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Character analysis essay on macbeth
Lady Macbeth character critical analysis
Lady Macbeth character critical analysis
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In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth King Duncan’s murder is a significant point in the story that eventually leads to the demise of Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth. However, who is really responsible for his murder? Although both hold some responsibility as they conspired against him, Macbeth is the one is more responsible because of his longing desire to become the king of Scotland. Macbeth was the one to ultimately make the decision to carry through with the murder and tried to justify it afterwards. Even if he felt remorse and contemplated, he still went through with it and paid the price afterwards. Since the beginning, Macbeth has always wanted to become king, but was secretive and hid his inner thoughts from the people around him. For instance, he hints to this desire after Duncan gives his son Malcom, the title of the Prince of Cumberland, to be next king, to which Macbeth responds with “Stars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and desires.” (Shakespeare 1.4.57-58). Chiaroscuro is also used here because Macbeth contrasts light and dark, implying that the dark is the evil that can be revealed by the light. Additionally, he does not want Duncan, Banquo or anyone to know how frustrated he really is …show more content…
Even though he acknowledges his relationship with Duncan and how “He’s in double trust: first, as I am his kinsman and his subject, … then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” (Shakespeare 1.7.12-16) he brushes it aside. When he comes back with bloody daggers, evidence of his murder, and tells Lady Macbeth “I have done the deed.” (Shakespeare 2.2.19) this shows that he was aware of the circumstances that he was in, but chose to either ignore it, or deem insignificant. Thus, Macbeth crosses the ethical line at this point because he makes the conscious decision to murder King Duncan as a way to become king of
The Ways in Which the Different Characters in Macbeth React to the Murder of Duncan
to plan out her murder on Duncan to ensure that her husband is to be
Macbeth displays a moral conscience when he claims, “We will proceed no further in this business” however, he ultimately pretends to be oblivious to his morals (Shakespeare I. vii. 34). According to Coursen, "as he comes closer to killing Duncan, his awareness of the heinousness of the crime becomes clearer" (Coursen 379). His “awareness of the heinousness of the crime” is evident both before and after Duncan’s murder as he is conscious of the possible consequences and outcomes of the crime. However, he becomes preoccupied with his ambition and Lady Macbeth’s coerciveness, giving in to Duncan’s murder and, perhaps, his own downfall. Therefore, Lady Macbeth is not primarily accountable as Macbeth ignored his
This immediately makes him forget all his attempts of loosing his part in the killing, and from then on there was no moans or disagreements between the two, with her clearly taking leadership. With all this evidence one could conclude that Lady Macbeth is 'partly' responsible for the death of King Duncan because she was the sole planner of his murder, but Macbeth is always going to be the one holding the knife when it pierced Duncan's throat, so he will also always be slightly responsible for the murder as he committed it. Macbeth was naive and is simple used by Lady Macbeth as a tool, which can gain access to the male dominated court of the time. ' It takes two to tango' would be an appropriate motto to this story.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, we have heard the defence glorify Macbeth in an effort to cloud the horrible acts of murder that he committed. The question that we are here to answer today stands, ?is Macbeth guilty of the murder of our beloved king, Duncan?. Many questions cloud our judgement today. Did Macbeth have a motive to kill the king? Did Macbeth meticulously premeditate the murder of Duncan? Did Macbeth carryout, then cover up the murder of King Duncan? Ladies and gentlemen it will be difficult, nay impossible for you to deny any of these allegations of murder against Macbeth, because simply put, he did commit these vicious acts of murder.
Lady Macbeth, being ruthless, tries to convince Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but his conscience is stronger than his ambition. He feels that the king is at his palace in “double-trust”; he is his host and he should not be holding the knife to kill the king. When he says, “We will proceed no further in this business” (I. vii. 31. He does not want to follow through with Lady Macbeth’s plan.
Lady Macbeth pressures Macbeth into murdering Duncan through emotional abuse, saying that he is a coward and not a man. This abuse causes Macbeth to feel emasculated and insecure, so he wants to prove himself to his wife. Furthermore, Lady Macbeth also uses Macbeth’s promise to her, making him feel guilty about not upholding their agreement. She wants him to feel as if he was breaking the vows of their marriage if he does not go through with the murder. Finally, by drugging the guards, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband that they have gone too far to turn back. She tells him that they would be destroyed if they failed so far into their plan. Although Lady Macbeth did not physically commit the murder, she manipulated Macbeth and convinced him that killing King Duncan was the right thing to
Macbeth is guilty of first degree murder seeing that as the murder was premeditated and was done in order to gain control and or take an important position. Macbeth waited for the chance to murder the king and after he got the perfect chance to kill the king, he took control of the situation and took the weapon and plunged it into the king’s body. I think these actions fall into the category of first degree murder because first degree murder is the killing, which is deliberate and premeditated with felonies such as rape, burglary, arson, involving multiple deaths, the killing of certain types of people such as; a child, police officer, prison guard, and fellow prisoner. I would prosecute him with the first degree murder charge because it was premeditated and after the Duncan was killed, it then lead to several murders proceeding after the biggest calamity.
