Lady Macbeth has high ambition for her spouse. She comprehends that Macbeth has a desire for the throne. Be that as it may, she expects that her spouse would experience difficulty when endeavoring to murder Duncan and want the throne on the grounds that she sees Macbeth as "full o' the milk of human kindness". Since Lady Macbeth realizes that her spouse would never have the capacity to perform such an errand, she chooses to control the of the killing of Duncan. She requests that "direst brutality" debase her.
Macbeth was contemplating the consequences of murdering Duncan and foresees his future of being overthrown by righteousness. He is worried that “This even-handed justice/ Commends th’ ingredience if our poisoned chalice/ To our own lips.” (1.7.10-12). Macbeth, at this point, have not been obsessed with lust for power. He raised self-awareness that the violence he used to wrongly proclaim himself king will be used to take vengeance against him.
The ambitious and manipulated Macbeth reflects Shakespeare’s message in Macbeth that too much ambition leads to ruin. “Behold where stands Th’ usurper’s cursed head”(5.8,65-66) Macbeth meets his fated end by the hands of Macduff due to his overconfidence from the prophecy the witches told him. Macbeth is influenced by the witches and his wife, but in the end, his ambition and greed for power brought him to his end. From Macbeth as a character, we know that Shakespeare intended to show that too much ambition is bad.
Macbeth evidently undergoes a mental process by which he come round to the idea or murdering Duncan. He does this as a result of his wife’s manipulation, her leverage being his manliness. Without the role of Lady Macbeth, the murder of King Duncan would never have occurred in the play. Lady Macbeth had already been plotting for the murder since she received the letter concerning the three prophecies by the witches. Although Macbeth had sinister thoughts about having the throne, Macbeth would have never dared to take it upon himself to kill King Duncan and steal the throne from
There are many different aspects of this play that could have contributed to Macbeth’s tragic end, including characters. The three witches in the play could be to blame for this. They predicted his future which influenced him greatly. However, the main person to blame for Macbeth’s downfall is Lady Macbeth for three reasons: her insult on his manhood, her her manipulative tricks, and her influential qualities. The first reason Lady Macbeth is to blame for Macbeth’s downfall is her insult to his manhood.
Lady Macbeth who had strengthened her will and hardened her heart by ‘’ murdering ministers’’ influences Macbeth to murder Duncan by challenging him to prove his worth as a man. Conflicted Macbeth sees no real reason in killing Duncan, apart from ‘’Vaulting Ambition’ ’ Macbeth’s conscience is deeply troubled, he decides not to go ahead with the murder ‘’We will proceed no further in this business’’ but following his wife’s condescending interventions he resolves to murder, showing weakness in his character and how easily swayed Macbeth can be. Just like with the witch’s prophecies he is eager to find out what lies ahead. With this we learn that Macbeth is a feeble character who is easily persuaded emotionally by his wife, who knows of Macbeths insecurities and hence targets them.
Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o ' th ' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it.” (1.5.15-20). After Lady Macbeth reads the letter from Macbeth, her thoughts immediately turn to murder. The problem is that Macbeth has the ambition to kill King Duncan but doesn 't want to act on it.
When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would be so much more than the man” (Shakespeare, I.vii.53-58). Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to go through with the plan by first flattering him and then questioning his manhood. She talks about how if Macbeth does not kill Duncan, he is a coward, and therefore not a man. His initial feeling of joy is eliminated and replaced with insecurity. This psychological game that Lady Macbeth plays with her husband sways Macbeth in the path of evil.
He also later finds out that he is a difficult man to murder, so it goes to his head and he believes he 's invincible. In Shakespeare 's Macbeth, the theme of blind ambition is developed through the motif of blood as seen in the assassination of King Duncan, the murder of Banquo, and the outcome of the second apparition. The assassination of Duncan was bloody and was the first act that was influenced by Macbeth’s blind ambition to be King. Macbeth at first tries to fight his ambition, he says, “First I am his kinsman and his subject,/Strong both against the deed: then, as his host,/Who should against his murderer shut the door,/Not bear the knife myself.”
She pushed Macbeth into killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth had an opportunity to kill Duncan herself, but Duncan reminded her too much of her father “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t ”( act 2 sc 2 lines 16-17) “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it,” Lady Macbeth (act1 sc5 lines 15-20). After hearing this, Macbeth decided to murder Duncan.
Lady Macbeth accuses her husband saying “Art thou afeard/ To be the same in thine own act and valour… And live a coward in thine own esteem” (1.7.40-41, 46) at which Macbeth takes great insult. To prove to Lady Macbeth wrong, Macbeth finally agrees on the murder of Duncan. Macbeth wants to prove to Lady Macbeth that he has the courage to kill Duncan and he is very manly and will not stop until Duncan is dead. Once he kills Duncan Macbeth begins to change mentally and emotionally.
When she hears that Macbeth is contemplating the murder and deciding whether to follow through with it or not, she attacks him verbally. She questions his manhood when she says, “What beast was’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man” (I.vii.). Lady Macbeth is explaining how Macbeth’s masculinity is in question because he is wavering in his decision to follow through with the plan of killing Duncan. Macbeth is offended when she humiliates him.
With this in mind, if a man couldn’t do something a woman can, he was a disgrace; Lady Macbeth is taunting Macbeth with the gender gap, which makes him want to prove he’s more masculine and can keep it together. Even though, Lady Macbeth is viewed as a manipulative character, towards the end, she changes and shows signs of remorse/regret, which is not like her character. Lady Macbeth begins to feel remorseful because she has made an outright killing machine out of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth starts to ask herself “The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?
Lady Macbeth even views her husband’s weaknesses as leverage to harass him into killing Duncan. This can be seen when, at one stage, Macbeth repels the idea of killing a good king and believes that the assassination should not be done, his wife demands him to kill by saying abusive words. She questions if Macbeth loves her, she questions Macbeth’s masculinity and she criticizes Macbeth’s aspiration to be king. These three brutal statements hurt Macbeth. Since Macbeth wants to prove his manhood, his love for
This soliloquy shows us that Macbeth’s ambition is the only thing motivating him to carry out the regicide. He recognises that violent crimes are wrong and is concerned about the consequences of his actions unlike Lady Macbeth. He doesn’t want to betray the king’s trust, and knows people will be devastated at the loss of their humble leader. He discloses that he is afraid that the 'horrid deed ' shall 'return to plaque th 'inventor ', suggesting that his greatest fear is the consequences of killing his king and getting caught yet he admits that he has 'vaulting ambition '. We also see that his wife 's powerful persuasion is clear as he changes from clearly stating with a simple sentence, 'We will proceed no further in this business ' to 'I am settled and bend up ... to this terrible feat '.