Lady Macbeth's Murder

In the Shakespearean tragedy, Macbeth, numerous murders take place. Throughout the play, the reader finds that each murder gets more and more evil, and more planned than the previous, thus leading to the downfall of Macbeth.

In Shakespare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s destiny is formed by her own actions through mind and free-will. In act I, Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to murder Duncan, even though Macbeth was strongly against it. Lady Macbeth is very successful at persuading him to go against his better judgment. She entirely changes the stereotype of women being kind and caring in the first act. After Macbeth writes home telling of his murderous plans, Lady Macbeth begins talking to evil spirits. Because women often lack the ruthlessness to kill someone, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to make her male. One of the most vivid descriptions of Lady Macbeth’s wickedness is directly after Macbeth announces to her he does not want to kill Duncan. This speech symbolizes Lady Macbeth’s evilness. She is ruthless, because of her evil accounts for the murders that occur throughout the play. Lady Macbeth convinces her husband to commit murders that will make them king

Although Macbeth commits the murder, Lady Macbeth shows that she has just as many dark and corrupt thoughts as him. The one who comes up with the murder plan is Lady Macbeth, directly after she learns about the prophecy. After Macbeth informs her of the king’s overnight stay, Lady Macbeth’s first words are “O, never/ Shall sun that morrow see!” (1. 5. 67-68) as her plan to kill the king is already being put into motion. If Lady Macbeth had not made the plans Macbeth may not have gone through with the murder. Lady macbeth becomes a driving, manipulative force to Macbeth. She justifies why killing Duncan is good and shames him into committing horrible deeds. When Macbeth tries to refuse she says “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. 54-56), challenging his masculinity. In the end, Lady Macbeth isn't the only one who’s mind becomes corrupted, she drags Macbeth down with her. Finally, Lady Macbeth pretends that the guilt doesn’t really bother her, she simply tells her husband that he is weak. She tries hide her corruption through lies and by putting Macbeth down, but in the end she falters, realises her guilt and drives herself insane.

After hearing the prophecy that he will become king, Macbeth resolves to leave his future up to fate proving his pride and prestige are very important to him. Once he is told of Malcolm being named successor to the throne, Macbeth decides that if he is going to reach his goal he cannot leave it up to luck. Again Macbeth’s resolve to murder Duncan wavers when he leaves the grand banquet to assess his situation and decide whether he wants to proceed. His arguments include wishing to keep his honor and not kill Duncan for Duncan is there ‘in double trust’. Thus, Macbeth is shown to be clinging to his honor. Finally, Macbeth must stand his ground one last time against his wife who uses tact to emasculate Macbeth. In his final attempt to stop the whole ordeal before it can start Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he does not want to ‘cast aside’ the honor he has just recently received. Unfortunately, Lady Macbeth will have none of what her husband is saying and so convinces Macbeth to follow through with his plan of murdering King Duncan. Hence, the audience is given the first example of how powerful selfish motives are and how quickly they can spread to others along with cause them to perform unthinkable

Secondly, Lady Macbeth’s blind ambition and false appearance take part in further altering Macbeth’s decisions. Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth’s letter and she immediately starts to plot King Duncan’s murder so the witches’ prophecies can her husbands desires can become true. She knows Macbeth is, “too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness/… That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false/ And yet wouldst wrongly win” (1.V.17-23). Lady is aware her husband Macbeth is too noble and innocent to hurt an individual for his own personal gain. She knows she will have to persuade Macbeth to murder Duncan in order for him to become king. Later, during the congratulatory dinner, Lady Macbeth convinces a hesitant Macbeth to execute Duncan. At first, Macbeth is hesitant because he thinks he is double crossing trust with the king, he is his kinsman, and tonight Duncan is his guest. Moreover, Duncan has done no wrong to deserve death. Macbeth confesses to Lady Macbeth he can not murder Duncan however, Lady Macbeth says, “Art thou afeard/…Wouldst thou have that/ Which thou esteem’st the ornament

Lady Macbeth understands Macbeth’s lust for the throne, and lusts for it herself. She also understands his ambition, but feels that her husband might regret and decide against killing Duncan to steal his throne, as she regards to Macbeth as “full o’ the milk of human kindness” (1.5.4). Since Lady Macbeth fears that Macbeth would turn against her and not go through with the plan, she decides that it must be up to her to get it done correctly. She asks that only the “direst cruelty” (1.5.33) fill her, as she gathers everything that is evil to her in order to murder Duncan. Even though Macbeth was hesitant over the idea of murdering Duncan, his wife convinces him that acting on his impulse of killing Duncan is the right thing to do. This shown when Macbeth starts to second guess the thought of murdering his king, and that it should not be done. However, his wife verbally harasses him into agreeing. Lady Macbeth questions his love for her, questions his masculinity, and criticizes his desire to be king by saying, “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” (1.5.49-51). As his successfully offends him, he decides that he needs to prove his manhood, his love of his wife, and his ambition to be king, he agrees to murder Duncan.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s desire and ambition leads to her eventual downfall. When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth’s prophecy she dreams of the glory and high-standing that awaits being queen. She cannot withhold her ambitions and she is willing to manipulate fate to bring about Macbeth’s prophecy. She invokes evil spirits to be filled from head to toe with cruelty to do the evil actions necessary to make Macbeth king and to remove all remorse and pity for her action from her heart. She is initially able to be involved in the treacherous deeds that are needed to bring about the prophecy quickly, but as the play progresses the weight of the merciless deeds fill her with remorse. The remorse and pain she feels for her wicked

