After Macbeth learns his first prophecy from the witches, he writes to his wife, explaining his idea to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth supports and encourages his idea, though she knows he will not follow through with his plan. She is aware of Macbeth’s powerful ambitions, yet she knows that he lacks the cruelty to kill the King. “Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it” (I, v, 16-19). Lady Macbeth, a character with even more determination than her husband, manipulates him to make decisions that his conscience tells him are not right. She questions Macbeth, asking if he is a coward and even a man. Lady Macbeth further uses guilt to influence her husband’s decisions. “How tender it is to love the babe that milks me, I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you, Have done to this (I, vii, 55-59).” Lady Macbeth’s manipulative mentality controls Macbeth until he decides to exclude her from his decision making process. Shortly after the death of Banquo, Lady Macbeth begins to loose her mind and she eventually commits
After struggling with the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth is reprimanded by Lady Macbeth for his lack of courage. 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...
Macbeth's desire to become king is strongly supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a highly ambitious woman who, like her husband, is willing to do anything to obtain power. Shakespeare uses a series of imagery to vividly portray the desire for power in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy: “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!” To achieve her ambition, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth “to catch the nearest way.” This means she wants him to kill Duncan so that he can become king. However, she fears that Macbeth is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way.” When Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth starts attacking his masculinity. “Then you were a man,” she said. Lady Macbeth also uses the power of emotional blackmail to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan.
Lady Macbeth has been taunting her husband with the idea of success and obtaining royal status. Her solution is one “small” deed- to kill the king. Macbeth becomes uncertain of the repercussions of success, questioning whether he could overome the mental impact of the act. She is the closest character to Macbeth, meaning she is influential through the close proximity of their relationship and in their love. Macbeth is dependent on advice and the opinion of his wife. Lady Macbeth speaks to Macbeth, attempting to aggravate him and obtain an intentional response, she says: “From this time/Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard/To be the same in thine own act and valor/As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that/Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,/And live a coward in thine own esteem,/Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would,
Lady Macbeth’s wicked character has an extreme impact towards her husband. Lady Macbeth is responsible for influencing her husband to commit both crimes; she unleashes the dark side of him and motivates him to become an evil and horrendous man. In various parts throughout the story we find that Lady Macbeth strives beyond limits to be converted into a bitter and sour women. The audience is revolted by her horrific actions and although she may seem repugnant, she is an extremely talented actor. In her role, having a deceitful and convincing character is important
After Lady Macbeth reads his letter and Macbeth arrives home, she is excited about becoming queen. She asks Macbeth when King Duncan is to be arriving and tells Macbeth to leave the plan up to her, his only job being that he has to look innocent and hide their true intentions. Macbeth seems to be stunned and nervous, telling his wife that they will talk later when she begins to tell him of her plan. In the seventh scene, at the castle, Macbeth speaks of the intense guilt he is feeling even before he is to kill Duncan; “… this even-handed justice/ Commends the ingredients of our poisoned/ Chalice to our own lips…” (1. 7. 10-12) (Shakespeare), “… He’s here in double trust…” (1. 7. 12) (Shakespeare), “… Besides, this Duncan/ Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been/ So clear in his great office…” (1. 7. 17-19)(Shakespeare) all express Macbeth’s discomfort with murdering Duncan to steal the throne. Not only does he convey these emotions during this monologue, but he does so when Lady Macbeth enters the room, saying “We will proceed no further in this business./ He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people…” (1. 7. 32-34) (Shakespeare). To respond to this, Lady Macbeth does what she does best: emasculating her husband. She first articulates her questioning of his manhood after she reads Macbeth’s letter in the first act when she says “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness…” (1. 5. 2-3) (Shakespeare), which contrasts with the heroic description the dying Captain gives of Macbeth in the opening scene. After Macbeth tells his wife that he is calling off the plan to kill King Duncan, she
The guilt that causes the delusional state in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begins with the questioning of Macbeth’s ambition and capacity to obtain what he wants. Lady Macbeth first sells out her position by following the words of the weird sisters that predict that Macbeth will become king. After allowing the prophecy overcome her, Lady Macbeth convinces herself that she will do anything to make sure that the prediction is followed out. She states, " Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, and chastise with the valor of my tongue which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal." Macbeth’s ineptness in remaining loyal to his self is evident when Lady Macbeth attacks his ego by negotiating with him that the murder will make him a better man, “When you durst do it, ten you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.” Thus, Lady Macbeth is as responsible for the death because she was the one that convinced Macbeth to continue the plan to execute King Duncan. Also passion and greed govern their souls and their common sense, they forget that the world does not revolve around them and what they wish to accomplish. The murders, which would to any sane person seem grotesque becomes a normal thing to them as if nothing more than washing ones hands. Macbeth is originally courageous and a godlike figure with great success in the battlefield who descends to scum by the end of the play.
She constantly corrupted the mind of Macbeth to do terrible things for her personal benefit because she didn’t have the courage to do it herself, although he wanted to be king desperately. Macbeth was the type who wanted power, he wanted to be on top no matter what and advance in all things dealing with the role of power, but wouldn’t stoop down to doing something evil such as committing murder to do so. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth wanted the same thing and would do anything to fill the role of Queen, which would only happen if Macbeth were king, but she could never live with the consequences of her evil deeds. Macbeth is convinced to kill Duncan by the persuasion of Lady Macbeth yet after he suffers with a guilty conscience, “O’ full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife”(3.2.41). Lady Macbeth, whom badgers her husband to kill Duncan, wait by his side and tells him to be joyful in the aftermath of the king’s death, “Come on, gentle my lord/sleek o’er your rugged looks. Be bright and jovial/among your guest tonight”(3.2.30-32), but is eventually blindsided by Macbeth’s continuous shedding of blood that she began. The road to each incident is driven by ambition; this is what allows them to become more and more vicious each time by knocking down those who stand in the way of the throne, Fleance, Macduff, and Banquo. Therefore, this behavior goes hand and hand with what the theme suggests, once violence is acquired to carry out the task that determines your way to the top, it is tough to
This passage shows Lady Macbeth asking the gods to fill her with all ruthlessness and hate to commit the killing of King Duncan but to have outer deceptive qualities to perceive other people like Macbeth himself.
Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. As she is Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. She is Macbeth’s other half. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their relationship falls apart. Everything about Lady Macbeth is enough to create the perfect villain because of her ability to manipulate everyone around her. It appears that even she can’t resist the perfect crime.