The Greed of Macbeth in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

"That I may pour my spirits in thine ear" Shows that Lady Macbeth knows that she is evil and is wishing that she could share her evil with Macbeth. "Make thick my blood, Stop up th' Access and Passage to remorse." Expresses Lady Macbeth wanting more evil and is asking for her blood to stop the passage through her heart, so she can continue her evil ways without any remorse or guilt. Although Lady Macbeth is evil, she knows well not to convey this trait to the public, but to be pleasant and sweet to the king and others. Once Macbeth is told his prophecy of being king by the witches, he soon writes a letter to his wife explaining his newly found future, hoping to find some advice in return.

He tries to convince himself and his wife that he should not kill Duncan, and at one stage he orders her not to go any further with the deed. Lady Macbeth... ... middle of paper ... ...cally after Duncan’s murder she is haunted by his blood then she goes crazy and eventually kills herself. All of these contribute to the strong theme of guilt and conscience in Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth the theme of guilt and conscience is one of the most prominent in the play. It gives life to the play and gives depth to the characters, it makes Macbeth a much more realistic character because we are shown that he is not perfect and still responds to temptation.

MacBeth is aware that his only motivation to kill the king is his ambition, and that ambition drives people to disaster. At the end of MacBeth’s monologue, he had chosen not to kill King Duncan, and shares his decision with his wife Lady Macbeth once she enters. Lady MacBeth, an power-hungry woman, persuades her husband to return to the plan of murdering their king. The first ploy she used to persuade MacBeth was an emotional appeal, making him feel bad about himself by calling him a coward. She asks him,”Wouldst thou have that, Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, And live a coward in thine own esteem,” dubbing him a coward for retreating from the plan they originally agre... ... middle of paper ... ... obvious human truth is the manipulative power of women have over men by making them feel unmasculine.

But she says, "Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full o' milk of kindness To catch the nearest way." Lady MacBeth is worried that her husband is to weak to do what has to be done. Already we see that Lady MacBeth has formed a plan. Lady MacBeth thinks that MacBeth will be King, and at this point in the play we start to see the evil side of her begin to come out.

50-51). While it is clear that Macbeth would like to avoid doing anything harmful, he deeply desires to become king and is willing to commit un-ethical acts, such as murder, to achieve this goal. This is further confirmed when he is convinced by Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan. The witches did not say that he needed to murder Duncan to become king, and so presumably he would have been able to ascend the throne one day, however he was unable to wait and did usurp Duncan. He does protest the suggestion a few times arguing both with himself and Lady Macbeth against the idea, but ultimately he succumbs and kills Duncan.

After Lady Macbeth heard of the equivocations and Macbeth's potential to become king she immediately began planning how he would kill King Duncan. She calls to the spirits saying, " Come, you spirits that tend my moral thoughts, unsex me here!"(I. V. Lines 42-45). She knew that Macbeth was kind hearted and didn't think that he would find the courage to kill the king so called out to the spirits to ask them to make her more man... ... middle of paper ... ...ers influence decisions that people know are morally wrong can negatively impact their mental state. Thought this play Macbeth knew that committing the murder was wrong but after his wife consistently challenged his manhood he decided to kill Duncan.

As a result of his insecurity of his lack of manliness, Macbeth’s soul couldn’t be cleansed again. Macbeth proved to his wife that he was a “man” but the consequence of murdering the king was the beginning of the corruption of Macbeth’s soul because of the sense of power he had. Macbeth saw his actions as justifiable because he was motivated by his self-interest. Although Lady Macbeth pushed Macbeth to abuse his powers, it was ultimately his own doing because he had a choice to go or not go along with it. Macbeth decided to go through with his plan to kill Duncan, “I am settled, and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat/Away, and mock the time with fairest show/False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (1.7.92-96).

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's own husband neglects even her own death. Macbeth's road to ruin is twisted and branching. He is offered chances to reverse his course and save himself, but he chooses to stick to the path of personal ambition. The play finally comes full circle. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth defends the king from those who would overthrow him.

As Macbeth prepares to kill Duncan, he hallucinates, and many thoughts cross his mind, but when the bell sounds, "Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell." (Act 2 Scene 2) and Macbeth acts promptly. After the murder Macbeth regrets his actions, but again Lady Macbeth is influential toward him, reminding his that "These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad." (Act 2 Scene 2). Macbeth's true self again break through when he has false thoughts about his actions.