Lady Macbeth's Ironical Fate

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Recommended: Analysis the character of lady macbeth

Ana Patricia Sánchez Calvo

Lady Macbeth's Ironical Fate

Evil is a deceiving force. It can help you reach your goals but evil's gains are always bitter and two-faced. In Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, the character of Lady Macbeth chooses the path of evil to fulfill her unscrupulous ambition; nevertheless, all that evil brings to her is madness and restlessness. Evil is a powerful force throughout the play; it influences the two main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, to commit heinous crimes in order to achieve power. The idea of evil is presented even at the beginning of the play, since the play starts with witches. Witches have always been servants of the Devil, planning their malicious schemes against Macbeth. Nevertheless, while the idea of Macbeth's evilness comes as a slow process of transformation from good to evil, the character of Lady Macbeth presents itself as a malevolent and constant persuading force from beginning to end. Lady Macbeth is aware that going down the path of evil is the only way to get the crown and instead of feeling scared of dealing with demonic forces, she feels anxious and actually invokes evil spirits for help to complete her task. Besides, it is Lady Macbeth who persuades Macbeth to commit the crime and later on constantly reprimands him for feeling remorse and not being man enough to deal with the consequences. The paradox is that Shakespeare, through Lady Macbeth, presents the fatal consequences of achievements obtained due to evil. These consequences are completely deceiving since Lady Macbeth uses evil as a way to achieve happiness and it is evil what finally devours her. Lady Macbeth is a character that travels in a downward spiral in which she suffers a transformation from a m...

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...er continually. `Tis her command (Macbeth V. i. 21-25)

This fear of the dark could be interpreted as fear that Lady Macbeth has of burning in hell for her sins when she dies. Death takes her life in such an awful way that Lady Macbeth says goodbye to the world with a shattering cry full of angst. Through Lady Macbeth's death, Shakespeare's intention of showing how evil deeds always receive the proper retribution is clearly portrayed; furthermore, Shakespeare also outshines in showing how even such a strong brave character as Lady Macbeth is overthrown by evil into death.

WORKS CITED

Macbeth, William Shakeaspeare

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