Image Of Innocence In Macbeth

In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth arrays a daunting, chilling, and manipulating woman. Lady Macbeth's’ role is being Macbeth’s wife. Although they show a strong love for eachother, Lady Macbeth still has a pugnacious side to her. This character convinces a brave, strong warrior (Macbeth) to murder the righteous King Duncan (Scottish King). She is very power hungry, comparable to characters in other Shakespearean plays (like Caesar). If she did not manipulate, Macbeth may not have murdered. He may have stayed a humble, guilt free, and bold leader. Before the murder of the king, Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to, “look like an innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t” (1.5.64-65). Meaning, be evil in your heart, but look

In Shakespare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s destiny is formed by her own actions through mind and free-will. In act I, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder Duncan, even though Macbeth was strongly against it. Lady Macbeth is very successful at persuading him to go against his better judgment. She entirely changes the stereotype of women being kind and caring in the first act. After Macbeth writes home telling of his murderous plans, Lady Macbeth begins talking to evil spirits. Because women often lack the ruthlessness to kill someone, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to make her male. One of the most vivid descriptions of Lady Macbeth’s wickedness is directly after Macbeth announces to her he does not want to kill Duncan. This speech symbolizes Lady Macbeth’s evilness. She is ruthless, because of her evil accounts for the murders that occur throughout the play. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to commit murders that will make them king

In Medieval times women were viewed as innocent beings who must be controlled by the men in their family; however, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth a woman is the mastermind behind the start of several horrendous deeds. Lady Macbeth was a woman with determination. When it was prophesized that Macbeth would be king, Lady Macbeth wished that her husband would immediately be at her side so she “may pour [her] spirits in [his] ear” (1. 5. 25). Lady Macbeth wanted nothing less that Macbeth to be king. In order for Macbeth to ascend to the throne, it needed to be emptied of King Duncan. Macbeth was an ambitious man but he was not evil, he would not commit murder to gain the throne; therefore, Lady Macbeth took it upon herself to see her husband crowned king. By making Lady Macbeth the mastermind behind a murder, Shakespeare disputed the typical role of women which labeled them as innocent and harmless beings.

This is apparent when she deals with Macbeth leaving the gory daggers at the site of the murder, “Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead/ Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood/ That fears a painted devil.”(scene 2 act 2 56-58). Macbeth is portrayed as emotionally unstable and soft as he is afraid to even go back into the room where the murder took place, “I’ll go no more/ I am afraid to think what I have done”(scene 2 act 2 54-55). This interaction between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth really shows the unusual roles one another play in there relationship because in a situation where someone is murdered or their is a serious crime, women aren’t usually the ones who are brave and strong minded about it, men are.

As a child, innocence is protected by the parents, attempting to keep them young forever. It is cherished, and will never be forgotten by the countless baby pictures and mementos through the childhood, but children grow up. They begin to lose their innocence, and they either use that lost innocence to help them, or it will ultimately hurt them. Many authors use this tactic to A common theme between all novels and plays is the loss of innocence through the main character. Many different aspects can filter into the loss of innocence through a main character, in Macbeth by Shakespeare, three symbols factor into the loss of innocence of Macbeth. In this play, a leader begins to get a thirst for power and his ambition skyrockets. At

Shakespeare’s plays and books consist of many emotions such as sadness, anger, joyfulness and curiosity. It is also filled with people who like to prey on innocent human beings, such as Lady Macbeth. Throughout this whole book Lady macbeth is tampering with Macbeth’s manhood, using him like à sock puppet to play with his emotions. Lady Macbeth is à very pessimistic and gloomy person, and this side of her personality often comes out when she is alone with Macbeth. The main emotion of Macbeth anger, anger comes into play when Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to be à man and kill Duncan so she can become queen. When he becomes king but when he tries to chicken out, she starts to bash him by questioning his manhood and calling him all kinds of cowards. So the question we ask ourselves is how can us women made of innocence and purity possibly commit à crime and fall into the role of à bully.

Shakespeare’s play Macbeth describes how a nobleman is told by witches that he will rule and become king one day, which leads him down a dark path to murder. Once he commits murder, he has lost his innocence and it becomes easier to kill. His wife, Lady Macbeth, also loses her innocence and the guilt drive her crazy. Loss of innocence also takes place in the novel Lord of the Flies. Jack is somewhat the same way, he went from being a proper British boy to a complete savage. Since there are no adults to tell him what to do, Jack took matters into his own hands and tried anything and everything to have all the power. There is no humanity left in him anymore because of the mask that he made, it makes him a completely new person by hunting the “beast” and hunting Ralph. Both texts have the common theme about loss of innocence as seen through Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Jack, and Ralph’s experiences.

