Macbeth the noble, loyal and brave Thane of Glamis, the traitorous Thane of Cawdor and the murderer of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth the cruel, ruthless and heartless instigator of the murder and the women who motivates her husband to gain Kingship through the most brutal and inhumane means. A loving yet cold hearted pair, Macbeth and his Lady plan, plot and execute murders to gain the Scottish crown. Along the way they show their eminent differences and underlying similarities. Through their cold heartedness both achieve the ambitious dreams that lie close to their hearts. Macbeth to be crowned and his wife to see him crowned. But out of the murders rises an overlying feeling which seemingly neither has the strength to combat, the remorseful pangs of conscience. Finally the pair overcome by their actions both, succumb to this powerful and yet unseen faculty. Macbeth is murdered and his Lady commits suicide. The traits which the pair exhibit during the play share a common similarity and sameness but, are manifest at different points throughout. Both share ambition, creed and a blood thirsty desire, and through their underlying love for each other, they both finally achieve these ambitions which eventually lead to their downfall. Macbeth the …show more content…
Lady Macbeth then plays on this ambition in order to motivate Macbeth to act. However, once he has acted Lady Macbeths ambition seems to decrease. It is almost as though having obtained her most important aim she seems to lose her ambition and it finally plummets into conscience. Macbeth’s ambition however, continues to rise and eventually turns him evil. So much so that his subsequent murders are no longer motivated by his wife but, rise out of his own ambition and a wish to see it manifest in the emplacement of an impregnable position that will hold him and his as Kings
In Macbeth Lady Macbeth is perceived to be very evil and conniving, she is the catalyst that pushes Macbeth into killing King Duncan. She emasculates and manipulates him, causing his psychotic tendencies. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth played the role of a honorable servant of the King, and was praised for killing the traitorous Thane of Cawdor. Instead of the praise of Macbeth’s bravery bettering his personal integrity, he lets his prophesies that the witches informed him about go to his head. He is willing to kill to try and set himself further ahead, and after he is crowned King, he would kill anyone that stood in his way. This eventually catches up with him when the other characters put the pieces of the murders together and realize that Macbeth is responsible for all the deaths. Once this happened, Macduff, the Thane of Fife, set out to Macbeth’s castle at Inverness with a large army disguised by birnam wood to behead Macbeth, so Malcolm could be crowned King. Macbeth’s lack of courage throughout ...
Macbeth was a high-ranking thane of Glamis, who was greedy. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth only killed when he was in battle. For his bravery and loyalty, Macbeth than becomes the thane of Cawdor, because the original thane was, as it says in act 1, sc. 2 line 52 “ a most disloyal traitor.” Now those may argue Lady Macbeth is responsible for Macbeth’s downfall, but Macbeth could have told her that it was wrong to kill Duncan and if she wanted King Duncan dead, she would have to do it herself. Lady Macbeth says she would have killed King Duncan, except she could not because he resembled her father,"Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't.” Macbeth’s conscience knows that murdering King Duncan is wrong, but he lets Lady Macbeth’s harmless persistence and greed destroy his judgement. Macbeth knew that his actions were wrong, yet he still murdered and also committed treason against his country, Scotland for social status, power, and riches. Macbeth not only murdered King Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family and servants, he murdered the innocent guards. Macbeth speaks of how he could not refrain from murdering the guards in act 2, sc.3, lines 90-96, “Here lay Duncan, His silver skin laced with his golden blood… there, the murderers, Steep'd in the colours of their trade, their daggers Unmannerly breech'd with gore… Who could
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.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the titular character hears a prophecy that proclaims he will become the Thane of Cawdor and later king of Scotland. After the first part of the Werd Sisters' prophecy seemingly comes to pass when King Duncan grants him the title Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth resolves to bring about the second part of the sinister witches' foretelling by any means necessary. In this plan, and later plots to secure his kingship, Macbeth is aided and abetted by his wife and confidante, Lady Macbeth. Although it is Macbeth himself who actually murders the king and organises further atrocities, Lady Macbeth is the more dominant figure in their marriage, for without her influence, support and manipulation, Macbeth would never have been able to set the resulting events in motion. Lady Macbeth's ambition and cunning far outstrip that of her husband.
Having already possessed the title of Thane of Glamis and Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth yearns to have the last part of the witches prophecy come true, the one part he secretly longs for – to have the title of king. As King Duncan sleeps, Macbeth comes forward and is prepared to commit murder in order to achieve his secret desire of becoming king. But before he can commit the act, he sees a dagger in front of him. This dagger represents the small amount of innocence Macbeth still possesses before he commits the murder. “Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible, to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?” (2.1, lines 37-41). But soon after the murder has been committed, we see Macbeth begin a downward spiral created by the presence of his Greek hubris. When Lady Macbeth commits suicide in act 5, scene 5, Macbeth has given up hope and his hubris has almost led him to his death. However, at this point, he still believes in the witches’ prophecy and the fact that he cannot be killed of anything born of woman. In his speech after his wife’s death, Macbeth says, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and
Macbeth does whatever it takes to achieve his own ambitions, including killing his King who stands in his way of becoming ruler. When Lady Macbeth recognizes that her husband can become king she immediately starts planning how he can achieve that. Her ambition combined with that of Macbeth’s, leads to the couple killing King Duncan. Often times the true intentions and thoughts of Macbeth come out in his soliloquies. During his soliloquy when he is contemplating murdering Duncan he states, “I am his kinsman and subject”(1.7.13).