On a dark night Macbeth paced back and forth with the thought of murder going through his mind. It was this night Macbeth and his wife planned on murdering the King, Duncan. After committing the crime he confesses to his wife that it is done, “I have done the deed” (2.2. 14). Macbeth would be charged with first degree murder because of the following reasons. The murder of duncan was premeditated, he showed guilt, and continued to murder. Although he may be llusional now he was not at that state before he committed the murder, once he took action the mental torture began.

Secondly, Macbeth prepares for the assassination of Duncan as his wife Lady Macbeth pressures him into perusing the deed. Lady Macbeth murmurs that she knows Macbeth is ambitious, but fears he is too full of “th’ milk of human kindness” to take the steps necessary to make himself king (1.5.15). She convinces Macbeth to do whatsoever necessary to become king, blinding him with a negative ambitious drive from what is morally right. Later on in the story Macbeth is slain as a tyrant and Lady Macbeth commits suicide due to the consequences possessed with their actions in hopes of

It is clear that before hearing the Witches’ prophecy, Macbeth has thought about becoming king. When Macbeth is hailed as king, Banquo asks “why do you start, and seem to fear/Things that do sound so fair?” (1.3.51-52). The Witches’ hailing seems to strike something deep in Macbeth’s mind that he has kept hidden from the world: his desire to be king. Before thinking that fate may happen without his action, Macbeth’s first “thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,” is to kill Duncan (1.3.139). Resorting to murder seems like a leap in logic, but to Macbeth, it is the simplest way to fulfill the prophecy. Lady Macbeth is also quite impatient, and as Macbeth’s source of strength, she helps fate run its course as well. Like Macbeth, her first thought after hearing the news is to kill Duncan that night. When Macbeth comes home, Lady Macbeth says “I feel now/The future in the instant,” (1.6.56-57). This shows that Lady Macbeth wants fate to happen immediately, and by urging Macbeth, the prophecy is swiftly fulfilled. After this initial prophecy, Lady Macbeth’s childish impatience is satisfied, but Macbeth’s impatience makes him desire more prophecies to fulfill in order to satisfy fate the quickest way. Due to a combination of impatience and warrior instincts, Macbeth uses murder as a means of fulfilling

She comes up with a plot to kill the current King of Scotland, King Duncan, which was her answer to make the prophecies happen as soon as possible. Lady Macbeth serves as the person who pushes Macbeth into committing murder in the attempt of controlling fate. Lady Macbeth serves as one of the main catalysts for the king’s death, if not the main catalyst. Shakespeare creates Lady Macbeth, an intelligent and ambitious character, who serves as part of a clear image of human involvement on fate and the battle of fate vs free will. This shows that through the use of tactics like effeminizing her husband and harsh demands, Lady Macbeth welcomes the prophecies; leading her to become the main force behind her husband committing murder to become

Murder has been notorious for breaking apart families and driving people mad with power. The violent murders in Shakespeare’s Macbeth illustrate that these murders can also happen in the real world.

In V. 1 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth goes mad as she revisits the act of murdering Duncan in her sleep and for the first time truly realizes what she has done. In this scene, a doctor and a gentlewoman are watching Lady Macbeth sleepwalk. When they first see her the doctor asks why she is carrying a light, The gentlewoman responds saying, “She has a light by/ her continually. ‘Tis her command” (V. 1. 22-23). This information is surprising because it is contrary to Lady Macbeth’s previous behavior.

Lady Macbeth continues to convince and persuade Macbeth into thinking her plan will pay off. Eventually Macbeth decides against the murder of his king but Lady Macbeth shames him for not being able to murder, threatening to take away her love from him if he does not. This threat shocks Macbeth into saying “yes”. Lady Macbeth outlines her plan to kill King Duncan while asleep as a guest in their castle.

After returning home from the battlefield, Macbeth consciously ponders murdering his king. However, his loyalty to the crown overtakes his hidden desire, and he resolves: “If chance will have me king, why, chance / may crown me / Without my stir (1.3) Macbeth then informs Lady Macbeth that he is not will to commit regicide. Upon hearing that Macbeth has disregarded his “black and deep desires,” Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to go through with the deed: