How Does Lady Macbeth Change Throughout The Play

Throughout the play "Macbeth", by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth's character drastically changes from being sinister to feeble. Lady Macbeth was an evil, manipulative person whose greed and selfishness were eventually the downfall of her character and well being. During the beginning of "Macbeth", she used her twisted mind to convince her husband to murder, making him believe that it was the only way he could get what he wanted. But as the play developed and the murders started to increase, Lady Macbeth started to question whether or not they were necessary. Sadly, though possibly justifiably, she ended up committing suicide after her constant questioning of the murders drove her to insanity. Lady Macbeth was an unemotional person who only cared about what she could gain. She made her disconcern about other people well known when she said, "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 I so sworn as you Have done to this." (Act I, Scene VII, Lines 55-60). Lady Macbeth refers that she would have no problem taking the life of her son, if it meant getting what she wanted. The fact that she would even fathom the idea of killing her own child makes her morose and appalling. If only she knew that it would be her who would be taken out of this world so cruelly. Being able to manipulate her husband's mind and the minds of others was another one of Lady Macbeth's baneful traits. After Macbeth killed King Duncan, still reeling from the crime he had committed, he met up with his wife. Once again, she used her manipulative ways to make him think that she felt just as bad as he did. She said, "My hands are of your color, but I shame To wear a heart so white." (Act II, Scene II, Lines 63-64). Lady Macbeth appeared to her husband as if she felt just as guilty about the act of violence as he did, knowing that in reality she didn't care at all. Telling Macbeth that her hands were as bloody as his own was to try to give him comfort that he was not alone in his schemes. But Lady Macbeth had other ideas in mind. She couldn't care less about her husband's thoughts or worries. All she could think about was

No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red" Macbeth Quote (Act II, Sc. II).

Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is a character who suffers greatly in because of her human weakness, which is her vaulting ambition. This ambition is not for her, but for her husband. This woman, who seemed so in control at the beginning of the okay, only cared for her husband and his success, later becomes so consumed with guilt and remorse that it results in her tragic death. Through the discussion of characterisation and lkey scenes, I shall reveal that Lady Macbeth’s human flaw is  not only a major contributor to the ruthlessness of her husband but creates a huge influence in how the play unfolds.

In Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 56-57, "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", Lady Macbeth orchestrates Macbeth’s self-esteem by taunting his manliness when Macbeth doesn’t plan on following through with her plan. Moments later, she tells him how he should act and what he needs to do, in Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 71-75, “When Duncan is asleep...look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” She successfully augments Macbeth’s ambition and exhorts him to commit atrocities. After Duncan’s murder, Macbeth no longer values Lady Macbeth’s opinions- his actions are rash and selfish because they are made promptly. Interaction between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth falters since Macbeth is now swept up with erasing his tracks. The two perish as individuals- Macbeth is miserable with guilt caused by cold- blooded Lady Macbeth’s attribution of influence and plan. But instead of comforting her husband and talking him out of murdering more people, Lady Macbeth only gives one feeble attempt.

Everyone has a quality that they do not like about themselves. Some people struggle to be social, others may be too controlling of people. The list goes on and on, but the point is that everybody has a particular quality that they must learn to control or else that particular quality can get out of hand. Of course, one could write a list of characters that have major flaws. There is no better example than William Shakespeare’s character, Macbeth, in The Tragedy of Macbeth. Anyone who has ever read it, could easily identify the fatal flaw that the character Macbeth possesses which is greed. Even though many readers can all agree that greed is Macbeth’s fatal flaw, the argument as to whether or not

Lady Macbeth is a complex and intriguing character in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. She is a difficult character to embody as her personality seems split between two sides, one that is pure evil, sly and conniving in contrast to her softer, vulnerable, weak and feminine side. In the play we see her in these two main ways. The reader may feel a certain animosity towards Lady Macbeth throughout the first few acts as her personality appears more and more distasteful, in spite of this towards the end she has a serious breakdown over the guilt that torments her, even in her sleep, regarding her hand in Duncan’s untimely death.

However once they accomplish the deed, the torment that the guilt brings is too much for Macbeth but he gets used to the evil of killing people meanwhile the opposite happens to Lady Macbeth who becomes paranoid about killing Duncan. Shakespeare presents the play in such a way that the audience sees how more and more their relationship changes dramatically as a result of how they each handle their emotions following the murder of King Duncan. Although Macbeth was weak at first, it was the strong Lady Macbeth who helped him through the first murder, but in sacrifice to controlling Macbeth and his conscience, she lost control of her own and consequently became insane and committed suicide. Lady Macbeth repeatedly convinced her husband by questioning his manhood “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” (Shakespeare 1.7.54-56). She is a strong, powerful character in comparison to her easily influenced husband, until towards the end of the play where he seems to take on her role.

