How Does Lady Macbeth Manipulate Duncan's Murder

When we first hear about Macbeth from the sergeant’s report, we are led to believe that he is very much a person who does only what he believes is right. Furthermore, when he first appears in the play, his fellow nobleman, Banquo, accompanies him. Given this, we would think that he does what is right, and makes all his own decisions. However this belief is proven wrong. Although Macbeth starts off as a loyal subject of Duncan, he is ambitious and this is a weakness, which allows him to be manipulated by a few factors in the play.

The idea of killing Duncan scared Macbeth; however, Macbeth still wanted to kill Duncan. The only thing stopping him from committing this horrible deed was his fear of upsetting the natural order. But when Lady Macbeth, a greedy, dark soul, heard the prophecy that Macbeth would become king and that she would become queen, she decided that Macbeth must kill Duncan. She played an instrumental role in convincing Macbeth to kill Duncan. She was trying to play all of her cards to force Macbeth to kill Duncan. She used the tactic of teasing Macbeth and implying that he wasn’t “man enough” to kill Duncan, which goes against the gender roles in Elizabethan England that state that women are kind, pure and listen to their husbands. She mocks Macbeth when she

Lady Macbeth’s role as a supporting wife at the start of the play exceeds the duties of a ‘normal’ wife. She is the ‘Eve’ to Macbeth’s ‘Adam’ and is tempted. Although Macbeth hints at the idea of taking the crown in his letter home, it is Lady Macbeth’s ruthless determination to make him king that persuaded him to murder Duncan. Did she do this in the interests of Macbeth or was it to fulfil her own ambition? I would argue that it was to fulfil her own ambition because she decided straight away that murder was the best option to take without any regard to guilt, in this view I have no sympathy for Lady Macbeth because it is a sign of her inner evilness.

While many may believe that Macbeth was the motivation behind why King Duncan was killed, in the novel, Macbeth, it is clear that it was really Lady Macbeth's dangerous ambition and desire for power that forced Macbeth to inevitably slaughter King Duncan. Lady Macbeth utilized her intelligent method of making Macbeth feel less of a man to persuade him to do what she needed, which was to murder King Duncan, in order to obtain the crown and eventually, all the power that she

In act 1 scene 7, Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as controlling. After King Duncan of Scotland arrives at the Macbeth estate, Macbeth contemplates the benefits of killing Duncan versus the harms of doing so. Macbeth concludes that it would be unjust to kill Duncan because not only has Duncan given Macbeth praise for defeating the Thane of Cawdor, but Duncan is a very popular monarch. When Macbeth tells his wife “We will proceed no further in this business” (34), the response from Lady Macbeth is “Art thou afeard” (43). This calls in Macbeth’s bravery into question through the use of “afeard”. The word “afeard” denotes that he is scared and carries the implication that he is not brave enough to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s taunt is extremely

She persuasively questions him, using provocative and sadistic slurs, often offending Macbeth. She does this, because Macbeth wants to desperately prove his manhood, his love for his wife and his desire to become king and ruler of a nation. And so, in spite of her all her persuasion, Macbeth agrees to conduct the murder of duncan. Also, although Macbeth is unaware of his behaviour during the murder of Duncan, it is clearly Lady Macbeth who gives him the instructions. In consequence, by Lady Macbeth being portrayed heavily as the dominant one of the couple, Macbeth's actions are responses to her orders. Through this, it is evidently proven that if Lady Macbeth was absent from the play, the murder of Duncan would have not taken place. To conclude, despite Macbeth not needing any help coming up with the idea of murdering Duncan, it seems unlikely that he would have committed the murder without his wife’s powerful taunts and persuasions. And so, it is therefore Lady Macbeth’s overbearing ambition, rather than her husband’s, that ultimately propels the plot of the play by forcing Macbeth to murder

To begin, Lady Macbeth uses Macbeth as the stepping stool to the throne. Lady Macbeth wants the power, and she knows Macbeth would do anything for her because he loves her. Lady Macbeth makes it clear that she is the true dominance in their relationship, and Macbeth just wants to make his wife happy. Macbeth is held subject to do whatever she wants or he’ll lose her. Lady Macbeth wants her dominance to be shown, and she does it by convincing Macbeth to kill Duncan. “If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly: if the assassination” (1.7 423-424). Lady Macbeth knows that Macbeth is a noble man, and will not back down from a challenge. She uses the kindness from her

Evidence can be shown from when she is trying to get Macbeth to kill the king saying, “What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me? 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. Nor time nor place did adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that their fitness now does unmake you” (I.vii.47-54). The argument could be made that Lady Macbeth is forcing her husband to kill Duncan, that is not entirely true. Lady Macbeth is being driven by her ambition and therefore forcing her husband to follow. It is easy to see That she is not the driving force in the fifth act when Macbeth says, “She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day” (V.v.17 – 20). Macbeth was not being driven by his wife or he would have tried to stop the fight or wished she had died sooner so it did not come to this. Macbeth was a good man at the start of the play. Now he says “if only she died when we could mourn her. He is now so focused on power that he does not stop to think about his wife being dead.

Macbeth’s ambition to become King starts off with his encounter with the witches in Act 1, Scene 3. He is told that he will not only become Thane of Cawdor, but also King of Scotland. This pleases Lady Macbeth, she likes the idea of becoming Queen. Knowing Macbeth, Lady Macbeth knew that she needed to take matters into her own hands. She asks the spirits to release her from human thoughts, to set her free of weakness that might prevent her from doing the inhumane deed she thought her husband could not do, murder. This is seen in Act 1, Scene 5. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth of her plan to murder the current King, Duncan. Being a loyal servant to the King, Macbeth is hesitant. Despite his doubts, Lady Macbeth succeeds in persuading him to kill Duncan. This is a pivotal moment in the evolution of their relationship. We

Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is presented as an evil, cold-hearted person, but, when it comes to the actual act of committing the murder, Lady Macbeth does not commit murder. In the end, it is Macbeth who plunges the knife into Duncan’s heart. Lady Macbeth had planned the whole murder, brought the daggers, and even intoxicated the guards, but it is Macbeth who ultimately killed Duncan. After the crime is committed, it is Macbeth who collapses and Lady Macbeth who smears blood on the guards to complete their plan. From Lady Macbeth actions, it is readily apparent that she is physiologically and physical capable of committing murder, but why does she not? Lady Macbeth is unable to kill Duncan because of the 1600s notion of how a woman should be, Macbeth, being a man should, be the one to seek power, and Lady Macbeth’s feminine qualities forbid her to commit such a crime.