From murder to greed Shakespeare’s Macbeth portrays a story of how one’s flaws can transform into a person’s way of thinking and acting. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth changes from a cold-hearted, greedy, shell of a human body into a guilt ridden woman. Her selfish desires met with ambition and a want for power pushed her into driving Macbeth to kill Duncan. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth become very guilty because of the crime they have committed. Although Macbeth actively kills the King, Lady Macbeth was more guilty of Duncan’s murder than Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth manipulated Macbeth into killing Duncan; she is just as involved in the murder as Macbeth, resulting in her being guiltier than Macbeth. Lady Macbeth exclaims, “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,’ like the poor car i’ adage?” (Shakespeare 163). In this instance Lady Macbeth is talking to Macbeth, exclaiming that he will be a coward if he does not go through with murdering Duncan. In doing this she’s making him feel as if he has no other choice but to
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The guilt ended up taking her over. Lady Macbeth says, “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (Shakespeare 206). Lady Macbeth is talking about the amount of blood there was when Duncan was killed. She is saying this in front of other people as a result of feeling guilty. Lady Macbeth also states, “Here’s the smell of blood still” (Shakespeare 207). She is talking about the murder in front of the Doctor and the Gentlewoman. She is unable to hold in her tainted thoughts about the murder at this point. Lady Macbeth becomes so guilty that she ends her life; she is guiltier than Macbeth. Seyton says, “It is the cry of women, my good lord” (Shakespeare 211). She is ending her own life because she can’t handle the guilt any
The character of Lady Macbeth played a significant role in Macbeth’s downfall, because by taunting her husband into killing King Duncan, she had led him to a major murder path. Before the murder of Duncan, Macbeth has momentous misgivings. He states, act 1, scene 7 “He’s here in double trust:/ First, as I am his kinsman and his subject,” (12-13). This quote shows that Macbeth didn’t want to kill Duncan because he’s done him good.
How does Lady Macbeth change over the course of the play? Over the course of the play the characters of both Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth develop intensively. They share similar ambitions, but it is Lady Macbeth who dares to do unspeakable things to accomplish them. This creates great conflict within Lady Macbeth who does not conform to the traditional female stereotypes of her epoch.
What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow'r to accompt? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" (Mac.5.1.29-33) Lady Macbeth is trying to scrub the blood off her hands while in a conscious state. She thinks she has blood on her hands.
In the text it quotes that “Lady Macbeth has a desire for power into desire for love and freedom outside of her marriage and the confines of her father -in-law’s household, and she is willing to kill for it” (Thomas 83). She feels that taking the life of a man at that will give her the right confidence to take over in the relationship. She was eager to get the job done pressuring Macbeth throughout Act I and II. she has a real desire for power. She has also said “ that which hath made them drunk hath made me bold, what hath quenched them hath given me fire” (Mac. 2.2.
Although introduced as a thoroughly hardened, ambitious woman, Lady Macbeth’s seemingly unbreakable character shatters when she is consumed by the demon of guilt. The guilt of Lady Macbeth seems nonexistent when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan, but the heinous acts she and her husband commit throughout the play strain her slowly. Eventually, the guilt Lady Macbeth harbors emerges from her subconscious and crumbles her. The downfall of Lady Macbeth reveals that even the toughest, strongest, and most powerful people can succumb to guilt. At the commencement of William Shakespeare’s
So I am asking your majesty, why would Macbeth take all the blame for it? Lady Macbeth Says ‘My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart to white’. This shows the major contribution that Lady Macbeth had towards the murder of Duncan. Often Lady Macbeth insulted Macbeth with statements that question his manhood. Lady Macbeth says ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man.
Macbeth is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, it is thought to have been performed during the early 1600’s. It demonstrates the harmful physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power. Throughout the play of Macbeth the reader is able to see common phrases that are comparable to those of this generation's music, more specifically act 1 to the song ‘I want it all’ by Queen. Firstly, ‘I want it all’ by Queen relates to Macbeth’s ideas of killing King Duncan in act 1, scenes 3-5, it speaks of wanting all of something and doing whatever it takes to get it no matter what consequences that come from it.
Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.
Lady Macbeth starts this off when she asks the spirits to .”Make thick my blood”. Stop up the access and passage to remorse..” (1,5,33-34).What she means by this is that she wants to poison her own soul to be insensitive and not feel remorse. She doesn't not want to feel remorse because of the deed that she's about to make. Macbeth had guilt, not like lady Macbeth.
In the play of Macbeth, there are some characters that could be responsible for Duncan’s death. I personally think Lady Macbeth is the cause of Duncan's murder. She is the most ambitious to kill the king in the beginning of the play, pressuring Macbeth. Lady Macbeth was persuasive of driving Macbeth to commit the murder. She manipulates him to go through with the murder even though he was very doubtful about it.
One for King Duncan and two for the guards he pinned Duncan’s murder on and killed for. (First Degree Murder Overview) And Lady Macbeth is also guilty of first degree murder for aiding in the crimes. “First degree murder is murder is defined as unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated, meaning that it was committed after planning or “laying and waiting” for the victim”(First Degree Murder Overview). Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both planned and waited for the victim, King
She makes it seem like it is simple to get rid of the thought that he just murdered the King by just washing the blood. While Macbeth inside is suffering from his guilt Lady Macbeth makes seem so effortless and acts like nothing happened. The thought questioning herself of what action she forced her husband to do or get involved in never crosses her mind. She gives him false hope on stating that everything will be fine if he just goes and washes all the blood and act absent-mindedly. Shakespeare is showing that “ cannot commit such crime without undergoing terrible inner torment and triggering self-defeating behavior”( Paris) shows that it is the less external consequences of his crime than the internal deterioration.
Lady Macbeth then gradually begins to bear the guilt "where our desire is got without content 'tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy". She says in a soliloquy, which Shakespeare uses to portray her deepest thoughts as she is afraid of killing more. Lady Macbeth feels that nothing was gained by killing Duncan because even though she and Macbeth got the crown, it wasn’t worth it because they can never be truly happy about it. She thinks death is better to have than living a life with questions of their future
After he kills Duncan, he looks for comfort in his wife. He is horrified by what he has done, but he has not quenched Lady Macbeth’s thirst for blood. She mocks Macbeth once again, claiming “My hands are of your color, but I shame / to wear a heart so white,” (Shakespeare II.ii.82-83). She repeatedly taunts him for his weakness and innocence, while Macbeth is already showing major signs of mental deterioration. First, she calls him a coward, and after he does as he’s told she claims he’s fragile, naive, and still unworthy.
At first Lady Macbeth did not feel any guilt until things begin to get carried away. Sleepwalking, Lady Macbeth is heard saying, “Here's the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. ”(5:1:53-55) and“ Out damned spot, out, I say”(5.1.37). Lady Macbeth is saying these things because she is visualizing that there is blood still on her hands representing her extreme guilt because she knows what she did not was wrong.