William Shakespeare’s works are known for “life, love, death, revenge, grief, jealousy, murder, magic, and mystery.” (www.bbc.co.uk) Most of these topics are covered in one of Shakespeare’s most famous works, Macbeth. Macbeth tells of a Scottish general, named Macbeth, who receives prophecies from 3 witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. After hearing the prophecies, he tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, and together they take action. His wife persuades him to murder King Duncan and take the throne. He does so and this leads to him having regret and not a happy ending for himself. The murdering of King Duncan is one of the most discussed scenes of Macbeth, which leads to many readers questioning Shakespeare. Although Macbeth …show more content…
Her ambition, resolution, dissimulation, cunning, presence of mind, energy, and affection were all important, especially in the murder of King Duncan. “Lady Macbeth knows right well when she tells her husband to “leave all the rest to me,” that by dissimulation and cunning she could plan and carry out the murder of Duncan so that no suspicion would rest upon either Macbeth or herself.” (www.shakespeare-online.com) Saying this, Lady Macbeth seems to be the more plotting character between the two. She plans the whole crime scene and leaves the murdering to Macbeth. While readers know her energy is one of the main traits that helped con Macbeth into murdering King Duncan, Macbeth did not realize that she knows his weakness and uses it to her …show more content…
After Lady Macbeth’s reaction to Macbeth’s letter he wrote to her about the prophecies, readers started to understand what kind of character Lady Macbeth was. Of course with her being the plotting character in the crime scene, it is obvious she is the more evil character. Never once did she question herself to not go along with the plan, unlike Macbeth. After Macbeth had committed the murder, he brought her the dagger in which he used to murder King Duncan. Her response was, “Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear the sleepy grooms with blood.” (Macbeth, Act II Scene II; Lines 61-63) Macbeth replies with, “I’ll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t again I dare not.” (Macbeth, Act II Scene II; Lines 64-65) His response to what Lady Macbeth told him to do tells the readers that he feels bitter about what he just did. Since Macbeth does not take the dagger back, Lady Macbeth takes it upon herself to plant the daggers back beside the chamberlains. This action shows that she is not afraid to do dirty work in order to have power, which also is a sign she is more evil. Once Lady Macbeth returns, she tells Macbeth, “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.” (Macbeth, Act II Scene II; Lines 80-81) She explains to Macbeth that she would be ashamed to be such a coward after the bloody murder during
She’s more of the brains behind the plan to kill King Duncan rather than the actual murderer. In Act 1: Scene 5, she receives the letter from Macbeth and she says “Yet I do fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”, she knows that he will end up not wanting to go through with their plan. Although he could have said no she still pushed him to proceed. Maybe if Macbeth would’ve put his foot down instead of cowering down and doing whatever Lady Macbeth said, he wouldn’t be in the predicament of having to kill his friends that he is in now. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are much like Adam and Eve.
This passage is from Act 2 Scene 1 of Macbeth, a tragedy written by the famous playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare. It starts with Macbeth sending off a servant to give Lady Macbeth instructions. This leaves Macbeth alone on the stage to start his famous soliloquy, the Dagger Soliloquy. This soliloquy is important to the play as it characterizes Macbeth, foreshadows his fate after killing Duncan, and elaborates on themes touched upon earlier in the play. To start with, the Dagger Soliloquy characterizes Macbeth well, due to the fact that it is a soliloquy.
Lady Macbeth’s strong character portrayed in Act I Scene V creates suspicion of dark events later in the play. In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth reveals her true character in her speech and foreshadows King Duncan’s death. Throughout her speech, Lady Macbeth reveals her lust for power and desire to kill Duncan to become queen. Although Lady Macbeth’s character is recently introduced into the play, she reveals her true self as a sadistic and covetous person which foreshadows the murder of King Duncan and Macbeth’s prophesied future.
Three witches show him that he will become powerful in the future and gain a seat on the throne. After gaining this vision of power MacBeth gains lots of ambition and kills King Duncan. MacBeth admits to the murder when he says "I have done the deed. Didst thou
Macbeth shows that he is willing to kill King Duncan because he is interested in the witches prophecy, after they tell him that he will become ‘Thane of Cawdor’ and then the King.
Like men, she has the trait to be gruesome and diabolical in nature. She has determined for herself the course to be pursued and nothing can hinder her. She does not need the prophecy of the witches to urge her. She is aware of her strength and she is resolute in her aim. Knowing Macbeth’s weakness,
She could just be a very evil person who only wants to murder and manipulate people. However, Lady Macbeth reveals evidence that this is not the case about her. Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and speak about the murders she has been a part of. “Attack, I am afraid, they have awoke. And tis not done.”
Lady Macbeth is truly an evil character. In the beginning of the play, it tells how much Macbeth is a fierce warrior, but coming home the witches came. As soon as Lady Macbeth heard about the prophecy, she becomes the fierce warrior and Macbeth bends to her every whim. Lady Macbeth is always making Macbeth feel awful, (Act 3, scene V, line 58) “Are you a man?”.
Another way in which she tries to settle Macbeth is by reminding him of the “air-drawn dagger” that appeared in front of him but was not real. Lady Macbeth could have left Macbeth to make a fool of himself at the banquet, but instead with her tender heart she rushed to help him even after all the wrong he had
‘Macbeth’s ambition is his only weakness’. Do you agree? Macbeth’s greatest weakness is his ambition, but it is also his greatest strength. Despite his ambition being one of his major weaknesses, it is not his sole weakness he exhibits that contributes to his inevitable death.
Throughout literature, we see human characteristics in our characters. Characteristics such as punishment, downfall, middling character, free choice, and nobility. In this play called Macbeth we see all these characteristics fall into place throughout the good and bad choices acted on by our main character Macbeth. The play demonstrates how power will make or break character and lead to his/her own destruction by possessing a few of these characteristics. Macbeth demonstrates both literal and figurative nobility as the plot beings to grow throughout the play.
Throughout the play, Macbeth is viewed with hostility in regard to his unscrupulous actions. However, the fact that it was Lady Macbeth who was the mastermind behind king Duncan’s death is often
She wanted the title of being queen and King Duncan was in her way of that, so she got into Macbeth’s head. Macbeth was reluctant at first, which also shows that he is not wholly evil. A true wholly evil person wouldn’t be reluctant about killing someone. Throughout the play, it is evidence that Macbeth is not wholly
Celia Beyers Tinti Period 1/5 12 April 2015 Literary Analysis: Macbeth In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, he presents the character of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is shown, as a character that schemes into making rebellious plots. She reveals the desire for wanting to lose her feminine qualities in order to be able to gain more masculine ones.
This perversion of one of the most sacred acts of motherhood enhances the horror of the length she would cross to achieve her goal. However, it also implies that considering Lady Macbeth as merely a brutal, malicious woman stirring her husband to slaughter a poor old king- is a misevaluation and understatement of this character. In Defense of Lady Macbeth An attempt to investigate who actually planned the murder of Duncan, can be referred to the findings of A. C. Bradley in the essay, “When Was the Murder of Duncan First Plotted”, in his Shakespearean Tragedy: A good many readers probably think that, when Macbeth first met the Witches, he was perfectly innocent; but a much larger number would say that he had already harboured a vaguely guilty ambition, though he had not faced the idea of murder.