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Explore the theme of guilt in macbeth
Explore the theme of guilt in macbeth
Explore the theme of guilt in macbeth
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Lady Macbeth's motivation was based solely upon the drive to fulfill her husband's ambition and make her husband king she is determined that she will make the witches prophecy come true. She prepares herself to work her husband into a murderous state of mind. She is loving to her husband but at the same time very ambitious with her determination for Macbeth to be king. This outcome will benefit her and her husband equally. Later on, the burden of Lady Macbeth's conscience becomes too great for her and her mental and physical condition deteriorates. Both Lady Macbeth and Cedric Divinadira were both pushed to the edge by guilt.
On January 2, 2002 Cedric was involved in the dumping of Alona Bacolod’s body after she was murdered by her husband Ruben Ecleo. He kept it hidden for almost two years then he finally surrendered. Lady Macbeth, unlike Cedric she convinced her husband Macbeth to kill Duncan to get the crown. She then had a downfall because of the guilt she was feeling, which pushed her to the edge into taking he own life. Cedric Divinadira stood up for his own actions. ...
Through the story guilt motivates Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to a great extent. Macbeth was a kind, fine nobleman of the king Duncan. But one day his benevolence and his patronage to the king changed. He had met the three witches who had revealed the three prophecies. The first prophecy was that Macbeth would become the thane of Cawdor. The second prophecy is that he will become the king in the future. The third was that Banquo’s sons will also become kings in the future (Banquo is a good friend of Macbeth). Macbeth took his future into his own hands. Lady Macbeth was the own who encouraged and persuaded Macbeth into the horrible circumstances. Guilt plays a role to the couple differently at certain occasions.
Macbeth, whom initially was a very reasonable and moral man, could not hold off the lure of ambition. This idea is stated in the following passage: "One of the most significant reasons for the enduring critical interest in Macbeth's character is that he represents humankind's universal propensity to temptation and sin. Macbeth's excessive ambition motivates him to murder Duncan, and once the evil act is accomplished, he sets into motion a series of sinister events that ultimately lead to his downfall." (Scott; 236). Macbeth is told by three witches, in a seemingly random and isolated area, that he will become Thank of Cawdor and eventually king. Only before his ambition overpowers his reasoning does he question their motives. One place this questioning takes place is in the following passage:
Consecutively, his greed impulses him to murderous intentions, “Let not light see my black and deep desires” (1.4. 57-58). Macbeth becomes jealous. The Prince of Cumberland, the king’s son, is in his way, which makes Macbeth think of desires so “black” that even light could be devoured, and or suggesting it will also frighten the audience. Shakespeare also uses this as foreshadowing to Macbeth’s fate and character. In addition, Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as the inciter for him to murder the king. Nevertheless, Macbeth is prone to greed, he would have committed murder over time anyhow. Judging by his lethal plans, Macbeth says his reason to kill him, “ I have no spur \ To prick the sides of my intent, but only \ Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself \ And falls on the other-” (1.7.25-28). In this scene, Macbeth expresses his honesty; he knows he has no “spur,” or any real motive to kill the king, the true purpose would be for his own power and “ambition.” In addition, Shakespeare uses a metaphor of a horse-rider representing Macbeth’s ambition, which would be an inexperienced rider, who would “vault” so forcefully, that he will fall on the other side. He realizes his greed for ambition would result in his destruction, including Lady Macbeth. After the bloodshed, they became insane, and both died an agonizing death. They were arrogant, and impatient for success and power that they even killed best friends and families for it. Therefore, the power to rule over another shows to serve as a guilty pleasure for individuals. Furthermore, this correlates to the story of The Wife of Bath Tale, where the women yearn for power, which was caused by oppression. Then in the story, the knight, who commits rape, was set to find women’s true desire to save him from a death sentence. He finally
Goals are a manifestation of an individual's enterprise, aspirations, and ambitions. Additionally, when obtaining goals an individual must possess a certain amount of determination and sense of purpose. In the Shakespearean play Macbeth, the two key characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, exude their ambitious behavior, and showcase their relentless determination towards obtaining the goal of killing Duncan. This tragic crime demonstrated the horrendous characteristics of these two characters. To be specific, Lady Macbeth revealed her merciless character qualities in many ways: her desirability to obtain power at any cost (which was far greater than that over her husband, Macbeth, who was wary in the decision to commit murder), Lady Macbeth’s
Since the witches’ prediction about him becoming Thane of Cawdor had already come true, Macbeth felt very little desire to chase after the throne. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, wanted her husband to pursue the rank by murdering King Duncan instead of waiting to receive it. The idea that a woman, who were considered inferior and powerless compared to men during shakespeare's time, would be the responsible for such violent conflict in the play was unusual. Because she was still unsure of her thoughts, Lady Macbeth prayed that her womanly features would be removed in order to gain more, at the time, manly qualities; such as violence and ambition. “...unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the top-full of direst cruelty.” (Act I, Scene V) This decision was not an easy one, for it meant that Lady Macbeth would no longer be able to give birth to any children, thus resulting in the end of their blood line. In the spur of the moment, Lady Macbeth trusted that her decision was the best, even though she was completely blinded by her desire. She was willing to change her gentle, womanly features for those of a man’s. Once her ambition began to grow, it affected Lady Macbeth’s morals, because it allowed her believe that killing King Duncan was acceptable, since it would fulfill the witches’ prophecy. Her amount of ambition caused Lady Macbeth to not only have a troublesome introspection of her identity, but also let her conceive a heinous crime against her
After Lady Macbeth reads her husband’s letter, she sees an opportunity to become queen that she probably never thought about. Lady Macbeth’s desire for her husband to become king is stronger than Macbeth’s own desire for the throne. After Lady Macbeth learns that Duncan is going to visit Inverness, she begins plotting to kill him, even though her husband does show hesitation to kill Duncan. Macbeth wrote, “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it” that he does not want to commit an act of murder.
