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
However, some may say that Lady Macbeth is the culprit to Macbeth's descent to evil. Lady Macbeth is the one who convinced Macbeth to kill king duncan instead of waiting for the power of becoming king she wanted him to take it. Also, Macbeth never would have killed all the innocent people he did if he hadn't started with duncan. After killing King duncan Macbeth became paranoid which lead to the killing of banquo, his closest friend. If lady macbeth never convinced him to kill King Duncan nobody else would have died. On the contrary everything that happens is a result of what Macbeth does, no matter how much convincing from lady macbeth. In the end it all falls on Macbeth calling the shots.
Secondly, as the play progresses, the use of animal symbolism illustrates the decline of Macbeth.In Act I, the Sergeant speaks of Macbeth and Banquo stating that they are: “As sparrows, eagles; or the hair, the lion” (I.ii.35) to their enemies. Specifically, the Sergeant refers to them as an eagle and a lion. Traditionally, these animals are inferred to be noble, strong, proud, and fierce. This shows how Macbeth is first known to have these traits. Additionally, it also accentuates the unjust nature of Banquo’s murder later on. This is due to the fact that unlike Macbeth, he remained true to his reputation until his death.The night that King Duncan is scheduled to visit Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth warns him to act normal to avoid suspicion and
The plot against Banquo could be argued to be an unjustified murder simply because of the irrational fear Macbeth had for his position as King. Lady Macbeth displays a distinction from that of herself from the beginning of the play by feeling guilty for the crimes that she and her husband had committed. She demonstrates her guilty conscience on page 76 when she states, “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand” (Shakespeare). Lady Macbeth goes on a cleansing-craze when she starts to walk in her sleep. She continues to wash her hands as she talks about the crimes that she and her husband had committed. Her conscience was so filled with The scene that identifies Lady Macbeth having a guilty conscience is a turning point in the play seeing that up to this point, Lady Macbeth and her husband have been on the same page with the amount of crime that they had committed together. Not only did Lady Macbeth’s character take a turn for the opposite but that of her husbands did as well. Just in fear of a possibility, Macbeth planned his best friend’s murder. Both the beginning of the play and the end proved a significant role in the theme of the play. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both exemplify the different aspects of the theme in which both characters gave up moral values to satisfy a reachable
Aung San Suu Kyi once said, “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” It is human nature that the more power one desires, the more corrupt actions one must do to attain it. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the ways in which characters speak and think about their morals change due to their overpowering ambition for power and wealth, and the fear of losing this power sends them into a spiral of chaos.
Lady Macbeth is truly an evil character. In the beginning of the play, it tells how much Macbeth is a fierce warrior, but coming home the witches came. As soon as Lady Macbeth heard about the prophecy, she becomes the fierce warrior and Macbeth bends to her every whim. Lady Macbeth is always making Macbeth feel awful, (Act 3, scene V, line 58) “Are you a man?”. This reveals that she is willing to be rude and angry, even to the man that she loves, just for power. Lady Macbeth also asks her ancestors to make her purely evil. What person ask to be truly evil if they’ve any amount of good in them? (Act 1 Scene V Lines 39-42). “Come, you spirits that serve the thoughts of mortals: rid me of the natural tenderness of my
Macbeth started off as a valiant and courageous soldier, who would do anything for the king. By the end of the play, Macbeth was a tyrant and a horrible leader who killed those who trusted him to maintain the throne. It takes many factors to take a strong man and transform him into an evil monster. Macbeth’s downfall was caused by the deception and temptation of the witches and their prophecies, Lady Macbeth’s greed and aspirations for her husband to be king, and Macbeth’s own greed, jealousy and ambition.
As the Macbeth’s portray the opposite of social constructs and expectations in the play, they eventually fall into their belonged stereotype after Lady Macbeth slowly starts to spiral downhill. Once Macbeth feels as though someone is in the way of him becoming King, he instantly creates a plan to murder them like Lady Macbeth did with Duncan. As they eventually take up each others common behavior, Lady Macbeth drives herself to insanity due to her womanly feelings. “I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.”, she is seen sleepwalking and participating in strange activities due to the insanity driven from guilt (5.1.4-6). Her feelings of shame and weakness have made her crazy to the point where she has herself doing these things. Not only was she sleepwalking after realizing her mistakes of pushing Macbeth about his manliness too far, she “appears to be washing imagined blood from her hands. Her actions and confused speech greatly concern the doctor.” (5.1.Exposition). After manipulating Macbeth to kill King Duncan and to solve his guilt by washing his hands, she is found compulsively “washing” the “blood” off her hands to rid her own guilt. Although Lady Macbeth is suddenly plagued by guilt, Macbeth has
Lady Macbeth persuades and manipulates Macbeth by pointing out his insecurities successfully and pressuring him into murdering the king. Along with this, Lady Macbeth also questions Macbeth’s manhood and masculinity when he does not want to carry out the plan when she 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” (Shakespeare 1.7.49-51). By saying these things, Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to believe that murdering the king will be his redemption from being a
Villain, a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. Just like the definition of villain states, they show traits just like macbeth. In Shakespeare 's “ The Tragedy of Macbeth”, the character Macbeth is displayed as the villain throughout the play. Macbeth shows the readers that his amiton gets in the way and makes him do things that are considered “evil” until the end of the play.
After murdering Duncan, the blood that is figuratively left with Macbeth causes him to trap himself in guilt. After he commits the crime, to Lady Macbeth he says, “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?” (II.ii. 57-58)
The Tragedy of Macbeth incorporates character development to present William Shakespeare’s motive; throughout the play it allows the audience to see the message the play relays. The play is a tragedy and it specifically shows the tragedy of humans as they self destruct. There is a use of literary devices to create different aspects of each character allowing them to portray different images of themselves that wouldn’t be noticed initially. Compared to how the audience views each character in the beginning of the play, the image develops into something new as different aspects are revealed. The characters and their continuous changes become the essence of the play. The development and new aspects of each character leads to Shakespeare’s motive.
Manipulation is a recurring theme in Macbeth because whenever Macbeth shows signs of weakness, Lady Macbeth undermines his manhood. Lady Macbeth’s actions portray her as strong and evil rather than nurturing and good. Lady Macbeth’s character exemplifies the complete opposite of social expectations during the Elizabethan era. By being able to manipulate her husband, Lady Macbeth is also seen as being a stronger character than Macbeth. Conclusively, Lady Macbeth’s actions portray Shakespeare’s exploration of gender roles, and his evaluation of
Once one elicits a promise of power, the question is what one should do with it. Should one enforce it and see it through, or should one simply let fate run its course? A prophecy presents itself to both Banquo and Macbeth that foretells a rise to power in their futures. When power presents itself to Macbeth, he becomes corrupt. However, Banquo resists temptation to give in to his darker side, highlighting two diverging paths a person can pursue while following free will. In Macbeth, Banquo and Macbeth are both noble men receive two similar prophecies, but Macbeth takes a nefarious path and falls from grace, unlike Banquo, who remains moral, illustrating the two paths that free will can result in.
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. Throughout most of the play, she is portrayed as powerful and confident, and more daring than Macbeth himself, though this image changes when she shows signs of weakness, resulting in her death.