Macbeth by William Shakespeare
As part of my GCSE English "Macbeth" coursework, I had to analyse how
Lady Macbeth persuaded Macbeth to murder Duncan, with a detailed
reference to Act 1 Scenes 5, 6 and 7 and Act II scene 1. Also, I
needed to consider the events and themes of the play so far, the
characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and the nature of their
relationship.
At the beginning of Act 1 scene 5, Lady Macbeth is alone on stage with
a letter, a letter from Macbeth. The letter informs her of Macbeth's
meeting with the witches and their report that reflects there is more
in them than mortal knowledge. Their greetings to him
"All hail, Macbeth! Hail to the thane of Glamis!
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to the thane of Cawdor!
All hail, Macbeth! That shall be king thereafter!"
show elements of truth in them by the occurrence of the second
greeting. Macbeth cannot but hope and desire for the third promise to
be fulfilled. Lady Macbeth is pleases and determined by Macbeth's
letter. She hasn't the slightest doubt that Macbeth is the king that
shall be, yet she fears his nature. She considers him to be too full
of the "…milk of human kindness…" to catch the nearest way to success.
She doesn't doubt his ambition but considers it an ill that Macbeth
aims high, would take every opportunity to achieve it and yet wants to
be honest.
She even believes that Macbeth wants what, by no means belongs to him
but would not play false.
It is these "defects" in the nature of Macbeth that makes Lady Macbeth
strongly believe that she needs to work on him or probably give
something of her courage to spur him on and unleash his de...
... middle of paper ...
...rying out the murder.
As a knight, he can clearly see how a premeditated murder is unlike
being killed in the battle field and also against the natural law.
He goes against his better judgement and lets his conscience give into
his ambitions.
The burden of the blame is upon the culpable shoulders of Macbeth, who
even at the very last moment could have prevented the evil.
Unfortunately, the strong hold of the blanket of evil would not allow
the light of the heavenly stars to penetrate through in order to
prevent this most evil, of mans' sins.
In the end it is Macbeth who committed the murder; the blame is with
none but him. Just for the reason that Lady Macbeth persuades him, and
the witches unleash his ambitions they cannot bear the ultimate blame
after all the devil only suggested and Adam took the bite!
Chris Metz Dr. Watson AP Junior English 4 November 2013 Life Through a Pair of Forsaken Eyes A close reading of Macbeth (5.5.17-28) After hearing a shriek inside the castle, Macbeth sends his servant Seyton to find out what the noise was. When Seyton returns, he tells Macbeth “The queen, my lord, is dead” (line 16). Untouched by this horrific news, Macbeth replies, “She should have died hereafter: There would have been a time for such a word,” suggesting that she would have died eventually, implying
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