Lady Macbeth, the Fiend Like Queen, but Capable of Remorse

After analysing Lady Macbeth’s character, I able to conclude that I don’t fully agree with Malcolm’s description of lady Macbeth. Many scenes in this play manage to convince us of her association with the devil. However, some parts lead us to believe that she is not entirely evil and that she is capable of remorse. Lady Macbeth is an ambitious lady, led by her thirst for power. She is capable of unpleasant deeds, some so atrocious, they would have been unheard of by a lady at her time, getting her exactly what she desires.

Some scenes of this play, such as Act 1 scene 5, where the whole plot begins to take place, clearly show that Lady Macbeth isn’t scared of the devil. On the contrary, she beckons him over, asking him to take over her body, making her fully evil: “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thought…stop up th’access and passage to remorse.” She does not follow the stereotypical woman of the time, but instead, implores the devil to “unsex her”, taking away her femininity and her innocence. Lady Macbeth is a famous example of a woman being linked to violence and ambition. She uses her feminine charms to her advantage, manipulating her way into what she wants and using it when necessary for example in but also has a typical masculine side which is being led by ambition.

This scene clearly shows us that she wants to be evil, but also, that she isn’t fully there yet. However, it mainly proves to us that underneath her confidence and assurance is a person, craving to become cruel. Scared of what she is going to do, about the guilt she doesn’t want to feel and mostly, about not being able to deal with it. She asks the devil to not let “heaven peep through the blanket of the dark”. This indicates us that she knows ...

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...verpowering. It also shows that the spirits she summoned at the beginning of the play have completely possessed her thoughts like she had asked them to. Lady Macbeth didn’t seem to realise exactly what she was asking them to do. This scene is the last we her from her, before we find out later on in the book that she chooses death, not being able to deal with the guilt and consequences of her actions.

Lady Macbeth starts off in the play as a heartless creature, not completely aware of her deeds and actions. She gets carried away and commits an awful crime, one that comes back with revenge. They are errors, ones she ends up deeply regretting. As the story progresses, we soon learn that she is not capable of controlling her emotions. Lady Macbeth is a lady whose excess of ambition leads her to something she wasn’t strong enough to deal with: remorse.