After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth becomes the more controlling one, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt eventually becomes too much for her to handle which leads to her death. Lady Macbeth is in fact the one that performs the preparations for the murder of King Duncan, but still shows some signs of humanity by not committing the murder herself because he resembles "My father as he slept". After the murder has been committed, she also shows signs of being a strong person because she calms Macbeth down in order to keep him from going insane.
We start to see Lady Macbeth’s actions have a huge impact on Macbeth’s character as he transforms from a decent being to an overly bitter creature. The cause of his alteration is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is constantly excreting heartless information into his mind. "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?" (I;vii;39-41) "And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I;vii;50-51) Lady Macbeth uses these quotes to push her husband beyond limits and is therefore responsible for his dramatic change in attitude. She is constantly feeding his thoughts with negative comments and later on Macbeth realizes that he has another side to him. As he moves along to discover the concealed side of him, Macbeth falls in love with himself and begins to be drawn towards his evil desires. Because Lady Macbeth was the main cause of his new hidden discovery, she is fully responsible for opening up the door and letting the darkness in. This results in Macbeth committing both murders.
Lady Macbeth is a very loving wife to Macbeth and she wants to do anything she can for him to achieve his goals. She just takes it a little too far, and she puts too much pressure on Macbeth to commit crimes that he is not sure he wants to do. After Macbeth sends her a letter about the witches’ premonitions, Lady Macbeth is no longer the sweet innocent lady we expect her to be. She turns into a person who is just as ambitious as her husband and she wants to do whatever it takes to help him get Duncan out of the way. She even goes to the point of calling Macbeth a coward, and mocking his bravery when he fails to complete the job. She is even willing to do it herself (plant the bloody knife with the guard). Lady Macbeth is constantly putting the pressure on Macbeth to do things that he is not sure about. She almost turns into a bully who dares Macbeth to go out and do evil things. She even says in a soliloquy that she wants to be released of all her morals and values so that she can help him commit these crimes.
Lady Macbeth was “choked with ambition”. Her infatuation to be queen is the single feature that Shakespeare developed far beyond that of her counterpart in the historical story he used as his source. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage, even though we know of his bloody deeds on the battlefield. At this point in time, with all her will converging towards seizing the throne, she has shown no signs of remorse or hesitance in her actions and hence preventing the events in the narrative from digressing away from imperative themes and climaxes of the play.
Lady Macbeth is less aware of this difference between good and evil. She is trying to tell Macbeth to feign his loyalty to King Duncan. She strived for the kingdom, the power to rule, and to be a queen. Macbeth is worried, scared, and undecided about what he should do. He is a weak person and he can not contain actions. She convinced him to be a murder.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s desire and ambition leads to her eventual downfall. When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth’s prophecy she dreams of the glory and high-standing that awaits being queen. She cannot withhold her ambitions and she is willing to manipulate fate to bring about Macbeth’s prophecy. She invokes evil spirits to be filled from head to toe with cruelty to do the evil actions necessary to make Macbeth king and to remove all remorse and pity for her action from her heart. She is initially able to be involved in the treacherous deeds that are needed to bring about the prophecy quickly, but as the play progresses the weight of the merciless deeds fill her with remorse. The remorse and pain she feels for her wicked ways cause Lady Macbeth to lose control of her life and wither away until the weight of her deeds causes her to die. Lady Macbeth’s wish is partially granted, her mind becomes evil and enables her to do horrific things, but her soul remains pure and unsure of her actions and her remorse for her wicked ways leads to her destruction.
Macbeth and his wife have a strong relationship of trust and love as seen in the letter he sends to Lady Macbeth, where he calls her is “dearest partner of greatness.” Macbeth’s encounter with the witches accelerates his deep “vaulting ambition” to be King, with the strong influence from his wife, which leads him to eventually betray King Duncan. After the first prediction of being Thane of Cawdor comes true the “horrid image” of the murder of King Duncan in order for him to become King crosses his mind. When told that he is going to be King of Scotland, Macbeth does whatever he can to ensure that this prediction comes true. It is clear that Macbeth is fascinated with the thought of him being King.
In Macbeth you could argue that Lady Macbeth and that Macbeth himself are partners in crime and are equal in the eyes of the other, however in the eyes of the audience Lady Macbeth is a useful tool just there to ensure that Macbeth kills Duncan and receives Kingship.
In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth must be evil in order to advance the plot. The strong love and bond between herself and Macbeth enables her to influence him and spur him to action. They are separate embodiments of the same lust for power: her strong will and determination are the perfect match for his ability to perform horrible and bloody acts...