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.
Throughout Macbeth, three characters seem to have control of Macbeth’s action and his life. Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, and the We’ird Sisters all have some type of control over the actions of Macbeth. The wife of the play 's tragic hero, Lady Macbeth, pressures her husband into committing regicide so that she can then become queen of Scotland. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth constantly diminishes her husband 's manhood forcing him to feel less of a man. Unhae Langis, once wrote that, “Lady Macbeth evokes shame in him [Macbeth] to get him back into the contest.”
Lady Macbeth wanted the prophecies to come true. Lady Macbeth wanted her husband to have power. When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth, it shows her ambition to help her husband murder King Duncan. Lady Macbeth was afraid that her husband wouldn’t follow through with the plan because it was such a harsh crime. Lady Macbeth taunts Macbeth through the story.
A great example of this is found in the medieval literature “The Canterbury Tales.” In the tale “The Wife of Bath's” the wife gloats about the power she has over all five of her husbands. “I kept my husbands well in hand. I told them they were drunk and their unfitness to judge my conduct forced me to take witness that they were lying” (Canterbury Tales, page 268.) The Wife’s deception against her husband gave her the upper hand in marriage.
“Abby' s lust threatens Proctor in many ways: she tempts him to sinning adultery in the first place;
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
Her final step of inducement consists of turning Macbeth’s own gender against him, “When you durst do it, you were a man” (i.vii.50). This ultimately is the shifting point of the Macbeth’s companionship. Lady Macbeth is so consumed in her own greed that she loses the love of Macbeth throughout the process of enticement. Lady Macbeth is such a strong character that she can maintain a role of innocence while being the centre of control when planning a murder in internal disguise. When Macbeth agrees to committing the murder, he attempts to ask God for forgiveness until he stammers upon his words: “But wherefore could I not pronounce ‘Amen’?
In Shakespeare's shortest and popular tragedy, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy reveals her intentions to lose femininity in order to become mentally strong and ruthless, and it also depicts the idea of masculinity associated with power and authority she craves for. When Lady Macbeth cries, “Come you spirits/….. unsex me here,/ And fill me from the crown to toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty!” she implores the spirits to take away everything that makes her a woman so that her femininity does not interfere with her heinous plan to kill Duncan.
Lady Macbeth’s lust for power was evident as she pushed Macbeth to kill Duncan because she wanted to be queen, but after the deed is done, it is apparent that it has messed with her mind. If it was a common act to sleepwalk and talk in your sleep the gentlewoman would not assume the doctor could prescribe medicine to help. Lastly, it is apparent that Lady Macbeth’s lust for power drove her to insanity when she committed suicide. Macbeth and Seyton heard a scream and Seyton went to check on the cause. After returning he made the statement, “The queen, my lord, is dead.”
Ambition is a strong force of human nature, which can turn people evil if it takes control of them. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are perfect examples of these type of people. In Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both thirsty for power which leads them to their ultimate demise. People might expect that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a mundane husband and wife relationship, but instead they are in a divergent relationship, which causes them to influence each other in a way that lead to their downfall. The ambition that Macbeth and Lady macbeth have for power was portrayed by their motives, morals, goals, relationships, consciousness and personalities throughout the play.
Possibly one of the most influential characters of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth takes the definition of female dominance to an entirely new level with her ability to manipulate, yet love her husband, and her ability to accuse, yet reassure him of his actions. Though Lady Macbeth is not well described anterior to her introduction, it is immediately apparent that she holds her dominance using her cunning skills, fuelled by ambition, which makes her one of the cruellest characters in Macbeth. Her portrayal of cunningness, upon Duncan’s arrival to Macbeth’s castle, is shown when she allows the king to “Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt, / To make their audit at [his] pleasure” (1.6.31–32), in order to give him a false sense of security, when in reality, she wants to ensure that “[her] keen knife see not the wound it makes” (1.5.55) on Duncan. As a result, Lady Macbeth is able to let the king into their castle without hesitation, just like a serpent underneath an innocent flower. While her cunningness is a character trait to fear, it is what fuels it that gives Lady Macbeth her power; ambition.
Progression IV Throughout the first several acts of Macbeth, we see Lady Macbeth using her husband’s masculinity against him. She even goes as far as to drive him on using the notion that if he does not continue forward with their plan, then he will be less of a man because of it. “What beast wasn't then That made you break this enterprise to me? 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.” (1.7.46–51) Professor Kiernan Ryan, has a similar interpretation of this dialog, as he states.
In society, emotion is the main contribution to the strengthening and harm to the human condition. The influence that women have in the two texts display how love defines the rash actions that one may display for what they desire. Gatsby’s love for Daisy Buchannan along with the influence that she brings to his life, leads him into a downward spiral which then ends in his demise, the influence of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth tests his desires and lust for power. Obsessions and persisting those obsessions are what creates both stories of Macbeth and Gatsby and entail the main incentive for power or for love. Through self-destruction and illusion, the two texts display obsessions and their impossible and illusionistic outcomes.
Throughout history, stereotypical profiles of what a man or woman should be have determined how they are perceived by others. Men dominate their marriage, prove themselves courageous in the line of battle, and do whatever they need to do in order to achieve their goals. Shakespeare's representation of women, and the ways in which his female roles are interpreted and enacted, have become a topic interest. In one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, Hamlet, a female character by the name, Ophelia, is portrayed as an immensely weak character.
Macbeth is a famous play which was written by William Shakespeare in 1606. The play explores various themes throughout its course, as it demonstrates how far a man’s aspirations can cause him to go. Undoubtedly, it is one of the bloodiest plays that Shakespeare has written, with the main character Macbeth senselessly shedding blood after blood. Clearly, it was his strong desire for power that led him to kill countless people so that he could maintain his position on the throne. His doom was made inevitable due to the self-assured personality he had developed.