Lady Macbeth: Catalyst For The Murder Of Duncan

Lady Macbeth is more responsible for the murder of King Duncan than her husband, Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is also an eviller more cunning character than Macbeth. She was the one who thought to murder the King, and even convinced Macbeth to do it for her. She was also unphased immediately after the murder, going as far as to attempt to calm Macbeth down. At first mention of the witches’ prophecy, Lady Macbeth immediately assumed that they must murder Duncan, whereas Macbeth was simply confused on how it could be possible for him to be King.

When Macbeth develops second thoughts about killing King Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells him how to deceive others with his looks, by telling him to “Look like th’ innocent flower, / But be the serpent under ’t.” (Shakespeare 1. 5. 76-77). In this quotation, Lady

The use of the expression ‘Come you sprits… unsex me here… make thick my blood’ instinctively makes the reader believer that she wants the ‘spirits’ to fill her with ruthlessness and hate in order to kill King Duncan and gain power. The specific use of the word ‘unsex’ conveys that she is willing to change her gender in order for her to become king/queen. Her willingness to change her gender clearly demonstrates how much power men had and how submissive women were. Intriguingly, Lady Macbeth is seen as having a connecting with the supernatural world especially with the use of the word ‘spirits’ which she includes in her manipulative language to possess her body. The appearance of the supernatural in Macbeth could be a metaphor for all the disturbances in the characters especially when Lady Macbeth sleepwalks.

Lady Macbeth begins to demonstrate her insaneness as the scene progresses. Lady Macbeth talks to herself as she continues her sleepwalk while she recalls the murder scene and says "Out damned spot out" (5.1.33). Lady Macbeth in this scene shows how lost she is in her hallucinations when she tries cleaning the blood, believing that if the blood is clean, so is her guilt. This scene also occurs when she says, "Here's the smell of the blood still, all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand,". This portrays how Lady Macbeth's belief of cleaning her hand will make her less guilty, except for the smell of the blood still in

She sleepwalks, reliving Duncan’s murder in her nightmares, and murmurs to herself, “Out, damned spot, out, I say! / ... Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?... What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (5.1.37-45). Lady Macbeth, despite being seemingly unfazed by the crimes she helped her husband commit earlier in the play, now experiences the psychological backlash of her guilt.

In William Shakespere’s tragedy Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s ambition and support of her husband's actions of murder makes her fall guilty. In act 1, scene 7, Lady Macbeth’s husband, Macbeth is in a debate battle with his thoughts not knowing if he should kill King Duncan or leave him be. He has been dreaming about the killing of Duncan so he can become king and live his happiest life the way he always wanted. The act of murder seems crazy but Lady Macbeth thinks otherwise and instead makes a plan for Macbeth so he can execute it correctly, leaving no evidence behind.

In the Renaissance era, William Shakespeare wrote the tragedy Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a character in Shakespeare’s Macbeth that plays the wife of Macbeth. In the beginning, Lady Macbeth was the lady in charge of the marriage and household to become Queen of Scotland. Toward the middle through the end of the play, she suffers of guilt for her part in the crime.

In the first act of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth uses her personal knowledge of Macbeth to agitate him, stating “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man” (Shakespeare, 1.7. 49-51). In this proclamation Lady Macbeth exercises authoritarian power over her husband. This quote exhibits her ability to personally manipulate him, ultimately persuading Macbeth to commit murder, in order to secure his place as king. Lady Macbeth uses her knowledge of Macbeths fragile masculinity, exclaiming that only when he murders King Duncan, “then you were a man”.

35-42). She is asking the spirits to make her more manly, so she can perform the deed that she wants Macbeth to do. She is asking the spirits to make her not feel guilty for murdering someone so that Macbeth can be king, and she won’t feel bad about it. For example, she shows greed when she finds out about the prophecy. When Macbeth sends her the letter explaining what happened, she decides right away that she is going to be queen, and he will be king.

Tragedy of Lady Macbeth In the book of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth a cruel and selfish man that wants to become king is forced to kill his noble kind known as Duncan. Macbeth’s wife Lady Macbeth forces Macbeth to kill Duncan to become king, Lady Macbeth is an insane and confused women she is suffering from bipolar disorder and Paranoid Schizophrenia. Bipolar Disorder is composed of distinct regions each made up of networks of nerve cells (neurons) the transmit message throughout the nervous system.

Lady Macbeth: Victim or Monster Lady Macbeth is an extremely unusual character as she is by far, the most complex and domineering female role in all of Shakespeare’s plays. She first appears in the play, plotting the king’s murder but the audience last sees her sleepwalking and drowned in guilt. This suggests that Shakespeare portrays her as a character who cannot be classified as any of the two categories (as a victim or as a monster), but rather as an ambitious woman prepared to go any lengths to achieve what- she believes- she and her husband deserve, but could not handle the consequences of her actions in the end. Lady Macbeth is depicted by Shakespeare as a lady filled with her dangerous desires, in Act 1 Scene 5; after reading Macbeth’s

Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth herself lacks the capability to kill Duncan. While she sincerely wishes she was able to complete the act, she asks the spirits if they could “unsex” her so that she would be capable of killing King Duncan (Shakespeare 32). As Lady Macbeth becomes aware of the witches’ prophecy, her ambition prompts her to develop a plan involving Macbeth murdering the king. However, she also suspects that her husband is “too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way” (Shakespeare 30), and therefore too civil to be able to seize the throne. Throughout her soliloquy that follows, Lady Macbeth finds that the only way to accomplish her goal is to manipulate her husband and convince him to go through with the murder.

Macbeth states to Lady Macbeth, “we will proceed no further in this business” (I, VII) since he almost finally decides to refuse to kill Duncan. However, Lady Macbeth uses different manipulative methodologies towards Macbeth and persuades him to consult the killing of Duncan. “So green and pale” (I, VII), Lady Macbeth even called him a coward. From the same scene, she mentions, “From this time, such I account thy love”, implying that if Macbeth cant stay steady concerning the murder of the king, then she will consider his love for her to be as similarly conflicting. Later in scene, Lady Macbeth states that if she had made such a promise as Macbeth did to her, she would “dash the brains out” of her own child as “it was smiling in her fail”.

“Looks like the innocent flower but be the serpent under it”(Shakespeare 1.7) this truly defines Lady Macbeth and describes her being someone that acts one way in certain situations and then in a contrary manner in others and also shows her manipulative personality and exploits her victims. Lady Macbeth is sharp at convincing and uses people for her need which she does throughout the play. In the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is ultimately responsible for Macbeth’s undoing because her ambition supported his greed and provoked his downfall. Lady Macbeth with her demanding and forceful comments triggered Macbeth 's weakness which leads Macbeth to agree on the murder.

On the seemingly quiet eve of the 15th of August, King Duncan of Scotland was assassinated in his sleep. King Duncan was celebrating the death of the vulgar rebel MacDonald at the Thane of Cawdor’s Castle briefly before he was killed. MacDonald was killed by the newly appointed Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth, during combat against the Norwegians. Our sources suggest that as King Duncan was sleeping soundly in his room his ‘ professional’ guards were in an alcohol induced slumber.