Throughout William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth develop profoundly differently over the course of the play. Macbeth’s character transforms from a noble hero to an ambitious, blood-thirsty murderer. When Macbeth is on the battlefield, he is heroic and brave by defeating the traitors of King Duncan and the Norwegian Army, and he is crowned as Thane of Cawdor. Later in the play, Macbeth cold-heartedly murders his King, a woman and her children, and his own beloved friend. This illustrates Macbeth’s drastic transformation from a hero to a murderer. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth changes from a manipulative, ruthless wife, and an accomplice to murder, into a guilt-ridden, and a paranoid madwoman who commits suicide. When Lady Macbeth and her husband are quarrelling, she insults her husband’s manliness to make him commit the murder of Duncan. Later in the play, Lady Macbeth deeply suffers from her guilt, that she becomes mad. Lady Macbeth constantly sleepwalks and washes her hands of the imaginary blood of her husband’s victims and of her ambition. It is evident that over the course of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth develop profoundly differently throughout the play.

In William Shakespeare's drama, Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, made many bad decisions because of his ambition to become king. He had many different encounters, including one with the Witches which made him question everything he ever knew. But, somewhere along the way he messed up and tried to toy with fate. Yet, it wasn’t all his fault. One may try to blame Macbeth or the weïrd sisters, though, Lady Macbeth is the most responsible for his downfall because she fills his head with ideas, she had bad intentions not only for herself, she took advantage of his nobleness, and she was prepared to risk everything they had.

She is the one who carries out a plan of king's murder and prepares everything while her husband does not even know anything about it until the last moment. “Leave all the rest to me” (1.5.65), she says and arranges all the things needed by herself, and all Macbeth has to do is to kill the king while he sleeps. She even leaves the daggers for him to find (2.2.11-12). However, Lady Macbeth is not able to commit the murder herself as “Had he [Duncan] not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done 't” (2.2.12-13) which again shows her cowardly nature. She cannot perform what she planned, instead, she manipulates her husband into murdering the king and thus fulfilling her plans by questioning his manhood (3.4.61-62) and his love for her (1.7.38-39) knowing it is offensive for a brave warrior and a loving husband. Furthermore, she does it in the critical moments when Macbeth wants to call the deal off. Unsurprisingly, Lady Macbeth uses the cunning and hypocrisy as her strategy pretending to be the caring hostess and a king's friend while carrying the plans for murder (1.6.14-20). She instructs her husband to “Look like th' innocent flower, / But be the serpent under ’t” (1.5.56-57) and acts accordingly smiling at the face of the king several hours before betraying him. However, when Macbeth is not able to finish what he started, she smears servants' faces with blood to make them look guilty

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

We first start seeing power affecting Macbeth’s morals in the ending of Act I when the promise of power makes Macbeth think about killing the king. Macbeth has just finished having a nice dinner with the King and he is rethinking his plan of killing the king. We see him try to pull away from the idea of killing the king and wanting to stay an honest man. He is arguing with Lady Macbeth to not kill the king because “the king has just honored me”, “We can’t go on with this plan.” Macbeth wants to stay respectful and honest, he feels guilty to think about killing the king because the king thinks so highly of him. It is an honor to have respect from the king and Macbeth does not want to kill a good man like him. No matter what he says lady Macbeth still argues to kill the king and promises unlimited power. Macbeth finally makes the decision to kill him and begin to change from an honest and humble man to a liar and cheater. As Macbeth and lady Macbeth go forth with killing the king in Act 2 Scene 3 Macbeth freezes and Lady Macbeth tells him to dispose of the evidence but he can’t move. “I can’t go back. I’m afraid even to think about what I’ve done. I can’t stand to look at it again.” Macbeth regrets the decision and wants to go back to the honest and humble man he once was, but after killing the king he can’t turn back. He uses word choice like afraid, can’t stand to look at it again because he realizes how power has made irrational and power hungry. This new personality

When Lady Macbeth is informed with a Macbeth meeting with the witches, her lust for power grows greater than Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is aware of Macbeth’s ambition, but fears that he is “too full o’ th’ milk of kindness”(Shakespeare 30) to have what it takes to seize the crown. When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to kill Duncan. “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”(Shakespeare 32). In this quote, Lady Macbeth puts her natural femininity aside so that she can accomplish the bloody deeds necessary for this plan. Lady Macbeth persuades her husband again when Macbeth decided to call off the plan. “Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem, letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ”like the poor cat i' th' adage?” (Shakespeare 42). She urges Macbeth to stay strong and reassures him that their plan will work out. Even after the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth still had his innocent character filled with concern and fear. However, Lady Macbeth holds him tight by saying, “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white” (Shakespeare 60). Later in the story, the readers can realize that the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have changed. Macbeth allows his wife to manipulate his ambitious desires which grow until he became numb to

In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s character develops greatly throughout the play. In the opening of the play she is illustrated as a dominant, devious woman who does not have to think second about conspiring to execute the King of Scotland. Nonetheless after the dirty deed is completed, Lady Macbeth breaks down at the end of the play. She endures a nervous breakdown and commits suicide, which displays how she went from a powerful woman to a remorseful maniac.

Macbeth is a tragedy written in the 17th century that shows what the desire for power can do to a man. Macbeth is expressed as being the villain. But, Macbeth is in fact a tragic hero, doomed by fate from the beginning into the madness he put himself in. If it not been for meeting the witches and persuasion of his wife, the play would have had a very different ending.