear as innocent of any deception or evil thoughts as a flower, while remembering that he is essentially a ready-made venomous snake. attack behind innocent posture.

Essentially, this line is Lady Macbeth's warning to her husband about unethical ways to get what they both want.

She tells him so in Act I, sc. 5, when he told her Duncan was coming.

Lady Macbeth realizes this is the perfect opportunity for Macbeth to kill Duncan and take power.

To become king, Lady Macbeth realizes that Macbeth must kill Duncan.

She also understands that he does not have the vocabulary and understanding to do so.

As a warrior and fighter on the battlefield, killing is done in the name of king and country and there is little overlap involved.

The massacre is understood.The clever Lady Macbeth realized that her husband might need some guidance on how to kill people for her sake.

That's why she advises him to "cheat his time" and pretend to be a good host, without any evil intentions.

"Snake Below" is how she thinks Macbeth will best understand what needs to be done in the way of carrying out the murder.

In this passage, Lady Macbeth's initial slyness is evident, something that will change over the course of the play.

At the same time, Macbeth's overall innocence is also evident, something that will also change over the course of the play.