In Act 1 Scenes 5-7 of ‘Macbeth’, How Does Lady Macbeth Convince Her Husband to Murder King Duncan?

“I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out had so sworn as you have done to this (Shakespeare, 44).” Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that he must go forward with his intent of killing Duncan while he sleeps. She explains to him that she would be so courageous as to tear her baby away from her and kill it while it was smiling at her if she had promised to do so. The fact that Lady Macbeth would be able to commit such an act in a tender moment as nursing her child

Correspondingly, Macbeth’s demise is all the more stimulated by his dark partner, Lady Macbeth. Her insecurity as a woman in addition to her own hunger for power is a key supplement to Macbeth’s twisted end. Her reaction to Macbeth’s letter detailing the witches’ prophecy is quite disturbing. She reveals her fear that Macbeth’s nature “is too full o’ the milk of kindness” (1.5.29). This is in spite of the fact that as Thane of Glamis, he is known to be savage and merciless. Then, Lady Macbeth vows to taint Macbeth’s kindness and to “pour my spirits in the thine ear” (1.5.29). Later in the play, before their dinner party for King Duncan, the Lady is found to be doing just this. She kickstarts her husband’s

American prisoners receive free medical attention, housing, meals, utilities, use of exercise equipment, and laundry services. The cost of these services amount in the billions of dollars a year and government budgets are straining to accommodate these fiscal requirements. “There’s special urgency in prisons these days,” “As state budgets get constricted, the public is looking for ways to offset the cost of imprisonment” (Brown). This economic concern requires work programs to aid in the relief of financial burdens incurred from convicted criminals. Once found guilty of a crime the prisoner needs to take responsibility for the costs incurred. Prison labor has evolved from the day of hard labor, breaking rocks, and making license plates to

Macbeth was also affected by Lady Macbeth when she questions his manhood in, “When you durst do it, then you were a man// Be so much the man.” For a male at the time, to be questioned of their masculinity was the ultimate insult, especially from a woman. This emotional blackmail device from Lady Macbeth clearly worked, because Lady Macbeth was able to take full control of Macbeth hereafter. In the same manner that Lady Macbeth goads her husband, Macbeth then provokes the murderers by questioning their manhood, “Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men”. Both of these acts show that both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth equate masculinity with naked aggression, and whenever they converse about manhood, violence soon follows. Their understanding of manhood allows the political order depicted in the play to descend into chaos.

As in the same soliloquy she states her concerns for Macbeth that his soul is ‘too full of the milk of human kindness/ to catch the nearest way’. This means that she thinks that Macbeth’s natural kindness is a bad thing and that he would be unable to murder Duncan, the quickest way to become king.

Lady Macbeth solely set up Duncan's murder making it as easy as possible for Macbeth to commit the assassination of the king. This is another way in which Lady Macbeth is responsible for the assassination of Duncan. The audience does not know that Lady Macbeth feels that she is responsible for the destruction of her husband until the end when she sleepwalks. Lady Macbeth is excellent at hiding her true feelings.

Assuming the role of stronger partner, she manipulates Macbeth with effectiveness by ignoring his objections about the murder. Refusing to understand his doubts and hesitations about the situation, she scorns his manhood by calling him a, “coward,” (1.7.43) and questions his virility, “What beast was’t, then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man,” (1.7.48-49) until Macbeth feels that he must commit the murder to prove himself.

Macbeth is being told to act as he thinks and becoming cowardly for not doing it. The unlikeliness of Macbeth being called a coward before lets the comment gets under his skin and tries to prove to his wife that his courage is intact. However, Lady Macbeth’s intentions are not understood until she backs up her argument to why Duncan should be murdered: “I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” No human says but a fiend, what mother would intentionally hurt their child even if they had sworn to do it?

