Free Essay on Macbeth - The Guilt of Lady Macbeth

In doing this she was extremely deceitful of her lover also. She employed many conniving tricks in order to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan, such as in scene in Act I, scene seven when she says, ³From this time such I account thy love.² Here she is basically saying that Macbeth may prove his undying love for her by killing the king, thus causing him to feel that he is obligated to murder King Duncan. King Claudius and Lady Macbeth are also very good at disguising their deceit. In Hamlet, only Hamlet himself is aware of the true nature of Claudius. All others, including his Wife and subjects, think he is a wonderful and innocent King.

( I, sc vi, 38-43) At this point she goes to the extent of planning the murder of Duncan and already prepares to assume full responsibility of the murder. During this moment of the play, Macbeth also appears and the influence Lady Macbeth has over him is clearly seen. She refers to Macbeth as a "coward" ( I, sc vii, 43) which in turn shows the ambition Lady Macbeth has for her husband to gain the crown. Clearly Lady Macbeth's words and actions towards Macbeth have the affect she wish... ... middle of paper ... ... physically yet extremely weak mentally, this is the weakness which causes his downfall. In addition to his mind, it is his never-ending ambition and his blind trust of the witches prophesies which ultimately change Macbeth from what he once was to the monster he had become.

Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life And live a coward in thine own esteem Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’ (1.7.41-44) When Macbeth is confronted and chided by Lady Macbeth for his cowardice, he reluctantly agrees to kill Duncan. It is evident that Lady Macbeth is hunger for power Lady Macbeth’s manipulation and dominance over her husband is evident when she demands Macbeth to prove his ‘masculinity by killing Duncan. After the death of Duncan, Macbeth begins to distance himself from Lady Macbeth, and he becomes ambitious. Despite being a king, Macbeth is worried about Banquo: “To be thus is

This, as with many things in the play, see-saws back and forth: his fair winnings and heightened position turn foul again by the end of the play. Possibly the most notable switch occurs between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth learns of the witches' prophecy, she is absolute in her decision to kill the King. Macbeth, while he clearly likes the idea, and even shares her desire, falters on holding his promise to her until she threatens his manhood directly. After he kills the King and Banquo (separately) he is distraught with shame and guilt, while Lady Macbeth holds herself together and covers for his strange behavior.

Macbeth now convinced that he must prove his manliness by becoming king and he must make this happen by murdering Duncan. Although Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the villain, she has to have someone else to what she want which keeps her from doing the dirty work. After Macbeth kills Duncan, it seems that Lady Macbeth helps by finishing the murder by framing someone other than her husband. Macbeth is a tragic hero who causes suffering by committing murder and distress, exemplifying the negative effects of a bloodthirsty desire for power. Lady Macbeth torments her husband Macbeth in going through with the evil deed of murder which leads her to be the villain.

As Macbeth shrives to success guilt overcome’s Macbeth where he can no longer think straight. Initially Macbeth planned was to kill Duncan but it wasn’t enough he also had to kill Banquo and Macduff’s family. On the other hand Lady Macbeth had to call upon the weird sister to unsexed her so she had no true feeling towards anything as if she was a man. However, the true guilt of the murder can fall on either Lady Macbeth or Macbeth. Perhaps one of the strongest obvious evidence that show guilt, is how it affects lady Macbeth, how she couldn’t handle it any longer, and that was the reason of her death.

Banquo realizes that there must be a trick hidden in the witches prophecies somewhere but Macbeth refuses to accept that, and when Lady Macbeth finds out about the witches her strong desire for ambition and her cold nature leads Macbeth astray. Lady Macbeth's ambition far exceeds Macbeths and so she is able to get Macbeth to agree with her to kill King Duncan. Macbeth still has a conscience at this stage because he is very hesitant about killing the King but his weak nature over comes him. He has a conscience throughout the entire play as this is seen by the hallucinations of the dagger and the ghost of Banquo. His vivid imag... ... middle of paper ... ...as already thrown away his conscience, so much so, that Macbeth continues to commit even more evil acts.

After Macbeth writes home telling of his murderous plans, Lady Macbeth begins talking to evil spirits. Because women often lack the ruthlessness to kill someone, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to make her male. One of the most vivid descriptions of Lady Macbeth's wickedness is directly after Macbeth announces to her he does not want to kill Duncan.This speech epitomizes Lady Macbeth's evilness. She is ruthless, and her evil accounts for the murders that occur throughout the play Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is far more savage and ambitious than her husband, yet she convinces Macbeth to commit the murders that will make them king and queen.

She understands that Macbeth has a lust for the throne. However, she fears that her husband would have trouble when attempting to murder Duncan and covet the throne because she regards Macbeth as “full o’ the milk of human kindness”. Since Lady Macbeth knows that her husband would never be able to perform such a task, she decides to control the procedures of the murdering of Duncan. She demands that “direst cruelty” contaminate her. She congregates everything that is evil inside her body in order to perform the evil deed of murdering Duncan.

Lady Macbeth is also moved by her avarice to be alongside her husband on the throne. She uses all her strength and intelligence for evil purposes; this confident and arrogant authoritarian instills the plan of the murder (of Duncan) to Macbeth: "We fail? / But screw your courage to the sticking place / And we'll not fail. When Duncan is asleep." Macbeth is the only individual responsible for the death of his friend Banquo and the flight of Banquo's son, Fleance.