Lady Macbeth By William Shakespeare

She is the strong influence that brainwashed Macbeth to murder his lord, his master, King Duncan, with his own bare hands. The audience is led to think that Lady Macbeth is the main culprit as she thinks up all her grand plans and devious schemes. She is, moreover, a sly person, the person behind the scenes and her husband is easily manipulated and is pushed around by her. Just prior to all of this happening, Lady Macbeth was a very loving wife, and she wanted all the best for her husband. However, after Macbeth send the letter containing the witches prophecies, she turns into a monster who is just as ambitious as her husband and wants to do whatever it takes to “help” him get Duncan out of his way. Although, she take it too far, she adds pressure on Macbeth to commit a crime he is unsure of doing. She even goes to the point of calling him a coward, mocking his bravery and masculinity. Lady Macbeth even says in one of her soliloquies that she wants to be released of all her femininity, morals and values so that she can agree and help Macbeth with the deed. It is certain the Lady Macbeth’s ambition is controlling her actions and

Lady Macbeth played a large role as Macbeth’s seductress and brainwasher. Lady Macbeth persuaded her husband to kill the King not so that he would himself be King but so that she could be Queen.Although because of her involvement in this web of lies she felt guilty and drove herself insane worrying about what had happened and what would happen to her and her husband for being so dishonest. She was not responsible for the tragedy, she was only a manipulative factor in the scheme of things. Even though it does take two to tango, Macbeth tangoed on his own.

In play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most dominant and frightening female characters, known for her ambitious nature. As Macbeth’s wife, her role is significant in his rise and fall from royalty. During Shakespearean times, women were regarded as weak insignificant beings that were there to give birth and look beautiful. They were not thought to be as intelligent or equal to men. Though in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the highest influence in Macbeth’s life. Her role was so large; in fact, that she uses her position to gain power, stay strong enough to support her unstable Lord, and fails miserably while their

In Shakespeare play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s character progresses in an interesting manner. Lady Macbeth is made to act as an incentive to Macbeth's immoral actions. Even though Macbeth is generally the person to have a final say before killing someone, Lady Macbeth plays the role of his “sidekick”. She mocks her husband if he worries over a sinful deed (which usually she instructs him to do), saying he would be less of a man if he does not follow through with their plan (I. vii. 56-57). She gives Macbeth a short lecture in deceptiveness when they are planning to kill King Duncan (I. vi. 73-78). She also prepared the daggers for Macbeth to kill Duncan in advance (II. ii. 15-16). Although her husband was still having doubts, she was always ready to go in for the kill. She did not think twice about it or feel any remorse. This shows that Lady Macbeth evolved into looking like a humble and quieter person on the exterior, but being an insane woman and criminal due to the events that have affected her.

In the play, “Macbeth”, the character that stands out the most is Lady Macbeth. Her role in this story is significant, she is an evil, ruthless, and ambitious person. She is responsible for the murders that her husband commits because she was bloodthirsty for the crown. In fact, she then becomes more eager to get the crown than Macbeth himself and soon realizes that once you commit one violent act, there is almost no way of ever turning back. An analysis of Lady Macbeth reveals that she is a powerful character who adds complexity and depth to a play about murder, madness, and revenge.

The struggle for power is encountered through the interactions between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. When initially introduced to the character of Lady Macbeth, she reads a letter addressed to her from Macbeth in which he states his plans to kill King Duncan and assume the throne. Lady Macbeth responds with a speech signifying her agreeance and calls for the strength to carry on with the plan: “Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me from the crown to the top-full/ of direst cruelty” (1.5.47-50). Here, she is denouncing her femininity to take on a more masculine role and to be filled with nothing but motivation for the cruel crime. Shakespeare uses this scene to foreshadow the event in which the crime will be committed. While Macbeth begins to have second thoughts and uneasiness towards the situation, Lady Macbeth tells him: “What beast was ’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” (1.7.53-58). Lady Macbeth is emasculating her husband her by questioning his ability to be a man and how he hesitates to make the move towards power while she is confident in her decision. Shakespeare makes a choice to have a woman be the one to urge the death of Duncan to show the reversal of gender roles and to expose Lady Macbeth’s character. The playwright

Lady Macbeth from “Macbeth” was a very powerful and influential character in the play. However, her traits are portrayed as bitter making her seem as an undesirable figure. Throughout the book she is interpreted as controlling, demanding, power seeking, and corrupt, but it will later come back and cause conflict. In the book she says, “ Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures… For it must seem their guilt” (Shakespeare 59). At this point in the book, Lady Macbeth is showing how controlling she is by taking the matters into

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

She was the turning point in Macbeth's character. After she had Macbeth under her control, she had him kill more people who threatened their rule. Lady Macbeth had more ambition than Macbeth did. Since she was a woman she knew she could not act to get what she wants and so she influenced her husband to do it. She also said, “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

As you can imagine Lady Macbeth was a big shock to a seventeenth century contemporary audience, she was a world away from her era. During the seventeenth century woman were seen as the weaker and inferior sex, to delicate and fragile for this was a mans world, they were far from equal to men in fact you could say that they were the slaves of the seventeenth century. Their only responsibilities were to look after the house, the children, and to keep their husband happy. Now you can see why Lady Macbeth wanted to have power and responsibility so much though to be quaint she did rule with an iron fist over Macbeth.

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

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most notorious female character. Devious, Determined, and "a major protagonist in the play" (Jamieson), she assist with helping Macbeth to go through with his corrupt plan to become king. In many ways, Lady Macbeth is more forceful and has a stronger desire for power than her husband. In fact, without her influence Macbeth might never have gone through with the evil plan that lead to their final destruction.

Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most powerful female characters, a lady who combines her ferocious nature with a callous disregard for human life. She is most certainly a character who boasts several compelling strengths, however these strengths are undermined by the key weaknesses which result in the eventual tragic downfall of her and her husband. We first encounter Lady Macbeth in Act One Scene Five, where she reads a letter Macbeth has sent her about the witch’s prognostications. She immediately begins to plan her ascent to the throne, calling on evil spirits to strip her of her femininity in order to give her the strength to commit regicide.

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the focus that is placed on the character of Lady Macbeth helps to convey the play's theme of the strife created by the struggle for power and control that is present throughout the entire work. Shakespeare presents her character in great detail and shows her to be a dominating, authoritative woman who thrives on the power she holds over her husband. He then shows the principle character, Macbeth, rise up and join his wife in a struggle for power of his own. It is the actions that Macbeth takes in attempt to achieve ultimate authority that lead to his downfall, and it is Lady Macbeth's loss of control over her husband as he gains this independence which causes her own

Lady Macbeth is the driving force that encourages Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the prophecies. She is plotting for King Duncan’s murder to get the throne of Scotland. She is stronger, ambitious, and greedy than her husband. Lady Macbeth persistently taunts her husband for his lack of courage and challenges Macbeth to commit murder of King Duncan. Specifically, she mocked the masculinity of Macbeth in order to commit the murder. She said “But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we'll not fail”. In this regard, Lady Macbeth appears to switch characters with Macbeth midway through the play. Although most famous for her cruelty and lines such as "unsex me here," the decline of Lady Macbeth is also of great interest and certainly a mysterious aspect of Macbeth.