Lady Macbeth Essay

     In Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of Macbeth the main character Macbeth is driven from his status as a well respected warrior and lord of not one, but two Scottish regions to a dishonest, unloyal murderer. Macbeth gets caught in a web of lies and vile acts of murder in which he brings about his own demise. His criminal actions lead up to his tragic ending of life. ‘ They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But bearlike I must fight the course.’ His great ambition and gullibility of the witches predictions are two of the biggest factors of his downfall;however, Lady Macbeth was probably the biggest influence in the whole tragedy.

his wife. In my opinion he does this so that Lady Macbeth is ready to

"Macbeth" is a tragic play that was written by William Shakespeare in the early 1600’s. It revolved around the character Macbeth and his urge to become king of Scotland. Macbeth had to do anything possible to become the king including murder, lying, and deception. However, Macbeth committed these evil deeds due to some influential people in his life. Between Macbeth’s wife persuading him to do anything to become king and the witches prophesying over him causes Macbeth to try and bury the past and control the future.

The definition of a tragic hero, as stated on dictionary.com, is a literary character that makes an error in judgment that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. It has been argued for years whether Macbeth from Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, can truly be considered a tragic hero or whether he is solely a villainous tyrant. Although there are some valid arguments for the Macbeth is pure evil viewpoint, by looking at Macbeth in a holistic way you can see the tragic, the heroic, and the tragic hero within him. Macbeth is a tragic hero in every sense of the definition.

An important character in ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare was Macbeth. Macbeth is shown as the protagonist of the play and is the person who drives the plot of the drama. Macbeth changes dramatically throughout the play as in the start he is portrayed as the tragic hero who would do anything for his King and country. As the plays continue he becomes ambitious and, encouraged by a prophecy. After that, he ends up killing a lot of people/becoming a tyrant.

At the start of the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are seen as a united

     In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, can be compared in many was to a Machiavellian prince. Macbeth’s ambition to be king and his desire for power are the basis of Machiavelli’s ideas, but when examined more closely we find many flaws in Macbeth’s character that Machiavelli warns will be destructive. Although Macbeth has many Machiavellian characteristics, Macbeth’s rise to power without true “fortune” or “virtue” leads him to his downfall.

After analyzing the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare readers came to the conclusion that The Witches were most responsible for the events that happened in Macbeth. Readers found that without the actions the witches took, nothing would have happened and the characters would still have the good life they had before they appeared. The reasons why readers believe The Witches hold primary responsibility for the events in Macbeth is because they have paranormal powers and The witches equivocate to Macbeth.

In this essay I am going to answer the question above and I will do this by saying whether or not I feel sympathy for lady Macbeth and I go through different parts in the play. After reading parts of the play and watching the video I don’t’ feel very much sympathy for lady Macbeth, although I do feel some sympathy for her in some parts in the play. Over all I think that lady Macbeth is a fiend as she says stuff that’s not very nice to make Macbeth do the things that she is too scared to do herself. I also think that she is a caring person really but she needed to be made evil by witchcraft, as she would not be able to do what she does through out the play in her normal person.

According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does Macbeth do this?

Laurence Sterne once wrote, “No body, but he who has felt it, can conceive what a plaguing thing it is to have a man’s mind torn asunder by two projects of equal strength, both obstinately pulling in a contrary direction at the same time.” This passage embodies one of the over arching themes of Macbeth. The character Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, could easily identify with this passage due to the fact that he is pulled in opposite directions by both his desire to do what is right and his desire for power.

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 the most interesting and complex character in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. She is, in fact, the point on which the action pivots: without her there is no play.

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

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, malicious characters are portrayed as obviously evil and influential. Macbeth, however, is one character that is not represented in this way, in fact he is quite the opposite. The new king is seen as a victim of his foul wife’s influences and the witches prophecies but is really only supported by them and these ideas, leading him to make decisions based on evil ambition and a wicked desire for power. Readers are pushed to believe that Macbeth deserves sympathy, but as all humans do, Macbeth has free will allowing him to make his own decisions which means that if he were a victim, he would only be this due to his depraved actions.