“Your words mean nothing when your actions are the complete opposite.” In Shakespeare's the tragedy of Macbeth Lady Macbeth is often viewed as evil by her actions when its the complete opposite; she is just misunderstood. She is misunderstood because she shows signs of weakness, and by the end of the play she is filled with guilt causing her to commit suicide.
Lady Macbeth is misunderstood, not totally evil, because she shows signs of weakness and guilt. Lady Macbeth had to ask for help from evil spirits to follow through with killing Duncan, which shows she was not totally evil.“Come, you spirits that serve the thoughts of mortals: rid me of the natural tenderness of my sex and fill me from head to toe with direst cruelty!” (I, v, 39-42) Lady Macbeth did not think she could go through with killing someone because she was a weak woman and thought a man was more capable of killing someone. Later on in the play, Lady Macbeth was hallucinating and admitting what she had done while washing imaginary blood off of her hands. These actions showed she was feeling guilty.“The smell of the blood is still there. All the perfumes of Arabia cannot sweeten this little hand. Oh,oh,oh!” ( V,v,45). Lady Macbeth was having dreams of
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She is evil because she prays for spirits to give her the strength to turn emotionless. Lady Macbeth could be seen as truly evil for asking the spirits to fill her up with cruelty. However, by the end of the play, she is so consumed with guilt from her actions, that she kills herself. As Malcolm informed the crowd, “Fiendish queen, who took her own life,”(V,vii, 205). By the end of the play, Lady Macbeth felt guilty about her role in the murders. She was having nightmares, regretful thoughts and hallucinations.”“The smell of the blood is still there. All the perfumes of Arabia cannot sweeten this little hand. Oh,oh,oh!” (IV, I,c 175)” Lady Macbeth felt she could not live her life anymore because of what she
Additionally, Lady Macbeth’s participation in the murder of King Duncan drives her insane,”Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!”(V.i.37). Lady Macbeth's call to demons to fill her soul with evil did not protect her from the from the consequences of her actions. The decay of Lady Macbeth’s sanity is Shakespeare's warning to the audience not to act out of selfishness for one cannot see the consequences in store when one acts rashly for self
Shakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.
A villain- a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. Macbeth’s greed for power is what shaped him to be the villain in the play. In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, despite the good Macbeth had done in the very beginning his actions throughout make him the villain.
Instead of going along with Macbeth’s new plans to murder more people, Lady Macbeth attempts to dissuade Macbeth, telling him that he “lack[s] the season of all nature, sleep,” trying to get Macbeth to go to bed as opposed to plotting and then carrying out his plans of murder (3.4.142). By trying to stop Macbeth from murdering more people, it is clear that despite wanting to be evil and feel nothing, her sense of guilt is too strong for her to
From honored soldier to murderous tyrant, Macbeth killed his way into power. He was informed of his “destiny” and stopped at nothing to achieve it. He had multiple chances to rethink his actions. He didn 't however, he kept on his march to power leaving only himself to blame. Macbeth is the only one to blame for his actions and ultimately, his death.
(lines 33-37). Again, Lady Macbeth shows her lust for power. Her exceptional amount of greed continues to motivate
Who is the True Villain in Macbeth Historian Lord Acton once cautioned, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men. " In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the three witches use their supernatural powers to lead Macbeth astray from his destiny, which ultimately leads to many murders and the corruption of Scotland.
Her ambition is not only for herself but also for Macbeth. Nevertheless, with all her fervor, she wants him to be as strong as her. “Make thick my blood./Stop up the access and passage to remorse,/That no compunctious visitings of nature/ Shake my fell purpose/Come to my woman’s breasts,/And take my milk for gall” (1.5.44-49). Lady Macbeth never wavers in her goal.
Lady Macbeth begging for evilness, proves that she never was evil to begin with. Although Lady Macbeth appears strong and evil through her words, her actions throughout the play demonstrate differently. Lady Macbeth initiates the plan to kill King Duncan and convinces her husband to take part. However, when the time comes, she is unable to bring herself to follow through.
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.
She insults him and calls him a coward while also questioning his manhood which makes Macbeth come to a realization that not killing the king is the way of a coward and he is motivated to carry out the plan and murder the king because of Lady Macbeth’s insults and speech that she gives him. By successfully persuading Macbeth into murdering the king this shows that Lady Macbeth is controlling towards people and she can be a very manipulative person. It shows that she is the type of person that gets things done by manipulating other people to do her dirty work for her. Lady Macbeth can simply achieve her own goals by getting into anyone’s head and turning their own conscience against them in, which is essentially what she did to her husband. Macbeth would have never went through with killing King Duncan if Lady Macbeth had never persuaded him because he really does have a soft heart and is good and honorable.
yet who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him” (5.1.36). Lady Macbeth feels as if she can not be mentally cleansed until her hands are. Lady Macbeth's failure to relieve the guilt causes her to commit suicide. “The queen, my lord, is dead… she should have died hereafter” (5.5.20). Lady Macbeth had too much guilt to deal with which is why she needed to be in peace.
Throughout Shakespeare play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was regarded as ruthless, cruel and manipulative, although it was suggested there was more to her character. Lady Macbeth is not as evil as she was portrayed to be. Lady Macbeth had a strong relationship with her husband, they trusted each other and were loyal to one another. Through her words and actions she showed humanity that others didn’t expect from her. A wicked person wouldn’t feel the slightest guilt for something wrong they have done, yet Lady Macbeth felt culpability that lead her to her downfall.
She wanted the title of being queen and King Duncan was in her way of that, so she got into Macbeth’s head. Macbeth was reluctant at first, which also shows that he is not wholly evil. A true wholly evil person wouldn’t be reluctant about killing someone. Throughout the play, it is evidence that Macbeth is not wholly
“Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood” (I. V). Shakespeare suggests that murder is not something a woman is capable of, so Lady Macbeth wishes to become a man so she is capable of killing Duncan. It is Lady Macbeth’s idea in the first place to kill him; however, she doesn’t believe Macbeth can do it.