The Guilt of Lady Macbeth Everyone is influenced by other people, including leaders or authority, to make the wrong decisions at some point in their lives. In the play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is responsible for the evil doings of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is responsible for this by using his love for her to persuade him into killing King Duncan. Because Macbeth loved and trusted his wife, he was vulnerable to her opinions and suggestions. We also know that she is responsible for these heartless things because she has so much guilt that she commits suicide.
Lady Macbeth will not give up though, and instead begins to try to further lure Macbeth into participating in her corrupt plans. Eventually she is successful in doing this, and Macbeth murders Duncan. Lady Macbeth lit a spark of evil in Macbeth that turned into his destruction. Macbeth became power hungry and murdered many others in order to have it. Lady Macbeth turned her loyal, honorable husband into a corrupt fool.
During this she reveals a lot of information about murders she had committed aloud. The guilt had taken over her body and during this scene, she rubs her hands the whole time. She can't dispose the guilt she has deep inside her from the murder of Duncan. She can’t take it anymore and decides to kill herself. Lady Macbeth started as calm, controlled, and confident but at the end she ends up crazy and insane in her emotions to performing one more murder of herself.
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.
The three apparitions towards the end of the play is a prime example of how the witches contributed to Macbeth’s self downfall. Once Macbeth killed Duncan, he had to continue to kill other people off to protect himself and his wife. Also, when his wife passed away Macbeth stated that it was just her time to go. Furthermore, this shows that fate has complete control over Macbeth. He is even thinking that things are happening because they are supposed to, he is brainwashed by the wicked sisters (Jorgensen).
We see it greatly in the eyes of Lady Macbeth, because her ambitions for her husband to kill the King for the throne were a doomed fate that was inevitable. We feel sympathy for King Duncan for his undeserved death, and this leads on to the downfall of a great person. As the King could do nothing, this play can tell us that evil fate is indestructible. Lady Macbeth is the sinful icon that crystallises her character development, which improves the Macbeth story to keep us focused. Her association with witchcraft had made her more powerful and energetic for her intentions.
Is this actually the case with Lady Macbeth? Or is she rather a much more tragic figure, someone who was herself deceived, and lost everything in her bid to get it all? After reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there is little doubt that Lady Macbeth is one of the main factors that cause Macbeth to carry out the murder of the king. We first meet Lady Macbeth is in 1.5. She is at first alone with a letter from Macbeth, telling her of his encounter with the Wayward Sisters, and how the first prophecy (that he would become Thane of Cawdor, 1.3 109) has come true.
49) This showcases Lady Macbeth’s true character as manipulative and cunning since she preys on Macbeth’s weakness. She too is starting to become evil since she also heard the pros and cons that Macbeth came up with for killing Duncan but still decides to follow the plan. The characters of both Macbeth and his wife are developed in this scene. Macbeth is an intense play that discusses how power will corrupt anyone. This theme is developed throughout this scene as well as the plot.
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.
However, her feminine-like qualities eventually start showing. After setting the murder up for Macbeth, she reveals that “Had he (Duncan) not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (2. 2. 16-17). Lady Macbeth says that if Duncan didn’t look like her father, she would have murdered him herself instead of having Macbeth complete the deed.