Lady Macbeth Responsible For Killing Duncan

   Shakespeare's "Macbeth" holds many hidden themes within its already exuberant plot.  The first of these surrounds the murder of Duncan and the role that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself played.  However, the true guilt of the murder can fall on either character.  Although Macbeth physically committed the crime, it was Lady Macbeth that pushed him to his limits of rational thought and essentially made fun of him to lower his esteem.  With Macbeth's defenses down, it was an easy task for Lady Macbeth to influence Duncan's murder and make up an excuse as to why she could not do it herself.  The guilt of Duncan's murder can be placed firmly on the head on Lady Macbeth.

They invited Duncan to their home and planned to murder him then. Once Duncan had arrived, Macbeth began to have doubts about killing his upstanding leader. Lady Macbeth did her best to convince Macbeth to go through with the murder. She succeeded in convincing him. It makes sense that someone would think this part made it Lady Macbeth’s fault, but despite Lady Macbeth ‘strongly suggesting’ that he kills Duncan, Macbeth could still have chosen to say no and keep Duncan alive. Lady Macbeth did not control him, she may have persuaded him but in the end it was his choice to kill King Duncan.

In the Tragedy of Macbeth, Shakespeare depicted the fall of a valiant general, who usurped the Scottish throne and eventually destroyed by his ever inflating ambition. During the course of regicide, his wife Lady Macbeth act as a powerful stimulant, who coaxed and pushed Macbeth to kill the beloved king Duncan. However,we can see from the play that though Lady Macbeth had a pivotal role to play in this evil deed, she did not bear chief responsibility of the murder. She was an intimidating and evil character from the beginning, while as situation developed, his husband became a much

A deadly combination of ambition and guilt poisons both Macbeth and his wife and leads to their deaths in the end. Ruined by her desire for power, Lady Macbeth’s descent into madness is more vivid and guilt seems to affect her more than her husband, even though he is responsible for more crimes. Her request to the spirits to “unsex [her] here,/ And fill [her], from the crown to the toe, top-full/ Of direst cruelty!” is contrasted as the more guilty she feels, the more weak and sensitive she become, a polar opposite of her usual masculine and bold self (1.5.44-46). As a result, she is unable to cope with the guilt and meets her ultimate demise by taking her life. This has an immediate effect on Macbeth: the almost always apparent tension of ambition and guilt disappears. He does not seem interested in living and is ready to face death in a manner more relatable to his former self rather than the murderer he has become. Moreover, Macbeth’s final remark is “Arm, arm, and out!”,

Nonetheless we must do the same with Lady Macbeth as we did for his husband, look at the causes for her actions. When we meet Lady Macbeth after she finishes reading Macbeth’s letter we know immediately that she is determined to be the queen of Scotland (“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be / What thou art promised.”) So at the same time the cause for Macbeth’s action of killing the king was caused directly by Lady Macbeth, the reason for her wish is because of Macbeth. Even thou it seems like a circular argument we find an outlet for it when we consider the responsibility of the witches.

In my essay we are going to talk about why I think Lady Macbeth is more responsible for the murder of King Duncan. I think the reason she is guilty is because she put her nightwear, she pushed her husband Macbeth to kill him, and because Duncan was more in charge than she was over all of the people.

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.

“When Lady MacBeth receives the letter from MacBeth telling her that he wants to kill Duncan, she fears that he would not have the courage to go through with it” (Shakespeare 31). She brings out the worst in him and encourages him to kill King Duncan. She persuades him by constantly telling him negative things to get MacBeth to believe that he is doing the right thing. “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under ’t” (Shakespeare 35). Lady MacBeth is the one who tells MacBeth to be this vicious creature and makes him think that killing King Duncan is okay. Because of Lady Macbeth’s behavior, MacBeth was led to become a murderer. Macbeth should not be held accountable for his actions since Lady MacBeth is the one who convinced him to commit the crime that started his madness and turn him into a monster.

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is the true villain of the play as she is evil, ambitious and eventually insane. Lady Macbeth masterminded the idea to kill King Duncan and planted the vision into Macbeths mind, she convinced Macbeth to commit such a crime, and her love for her husband was eventually overruled by her determination and lust for power. Throughout the play she starts to show her true colours and the destructive force of her ambition, which inevitably results in nothing but disaster.

Lady Macbeth gives Macbeth the first push to kill Duncan, and she wants to be ruthless, feel no remorse so that she and her husband will successfully kill Duncan. She desires to “stop up th’ access and passage to remorse” (Shakespeare 1.5.51) so that she will not feel bad about the murder. She persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan, but he struggles afterward when he does not follow the plan and forgets to put back the daggers he cannot face the evil act he has committed. Lady Macbeth is satisfied after Macbeth is king, but that is not enough for him any longer. Eventually the killings take a toll on Macbeth’s mental state, and the guilt he begins to feel is unbearable. Macbeth kills Duncan and then says “this is a sorry sight”

But despite Macbeth’s desire to take the throne, he does not want to kill Duncan. What pushes Macbeth over the edge is Lady Macbeth. She tells Macbeth to follow his ambitions and kill Duncan. She says that murdering Duncan is not a sin, and that it is all worth it for the crown. These words from Lady Macbeth’s mouth are what made Macbeth decide to follow through and commit murder. “I am settled and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” (1.7.92-93). Macbeth will do the act, but he is very reluctant to do so. In conclusion, Macbeth’s ambitions and his loyalty towards Lady Macbeth are huge factors for why Macbeth was torn, and why he decided to kill Duncan.

Lady Macbeth is the mastermind behind Duncan’s murder. This is significant because apart from being the key initiator in fuelling Macbeth’s ambition, Lady Macbeth concocts plans to achieve the goal by herself. An example of this, is the murder of King Duncan. In the quotation “When Duncan is asleep/ whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey/ Soundly invite him, his two chamberlains/ Will with wine and wassail so convince”(1.7 62-64), Lady Macbeth orchestrates a plan to kill Duncan. This is significant because Macbeth’s reluctance, as shown in his soliloquy(1.7.1-28) proves that Macbeth would not initiate Duncan’s murder, due to his phlegmatic personality. Therefore if Lady Macbeth did not hatch a scheme to kill Duncan’s murder, the course of the play would have been dramatically different. This quotation also ties in with the theme of appearance versus reality because no one in the Macbethian or the Elizabethan era

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.

     Later on (Act 1 Scene 7) Macbeth started to have some serious doubts about the dreadful deed he was planning. He still very much wanted to be King, but his conscience was getting in the way of his "vaulting ambition". However, his wife managed to reassure him that all will be well, and he weakly submits. Nevertheless, it is absurd to suggest that Lady Macbeth was responsible for Macbeth’s decision to kill the King. If Macbeth had not wanted to kill the King, he wouldn’t have, regardless of any amount of bullying from his wife. He knows that he really wants to kill Duncan, it was his initial thought when he first encountered the witches. However, he didn’t like to think he was capable of such atrocities.

Good vs. Evil is a common theme in the play Macbeth. All of the characters are caught up in the battle between what is good and what is not. Macbeth makes a shift in his character from being good to turning evil. Lady Macbeth remains evil the whole time and tries to control Macbeth. The struggles that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth face exemplify the battle of good v. evil.