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.
The fact that Lady Macbeth had murderous thoughts makes her equal to the men she was surrounded by. It is through these points that Lady Macbeth’s character can be both vilified and explored as a feminist role model. An audience who would have attended Macbeth in the 16th century would have believed that women we're incapable of ambition and leadership. Lady Macbeth shatters this when she latches onto the idea that Macbeth will be king and creates a plot to murder Duncan. While Macbeth is hesitant about assassinating the current monarch, Lady Macbeth doesn't have a second though; she tells her husband... ... middle of paper ... ...he makes a plea to “Make thick my blood.
All she cares about is becoming the Queen. She doesn't even care that to become the Queen, she has to make her husband kill the present King. She does not think about the consequences that can happen to her or to her husband. When Lady Macbeth first receives the letter from Macbeth that states his intentions of killing Duncan to become king, she believes that he is too “good” to do it. She says he is “too full of the milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.” (I.V.16-17) She is saying that Macbeth does not have it in him to go through with what he wants to do.
Later on, in the play Shakespeare took that aspect of the history and twisted it when writing his play when lady Macbeth said “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way”(Macbeth 1.5.15-18). Lady Macbeth establishes herself as the dominant partner in the marriage. It’s not the first time that Shakespeare has done that in Macbeth. Shakespeare made lady Macbeth be the one to convince and influence Macbeth into killing King Duncan which does strongly against the
The Guilt of Lady Macbeth Shakespeare's "Macbeth" holds many hidden themes within its already exuberant plot. The first of these surrounds the murder of Duncan and the role that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself played. However, the true guilt of the murder can fall on either character. Although Macbeth physically committed the crime, it was Lady Macbeth that pushed him to his limits of rational thought and essentially made fun of him to lower his esteem. With Macbeth's defenses down, it was an easy task for Lady Macbeth to influence Duncan's murder and make up an excuse as to why she could not do it herself.
She informs him that killing the king will make him a man, insinuating that he isn’t a man if he doesn’t go through with the murder. This develops Lady Macbeth as a merciless, nasty, and selfish woman. She will say, or do anything to get what she desires, even if it means harming others. It is this selfishness that makes it hard for the reader to be empathetic towards her later in the play, as it is evident in this scene that her hardships were brought on by herself. If she hadn’t insisted on the murder, she would not be driven in... ... middle of paper ... ...can presume that it was out of guilt.
Throughout the play she gradually decreases her role in the murder until it becomes Macbeth’s job to kill Duncan, not hers. This is another very large trick on her part, but one that Macbeth also fails to see; Whether it is because he chooses not to, or because he is too naive to realize it. The last noteworthy example of her inconsistency occurs between Act I Scene vii and Act II Scene ii. In Act I Scene vii she severely scolds Macbeth for having second thoughts about committing the murder. She tries to get rid of his rational thoughts by saying that he must not really love her if he can change his mind on the murder, which she says he promised her he would do.
Lady Macbeth fears that Macbeth lacks enough courage and killer instinct to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth might be a more vicious individual, but she is more afraid than Macbeth about killing Duncan. She never mentions herself committing the murder, and she always insists upon Macbeth executing the killing. The opportunity arises for Lady Macbeth to murder Duncan, but she decides not to. This is the first humane feeling that we see from Lady Macbeth in the play.
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.
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 invokes evil spirits asking them to grant her extreme cruelty and to feel no remorse or pity for her victims. She asks the evil spirits to grant her these ills so she can take over Macbeth’s prophecy to prevent him from backing out, “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way.” (1.5 16-18).