Macbeth, is the story of a man whose ambitions led him to commit betrayal and murder. Visions of power grew in his head until his thirst for power caused him to lose that very source of his ambition to the blade of Macduff's sword. It is the ironic and symbolic elements like this present in the work that contribute to much of the acceptance that the work has enjoyed for centuries. Three forms of irony can be found in the play, Macbeth: Dramatic irony, being the difference between what the audience knows and what a character knows to be true; Verbal irony, being a difference between what is said and what is meant; and situational irony, a difference between what happens and what is expected to happen. I will try to show examples of each of these forms of irony and explain their relevance to the characters and plot. There are many examples of dramatic irony in the play that we could discuss. An important example is when Lennox asks Macbeth if the king must leave Macbeth's castle to return home, Lennox: "Is the king leaving today?" Macbeth: “He does it: he hath appointed it.” (II,iii,54-54)Evidently Macbeth lies openly, because the audience was fully aware that that night he intended to kill King Duncan. But if one takes Macbeth's response literally, Duncan "planned" to leave the castle the next day; there is no lie in this. You can look back at the hidden truths of the doorman at the beginning of the scene, Porter: "Knock, knock! Who in the name of the other devil! Faith, here's a misunderstanding, that could swear on both stairs against both stairs ; he who has committed sufficient treason for the love of God, but has not been able to equivocate to heaven: enter, equivocator." (II,iii,7-11)...... half of the sheet....... Criticism of Shakespeare's tragedies. A series of lessons on dramatic art and literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.Shakespeare, William. Tragedy of Macbeth. Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.Steevens, George. Shakespeare, The critical legacy. vol. 6. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.TW Shakespeare, the critical heritage. vol. 5. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979.Wills, Gary. Witches and Jesuits. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Epstein, Norrie, The Friendly Shakepeare, New York, Viking Publishing, 1993. Harbage, Alfred, Macbeth, Middlesex England, Penguin Publishing, 1956. Magill, Masterplots- Volume 6, New Jersey, Salem Press , 1949. Staunten, Howard, The Complete Illustrated Shakespeare, New York, Park Lane Publishing, 1979.