Her motivation is now clear, she desires that Macbeth become King, undoubtedly for the power, wealth, and social domination that would accompany this position. Whenever Macbeth began to falter, she began to question his manhood, in an effort to manipulate him, which caused him to put away any qualms and do the dirty deed. Towards Act III an IV Macbeth begins to take charge, but Lady Macbeth is still in the background, making sure that Macbeth’s position of King is secured.
Within the Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, Macbeth is influenced by his wife, Lady Macbeth, to murder Duncan. Macbeth argues against this idea. First, Macbeth is both Duncan’s kingsman and his loyal subject; therefore, between both individuals there is a strong relationship that is built upon trust. This relationship would be difficult to break, which results in Macbeth countering the idea of murdering Duncan. Additionally, Duncan has been a proper king and has shown nothing but respect towards Macbeth. Duncan rewards Macbeth by giving him the title of Thane of Cawdor, which discourages Macbeth from murdering him. It is Lady Macbeth that persuades Macbeth to do the deed through her demeaning actions of calling him a coward. Additionally, Macbeth
Ambition and desire are double-edged notions present in all who crave success and power. While ambition is most often associated with unfavorable greed and overwhelming need, people who express this desire are simultaneously praised for being goal-oriented and steadfast in achieving their goals. In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, this duality of ambition is explored through the character of Lady Macbeth. In the play, Lady Macbeth’s husband, Macbeth, is prophesied to be king, and in order to expedite his path to the throne and their combined rise to power, Lady Macbeth plots to murder the current King Duncan. Throughout her Act I soliloquy, Lady Macbeth reveals not only her malevolent and scheming nature, but also profound determination
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.
Lady Macbeth is a vicious and overly ambitious woman, her desire of having something over rules all the moral behaviors that one should follow. On the beginning of the novel, Macbeth receives the news that if Duncan, the current king, passed away he would be the next one to the throne. So, Lady Macbeth induces Macbeth into killing Duncan by filling his mind with ambition and planting cruel seeds into his head. After accomplishing his deed of killing the king, he brings out the daggers that were used during the murder, and says, “I’ll go no more. I am afraid to think what I have done; look on’t again I dare not.” This is his first crime and Macbeth is already filled with guilt and regret. He shows the reader to be the weak one of the duo. Lady Macbeth as the cruel partner still has some sentiment and somewhat a weakness in her heart and mind. When talking about Duncan she says, “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.” Weakness is still present and will always be there throughout the novel but this one change the fact that Lady Macbeth is still the stronger and cruel one.
Macbeth, who is the Thane of Cawdor and already Thane of Glamis, has everything going for him. He has a good heart, but there is only one thing which keeps him from continuing to be a good person. The love of his life, Lady Macbeth, wants him to commit a heinous crime. She wants him to kill King Duncan so he could be crowned king and her Queen. Macbeth is manipulated and faced with the opportunity cost of killing the king.
Lady Macbeth is the first to strategize a way to kill Duncan. As a character foil to Macbeth she juxtaposes their possession of guilt and ruthlessness, which creates irony and excitement to the play. Originally, she is very power hungry and wants to utilize her husband’s position in status to become queen. Macbeth objects to the plan to kill Duncan because he believes Duncan is Macbeth’s kinsman, host, and an overall virtuous ruler (Act. 1 Scene. 7) and thus feels very guilty for taking advantage of Duncan’s trusting quality towards the Macbeth family. She refers to Macbeth as weak and rebukes his manhood (Act 1. Scene 7.) . As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a character role reversal of their possession of guilt and ruthlessness. The character foil is extant, however Macbeth’s ruthlessness overcomes his guilt, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt vanquishes her drive for power. In addition to an alteration in character foils, Shakespeare introduces situational irony because now Lady Macbeth succumbs to the weakness Macbeth once possessed and Macbeth is the one who is formidable and ambitious. Macbeth’s ability to transcend his guilt exemplifies his struggle for power and reinforces the theme of evil ambition because Macbeth is able to secure the throne and power only by mass
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 the play, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, William Shakespeare brings us into the world of Scotland. He brings to you the protagonist, Macbeth, who was a knight in King Duncan's army. Macbeth sought for power, and with the predictions of three witches, and the coercion from his wife, kills king Duncan. He was not the only responsible. In fact, the evil act would not have been committed if it wasn't for his wife.