Macbeth negates his moral responsibility as a person as well as a king. He doesn’t take into consideration that he will pay for all the evil deeds that he executes. Killing Duncan is the worst crime that is possible to commit since the kings were the closest in hierarchy next to god. It is evident that Macbeth is aware that this is an evil sin when he states, “ I dare do all that may be come a man, who dares do more is none.” (Act I Scene VII, Line 46-47) The previous statement shows that Macbeth believes that killing Duncan will make him nothing more than a beast. Nevertheless he goes against his morals and kills King Duncan. Sin is a prevalent theme in this play, Macbeth shows that he knows he has lived a sinful life, “Seyton I am sick at hearth, when I behold Seyton I have live’d long enough.” (Act V Scene III, Lines 20-22) Ambition takes over Macbeth when he decides to hire assassinators to kill Macduffs wife and children, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; seize upon Fife; give to the edge of the sword in this line.”
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the repercussions of Macbeth murdering his King are very numerous. Through themes that include, imagery, soliloquies, atmosphere, and supernatural beings, Shakespeare enforces the magnitude of Macbeth’s crime. Most of these factors are linked together.
Firstly, we shall consider Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as they are the two who planned and performed the murder. Although after the witches told Macbeth that he was to be king and he was burning in desire to be so he, on first instance, decided that if fate had determined that he was to be the sovereign of Scotland he shouldn’t try to be reach the throne by his own actions, that it would come eventually: “If Chance will have me king, why, Chance / may crown me, / Without my stir”. However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility on Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status of woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not...
Macbeth’s growing aspiration changed him from a honorable and respected man to that of a ruthless murder whose guilt eventually caught up with him. Macbeth is guilty of first degree murder because even though he was being manipulated by his wife, Lady Macbeth, he still murdered the king with his own bare hands. If he really didn’t want to manslaughter the king, he would not have gone through with the plan, but instead he chose to. He is guilty of slaying the beloved King Duncan and others as well.
The underlining fact in the play is that Macbeth kills these people all by himself, there is no accomplice and therefore if this were brought to a court of law the only person who would be found guilty of murder would be Macbeth. There is no crime for saying “go and kill that person,” there is only a crime for actually killing a person. Also, Macbeth’s killings resulted in Macbeth gaining a position of power he wanted. He says “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o'erleap, for in my way it lies.
Macbeth knows that killing Duncan is morally wrong as demonstrated in (I, vii, 31-32) where he states, “…we will proceed no further in this business: he hath honour’d me of late”. Yet it is his vaulting ambition that gets the better of him as he shows signs of wanting to kill Duncan. Macbeth says, “The Prince of Cumberland! – That is a step on which I must fall down, or else o’erleap…Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires …” (I, v, 49 – 52). The words ‘black and deep desires’ relate to Macbeth’s evil desire and the vaulting ambition is shown to be present in him. This first sign of Macbeth’s evil nature is shown in this scene as he is slowly beginning to open up and show the real man he is. Macbeth further reinforces his evil nature as he acts surprised and outraged after Duncan’s death (II, iii, 107 – 109). Macbeth instead of listening to his conscience, he suppresses his guilt and continues with his
Duncan is the most unlikely character to be killed because of his personality, but his title as King of Scotland, causes for Macbeth to loathe Duncan. In the play there is very little interaction between Macbeth and Duncan, showing the little time in which Macbeth gets more power. Prior to the witches’ prophecies Macbeth is loyal to Duncan, and would never imagine killing him. After the one of the witches’ prophecies comes to be true, the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth "yield[s] to that suggestion / whose horrid image doth unfix my hair / and make my seated heart knock at my ribs" (1.3.146-148). Partly because of Lady Macbeth’s suggestion his "vaulting ambition" is starting to take over, and he begins to take into consideration killing Duncan, to become king. Macbeth however, does not feel comfortable in killing Macbeth, giving himself reasons why not to kill Duncan: “First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door, Not bear the knife myself,” (I, vii, 13-16) Lady Macbeth, convinces Macbeth, that killing Duncan is the right thing to do until right before he performs the murder. We learn from this murder that Macbeth truly had faith in the king and was very loyal, but knowing that one day he would become king, his ambition and the persuasion of Lady Macbeth, causes him to perform the act, that he will regret. This murder changes Macbeth as a person, however, and he soon feels little regret for killing King Duncan, but this act will soon aid in his downfall.