She is, and forever will be one of the most dominant female figures in literature. She depicts intensity, moxie, ambition, and ruthlessness throughout the start of the play. Lady Macbeth is the epitome of what King James I feared in women. King James feared women like Lady Macbeth because her power came from within herself. She understood that she could achieve anything with or without anyone by her side. He feared women who threatened the natural order, showed aggressive tendencies, and were capable of being independent (Smith). Shakespeare used Lady Macbeth as a subtle imitation for the historical women King James persecuted (Moir). The Weird Sisters used methods like image-magic on the world around them to injure. While others in Shakespeare’s England were executed for witchcraft that never engaged in any practices associated with witchcraft or magic at all (Smith). Lady Macbeth did not need magic to persuade Macbeth to kill the king, she did that all herself. Her power hungry self goes on to say, “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.” (Shakespeare 1.5 15-20). In the quote above she is explaining how even though her husband does not have the guts to kill Duncan, he will be able to because he has her. Shakespeare understood that the women of the Jacobean era were harassed because of their strength and tenacity, and uses Lady Macbeth’s actions at the beginning of the play to represent

Lady Macbeth can be said to be one of Shakespeare's most famous and frightening female characters. She fulfills her role among the nobility and is well respected, like Macbeth. She is loving, yet very determined that her husband will be king. At the beginning of the play, when she is first seen, she is already plotting the murder of Duncan, showing more strength, ruthlessness, and ambition than Macbeth. She lusts after power and position and then pressures her husband into killing Duncan. Upon receiving the letter with the witches' prophecies from her husband, she begins to think and knowing that Macbeth lacks the courage for something like this, she calls upon the forces of evil to help her do what must be

The women in Macbeth, namely Lady Macbeth, contradict these expectations through their commanding, and ambitious tones. During that second half of act one Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the ruling figure in the house. Instead of being a grateful and fulfilling housewife she instead pushes and commands Macbeth to commit assassination. She berates him when he falters and asked if he would rather, “live like a coward in thine own esteem.” (Shakespeare)

In Macbeth, one of the most tragic and well known plays, William Shakespeare changes women’s part in society. During this time period, women are known to be both mentally and physically weaker than men. Women are called to be only housewives. Shakespeare reflected the image of women in society by giving the men bigger leads in his plays. Only in a few of Shakespeare's plays did he give women strong leading roles. Macbeth is one of the few plays where women play a more powerful role than the men. In Macbeth, he gives the women unusual traits like manipulation and betrayal. In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, women like Lady Macbeth , the trio witches, and Lady Macduff portray non-feminine traits.

In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, gender plays a pivotal role in the development of the overall plot and as the play advances, certain characters, including Macbeth and Lady Macbeth experience a reversal in traditional gender behaviors. Additionally, we see gender confusion among other characters that enhances conflict in the play. Originally, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are portrayed in ways that enforce their respective masculinity and feminism in accordance to the society around them. As Macbeth begins to contemplate his decision regarding the killing of Duncan, his marriage becomes the primary driving force behind his action and thoughts in this matter. Although in some cases, male and female roles in this play remain static, the

At the very beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is provoked by the letter she receives by Macbeth and starts plotting the murder of Duncan. She also wishes she were a man such that she could commit the murder all by herself saying so in Act 1 Scene 5, “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” (Macbeth 1.5.36-52). She appeals to these spirits to remove all aspects of her femininity and seeks to gain power through the prophecy of the witches. Her fear about the ability of her husband to commit the murder is subdued in her designated gender. Lady Macbeth manages her feminine power through her sensuality and pretended weakness through her fainting streak at the notice of Duncan’s death. Manipulation, usually through sexuality is often depicted as the source of women’s power still Lady Macbeth uses this power of hers to commit murder, a masculine demonstration of power. Lady Macbeth in her soliloquy about the planning of Duncan’s death refers to her husband as an individual who plays honestly and does not engage in wrongdoing.

In Shakespeare's play, "Macbeth", the characters defy their own gender norms by exhibiting traits of the opposite gender. Women are portrayed as villainous and men are portrayed as good. The women are dominant and the men, alternately Macbeth, are passive, since he is the victim to the women's manipulation. The women are not sensitive, rather they are more emotionless than the men. Though the play sets gender norms through the lines of the characters, these characters defy their own norms.

Lady Macbeth’s burning ambition to be queen drives her to the point of insanity. She stops at nothing to gain power and uses Macbeth as the enforcer for her plans. This power is clearly illustrated as her husband follows her command to kill the king of Scotland, she constantly taunts Macbeth bringing him even further under her control. She is quite the opposite of how we generally assume feminine characters to act, and even begs the gods to remove her femininity at one point, “...Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here...Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers...” (Shakespeare 12). As Lady Macbeth expresses her desire to become unsexed, we see the link that clearly exists between masculinity and murder. She believes that since she is a woman she cannot be capable of committing such evil deeds, and her reference to her breasts which is generally linked to the idea of nurture, is called upon in reference to her desire to do quite the opposite. Lady Macbeth presents a very strong character throughout the play, and through her actions a very clear picture of a manipulative wife is painted. Though Macbeth is the one to carry out many of the deviant plans, Lady Macbeth’s role is clearly portrayed as the evil mastermind behind the murders.