On the contrary, Lady Macbeth begins as a ruthless woman. She has a manipulative and controlling character, convincing Macbeth to kill King Duncan; she will do anything to gain power. When she says, “How tender ‘tis to love the babe…I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out” (I.vii. 55-58), she shows her ruthlessness and her “bad” ambition. In her “role reversal” with Macbeth, she gains somewhat of a conscience and realizes her guilt. When she tells him, “You must leave this” (III. ii. 35), she wants Macbeth to forget about his plan to murder Banquo’s family. She is very hesitant about committing another murder and does not want Macbeth to follow through with his plan.

account thy love. Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and

Lady Macbeth has the power over her husband to persuade him into doing anything she requests. She manipulates Macbeth with incredible efficiency by overruling all of his thoughts and changing his perspective on the present. Even though the many tasks that need to be completed are difficult to understand why they need to be done, Lady Macbeth will always convince Macbeth to do it. Her husband often tells her that she has a “masculine soul” which is obvious due to her murderous and envious actions. When the time came to kill king Duncan, Macbeth believes that his wife has gone insane and tells her that the crime they were about to commit was a horrible idea. As a result of his questioning, Lady Macbeth says that executing the crime will show his loyalty to her. On the night of the assassination Lady Macbeth watched the guards of the castle become drunk and unaware of what was going on. Lady Macbeth sent her husband into the castle to kill King Duncan. The married couple fled the scene leaving the guards covered in the evidence. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are stained with the blood of their victims and the feeling of guilt in their stomach.

Lady Macbeth is constantly frustrated by her husband’s attitude towards the situation, scared and worried. When he speaks of his doubts, it only makes her angrier. She wishes that she could commit the murder herself if only she was a man, “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.” (1.5.47-50) The supernatural component of the book means that Lady Macbeth believes in the magic of spirits. She asks the spirits to de-sex or change her gender; she wants to be less of a woman and more of a man. She believes that if she were a man, she would be more barbaric and vicious and therefore be capable of committing the murder herself without feeling as much remorse. She is fiercely determined to gain the throne for her and her husband, and would trade places with him in a moment if she were a male.

What is a relationship? Is it a sharing of understanding and trials with another human being, a connection between a man and a woman emotionally and sexually, or could it be, just simply, a compassion or love intertwined between two souls? These aspects of relationship and more are illustrated in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Macbeth. The way Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship changes drastically throughout the play is an example of how fragile a relationship really is. With one word or action a relationship can erode itself away. This play is a perfect example of a promising relationship that messes with a power greater than themselves and in the end falls into a hopeless swamp with no way out, nowhere to turn.

Immediately, after reading Macbeth’s letter, Lady Macbeth’s malevolence urges her to plot the murder for the king. She decides to encourage Macbeth and calls for evil spirits to aid her brutal plans, “Come, you spirits… you murd’ring ministers… You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night”. Her talk about defeminising herself and making her the superior amongst the couple, “That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here”, suggests Macbeth is weak and powerless in her presence. She implicates her husband of not being physically impotent but soft hearted and sentimental. She confronts him of this and warns him of his manliness and cowardice. She uses these various, manipulative strategies (challenging his manhood, being more aggressive, and defeminising

Here I feel a little bit of sympathy for lady macbeth because I don’t think that she knows what is going on, and I think that she sees him very worried and all sweaty and scared. “Sit worthy friends. My lord is often thus” Lady Macbeth tries to act although she knows what’s going on and she has acted as he has before, so the guests do not get suspicious of his actions, as she can’t explain, as she isn’t sure herself. “I would while smiling in my face have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this”. Lady Macbeth is saying to macbeth she would rather kill her baby by bashing its brains out than break a promise like macbeth has done, although I feel that she has said this to make him feel guilty so he will carry out the promise. This is a very persuasive piece and although she might be bluffing Macbeth is a bit vulnerable and this manages to persuade him to carry on and keep the promise. She also questions his manliness to persuade him to kill Duncan so this shows how desperate she is to make him murder Duncan, which suggests to me she is afraid to do it herself. I have absolutely no sympathy for her here as I think she is taking advantage of Macbeth and she turns him against his will.