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Analysis of Macbeth in Shakespeare
Theme analysis essay macbeth
Analysis of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
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“Macbeth”- A revered play written in the 16th century by the famous playwright: William Shakespeare. The theme of “Macbeth” is centred on how power and the thirst for it can corrupt a person and lead to their insanity. Power-hungry and manipulating Lady Macbeth, with the help of the prophecies of the three malevolent witches, persuades the eponymous Macbeth to kill his king, so that she can be the queen. But unfortunately, for her, her plans do not ultimately run smoothly. Both Macbeth’s guilty conscience and his wife’s insanity give them away and eventually lead to their down fall. The purpose of this essay is to discuss to what extent Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as a truly evil character throughout the play.
From her very opening scene Shakespeare depicts Lady Macbeth as being cold and full of evilness. In act 1 scene 5, Lady Macbeth is introduced reading a letter from Macbeth. Already the audience can see she has evil plans. “Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valour of my tongue.” (Act 1 scene 5)
This exhibits that she wants Macbeth to come back home so she can persuade him to do the evil deed. Later in the scene, Lady Macbeth is afraid that Macbeth is too weak and too compassionate to be a murderer, therefore she asks the gods to replace all her goodness and femininity with cold haunted evilness. This is clear when she calls the evil spirits;
“...Unsex me here,
Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse...
Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall...” (Act 1 scene 5)
So that she can poison her husband’s mind. The audience’s first impression of her is as a remorseless, cold evil wife. This prepares the audience for the evilness sh...
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...5 scene 5). Power has watered down all his love and kindness. Shakespeare portrayed Lady Macbeth as evil and in the end was driven to death by her own guilt because ultimately she was a human and not a complete monster.
Lady Macbeth is thought of being a truly evil character because of the way Shakespeare portrays her character. Her malevolent influence on Macbeth, her trying to hide her humanity to help her have more power over her husband, then her trying very hard to hide her guilt are all examples of the evil she had done. Her dark and sinister nature gradually gave way to insanity and a suicide. Lady Macbeth’s character is a proof that power and thirst for it can lead to insanity and a person’s ultimate down fall.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.
Perhaps the most fundamental theme of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is the inherent corruptibility of even a seemingly good man when ambition turns to greed, and Macbeth himself exemplifies this concept throughout the play. While at the outset he is seen to be loyal to his king, generally considered trustworthy, and displaying numerous other laudable qualities, Macbeth ultimately succumbs to the influence of those around him and becomes unequivocally evil, setting aside all his previously held morals and coming to be driven only by his lust for power. This transition is brought about by a wide variety of factors and plays an integral role in the development of the plot. In his tragedy Macbeth, William Shakespeare employs
The story of Lady Macbeth throughout Macbeth is one unlike those of its time in its unusually forward-thinking portrayal of a woman with thoughts and actions which would have been considered indecent. This is seen through the representation of her relationship with Macbeth and how they interact. It is also illustrated through Lady Macbeth’s morals and their effect on how she acts and reacts in situations which would weigh heavily on most peoples’ conscious. Her power-hungry attitude is one often reserved for men, especially in this era of literature. All of these factors create a character in Lady Macbeth which is dissimilar to the classic portrayal of women in the seventeenth century.
In the Shakespearian play 'Macbeth', it seems to be that every one thinks that Macbeth is the villain. But in actual fact Lady Macbeth is the villain. Lady Macbeth uses her cunning and deceptive skills to over power Macbeth into killing King Duncan. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter telling her about the witches' prophecies, she immediately thinks that she and Macbeth will have to kill King Duncan. She calls Macbeth to kind to kill King Duncan and saying that
Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition, helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches, is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
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 ...
We are first introduced to Lady Macbeth at the beginning of Act 1, scene 5, through the letter that Macbeth sends her. This shows her to be his, ‘dearest partner of greatness’ and that he has no secrets from her. The witches’ prophecies intensify her ambitions for her husband, to be the King of Scotland. Lady Macbeth is the one who encourages him to kill the king and she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself. We see how clever she is and how she understands her husband well, she knows he has great ambitions, but she also knows that he is honourable and mentally weak:
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.
In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is overly whelmed by the letter she receives about Macbeth. This pushes her to the extreme and causes her to react outrageously. " Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…make thick my blood…take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers…come thick night." (I;v;40-50) All these images of darkness and horror reveal the true character of Lady Macbeth; she feels the need to become wicked. Her attitude is even more horrific when she calls on evil spirits to come and possess her, taking control of her actions. This sort of behavior causes the audience and reader to assume Lady Macbeth is a psychopath, and therefore would have reason to hold her responsible for having a major impact on her husband and driving him off, enlightening a twisted sinister and threatening dark side of him.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.
Lady Macbeth and her husbands downward spiral towards dark destruction is one the most famous of all time. We watch with pleasure as their horrible actions lead to their ultimate destruction. Lady Macbeth makes the choice to, as one source put it, lose her womanly virtues and become what she thinks is a man. It is this choice that leads to her unknowingly helping the witches in their desire to destroy Macbeth and ultimately her as well. She changes from a woman sure of these decisions to woman riddled with fear, corrupted in all possible manner – mind body and soul. Her ambition and power lead to her destruction. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s desire and ambition leads to her eventual downfall. When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth’s prophecy she dreams of the glory and high-standing that awaits being queen. She cannot withhold her ambitions and she is willing to manipulate fate to bring about Macbeth’s prophecy. She invokes evil spirits to be filled from head to toe with cruelty to do the evil actions necessary to make Macbeth king and to remove all remorse and pity for her action from her heart. She is initially able to be involved in the treacherous deeds that are needed to bring about the prophecy quickly, but as the play progresses the weight of the merciless deeds fill her with remorse. The remorse and pain she feels for her wicked ways cause Lady Macbeth to lose control of her life and wither away until the weight of her deeds causes her to die. Lady Macbeth’s wish is partially granted, her mind becomes evil and enables her to do horrific things, but her soul remains pure and unsure of her actions and her remorse for her wicked ways leads to her destruction.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.