Lady Macbeth's Desperation For Power

Macbeth had many things to motivate him to do his killing from the prophecies, to his wife; However, the realization of becoming king as a whole pushed him to his worst. His motivation started when Lady Macbeth reminds him how becoming king will be good for the both of them. She manipulates Macbeth when she tells him, “Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it” (1.5.6-7).

When in a relationship, one's quest for power, can result in an endless effort to satisfy this desire, producing a tragic outcome. In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores how greed and ambition has an influence on one’s actions, leading to the occurrence of a tragedy. In the case of Macbeth, greed and ambition results in Macbeth becoming a highly manipulative, and dangerous individual. The dominant status Lady Macbeth owns, allows her to influence Macbeth into committing harmful acts. When Lady Macbeth’s dominant status begins to deteriorate, Macbeth begins to mature, gradually becoming the more dominant individual within their relationship.

She is able to see through the morality of death and is completely focused on her own ambition for Macbeth to become King, and is willing to do whatever’s necessary to complete her goal. “Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself could be ‘unsexed’,” (SparksNotes) She uses this manipulation to influence Macbeth’s desire to kill in order to have his own preservation, going as far to say that doubting hisself makes him cowardice and unmanly. Later in the play, Lady Macbeth tends to contradict herself as she soon becomes insane due to how the murders created a toll on her conscience. "Out, damned spot!

The play entitled Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays Macbeth, a loyal and brave thane to the king. When a prophecy reveals he will become king, Macbeth is overcome with ambition and greed. Convinced of this prophecy and the encouragement from his wife, he is able to kill the king and take the throne. Although Macbeth was able to obtain the throne, he was was overwhelmed by power and guilt leading to internal conflict, which suggests that success is not desirable through cheating and corruption and ultimately cost more than its actually worth, Macbeth`s reckless pursuit of killing and becoming the king is representative of the power he has and what he is able to do with the power he's gained; therefore. His relentless ambition for king reveals the guilt behind power.

Unable to silence her thoughts even in the middle of the night, she sees visions of King Duncan’s blood on her hands, trying to scrub it off, but to no avail. Though Lady Macbeth achieves her ultimate goal of securing Macbeth’s kinghood, the gruesome visions that she experiences are clear manifestations of her regret for the actions she took to get there. These powerful mental repercussions torment her until her death at the end of the play, when it can even be inferred that they drive her to

It is human nature to want power, to be at the top of the pyramid, to be king/queen, but that comes at a price as shown in Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will do anything to have absolute power and nothing stands in their way. From killing to going completely mad, they will become the next king and queen at all costs. The ambition and the want for power is so high that they kill many, they do whatever they can to be one step closer, and they go completely insane, all because they want that absolute power.

It all starts off with her wanting to take order of what her husband needs to achieve. She claims to want to take her weakness away while being a woman as she speaks on the murder of Duncan. “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty!” Lady Macbeth is bold and fierce in what she takes authority over. Macbeth follows along Lady Macbeths plan when declaring the murder of Duncan.

The catastrophic consequences of desiring power can be seen through the development of Lady Macbeth. She is introduced as a strong, manipulative woman that is corrupted by supernatural forces and her thirst for power. When she hears of the witches’ prophecy, she believes she and Macbeth are entitled to the “promises” the witches made. Lady Macbeth, after discovering her husband is “too full o’th’ milk of human kindness” to go through

Although Lady Macbeth puts up a strong facade of being the “one with the pants” in the relationship, she slowly loses power over Macbeth after he becomes corrupt with the prophesized power. The main effect of Lady Macbeth’s ultimate decision to kill herself at the end of the text was the guilt felt after killing innocent people for Macbeth’s desire for power. Two scenes before Lady Macbeth decides to kill herself, she is discovered by a gentlewoman, who later recruits a doctor to watch, sleepwalking, and talking to herself. She is repeatedly figuratively washing her hands for no apparent reason, although she mumbles “Look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave” as she tries to scape off

In order to deceive those around them, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he should appear the way that people expect him to look; innocent. She explains how he must pretend to be virtuous, while hiding his devious ways. She understands that he would not have done this own, so she decided to take charge of the situation and tell him how it must be done. As the king starts making his way towards them, she says, “He that’s coming / Must be provided for; and you shall put / This night’s great business into my dispatch, / Which shall to all our nights and days to come / Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom” (1.5.78-82). She completely takes control of the preparations needed for the murder to take place that night, knowing that she is the only one who will do it the way she wants it.

This “future queen” sees the life she could have flash before her eyes and obviously Macbeth was hesitant because King Duncan was a honest man and Macbeth was a “servant” to him and he was family to Macbeth so he really didn’t want to go through with it. This fueled Lady Macbeth to conjure the death of King Duncan as well as covering it up. Lady Macbeth in Act 1, asked the spirits if they could “unsex” her so that she could ultimately be capable to go through with the killing. She felt like her husband (Macbeth) could not do her dirty work that she could wish that she could do herself.

She is malicious not only in words but also in her intent. Her sole object is to obtain power and wealth, with its attendant treasures. Lady Macbeth lacks humanity and regrets that she was not born as a man. She understands that power and violence are synonymous with manhood and bravery. Additionally, Lady Macbeth interests’ and ambition, override her love for even her husband, Macbeth.

Due to the killings, her guilt began to change her as a person. With the appearance of blood, Lady Macbeth realizes what horror she has created. Blood haunts Lady Macbeth in the worst possible way. Lady Macbeth can not wash the blood from her hands, staining permanent guilt. “Out, damned spot!...

She says to her husband the only reason she didn't kill Duncan is because it'll remind her of her father sleeping. She is only looking out for herself as of now and doesn't care about how traumatized Macbeth may feel. Soon after this scene, readers will notice that Lady Macbeth starts getting consumed with fear and her mental state starts to deteriorate. Lady Macbeth starts losing herself as at the beginning of Act 5 she confesses to all her crimes in her sleep. Her mind is always shining even when she's asleep she's not even able to relax anymore and fear is consuming every single aspect of her.

Lady Macbeth felt a deep sense of fierceness and strength when she was able to recognize that power was within reach. She uses a demanding, aggressive tone towards Macbeth in which she does not give him the option to fail. Due to her intent on becoming royalty, she pushes and makes sure that anything and everything is done to achieve such powers: even if it can have immense consequences. After seeing how becoming royalty has played out, Lady Macbeth takes a step back. Lady Macbeth tries to understand what has been done and make sense of what she can do.