Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as Evil Murderers in William Shakespeare's Play
At the start of this play Macbeth is mentioned by witches which doesn’t give him credibility with the audience, whilst soon after Macbeth is seen as a brave, loyal and trustworthy servant of his king, Duncan. Almost as soon as the play starts, you hear of Macbeth’s bravery; “Brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name…Like Valour’s minion.” But soon after he has his meeting with the witches he is already scheming; “This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill.”
One of the central points of this play is the question of whether or not Macbeth would have become so evil if he had not met the witches. In my opinion Macbeth would have
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Macbeth even has his best friend murdered, but, uncharacteristically baulks at doing the deed himself and hires others to complete his dirty work for him, which also involves murdering a 10-year-old boy, Banquo’s son. However, the news of the escape of Fleance shakes Macbeth to the core.
Later on in the play, Macbeth has Macduff’s entire family murdered out of spite for Macduff, which seems very brutal even by Macbeth’s impressive standards.
One thing I did notice to be consistent throughout the play was the deterioration of both Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s mental condition. This all starts about the time of the murder of Duncan, when Macbeth sees a mysterious dagger leading him towards Duncan’s chamber, and becomes even more apparent after the murder of Banquo, when Macbeth sees an apparition of Banquo, covered in blood. This could be his conscience. Lady Macbeth also begins to hallucinate and picture her hands covered in blood whilst she still sleeps. There is a lot of such bloody and violent imagery throughout the play. She eventually dies, although Shakespeare omits to mention how, and we are left to speculate. Macbeth becomes increasingly wild and unpredictable and by the end of the play all but the most faithful to his cause, those too stupid to see its doom, and those too afraid to turn traitor against it have abandoned Macbeth in
When you finish reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you feel bad for the Macbeth for what he has become. Macbeth was a man with a great future ruined by outside sources. Throughout the play Macbeth changed from a noble soldier and turned into a memory of his past self. Every moral that Macbeth had at the beginning of the play changed in his rise and fall as a king. He was a great military leader but when he was promised the crown by the witches, and his demanding wife pushed him to the edge he began to make poor decisions. You can certainly feel sympathy for Macbeth based upon how he is treated throughout the play by other characters.
In the modern 21sr century, the roles and behaviors expected of individuals remains analogous despite gender. This ideology stems from the preceding movement in equality, which preaches that differences of sex appear insignificant. Despite this notion, there remains distinct differences in the physical and psychological makeups of both men and women. In most cultures, certain duties remain associated with specific genders. With this in mind, Shakespeare’s Macbeth heightens the supernatural evil possessing Lady Macbeth as she condones murder for her own selfish ambition, while in Shakespeare’s time women were regarded as peaceful and full of feminine sympathies. This anachronism with the reality of Shakespeare’s day, illustrates the immense sense of wickedness and abnormality emphasizing her character’s influence on her husband and the plot of the play. In contrast, Macbeth appears to some extent a more acceptable evil due to a greater compliance with the gender standards and moral transition during the Shakespearean era. Shakespeare utilizes numerous literary intentions in order to express these diverse levels of evil to provide an element of depth behind the mental reactions and deteriorations of the characters until their final decease into the complete darkness of death.
Macbeth is a dramatic play which tells the story of the downfall of a ‘Nobleman’ who becomes a ‘tyrant’. In Act one Shakespeare introduces the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth using a range of dramatic devices.
“Macbeth” by William Shakespeare shows the effect of greed/power on a relationship. Is gaining power more important than a relationship? When Macbeth usurps the throne as King of Scotland, he puts aside his relationships to carry out his work as king, and his relationship with Lady Macbeth is, as a result, impacted. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship shifts somewhat and yet partly remains the same when Macbeth is crowned king of Scotland. Macbeth’s relationship remains the same in that he shows Lady Macbeth respect and continues to use words of love to call her by, but it shifts in that Macbeth becomes more independent and does not confide his plans to Lady Macbeth as he had previously.
going to go back on his word, he doesn't really love her, and he's a
Macbeth was conscious that his thoughts are used for “only [for] vaulting ambition” and yet he does nothing to correct the situation of his thoughts. Macbeth was not mentally deranged before the killing of Duncan and is able to differentiate good from evil, nevertheless he chose to commit regicide. Macbeth reveals that he knows what he is about to do is immoral, and that that “judgement here…. [will be] taught [to] return to plague the inventor”. This ambition eventually lead Macbeth to greed and paranoia; making him willing to do anything necessary in order to secure his position of power. It also becomes easier and easier for Macbeth to commit heinous crimes. Without thinking twice, he orders the murders of Macduff's family, including his children. Macbeth's selfishness and reckless ambition lead him to his own demise.
his wife. In my opinion he does this so that Lady Macbeth is ready to
in all purity. This is mainly due to the fact that he was willing to
Throughout many works of literature, it can be difficult to determine the victim and the aggressor, with many different pieces of text interpreted in a variety of ways. This is common in tragedies, especially, where the downfall of a character occurs. In the play, Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, effectively reaches a downfall after important interactions with some of the other characters. He had changed as a person from the influence of what other characters had led him to believe. Macbeth arguably lost control of his mind, and he couldn’t bring himself to think rationally after the murder of Duncan, therefore the play works in favor of pitying Macbeth rather than blaming him.
plan and tells him how they must act to get away with it. “…look like
At the start of the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are seen as a united
Macbeth is a tragedy of a Scottish general who dramatically “transforms” from being a noble and dutiful soldier to a ruthless butcher. This is a direct consequence of the supernatural world, his wife’s manipulation and persuasion, and Macbeth’s own ambition.
Lady Macbeth as the Driving Force Behind the Murder of Duncan in William Shakespeare's Macbeth
In the play “Macbeth” we strongly agree about the statement “The most effective villain is one who attracts and repels.” Our essay includes or talks about the most effective villain which is Macbeth due to his crimes that he has committed and how he has changed throughout in the play. A theme that most supports this statement is “Appearance vs Reality,” of Macbeth. We will also include examples of the different appearances of Macbeth in different situations. To back up our statement there will be quotes which express the appearance of emotions on Macbeth’s face at time or situation and connect it with reality. “Did he really mean what he said or did?” The essay will also discuss about the different language features which are used in the quotes like, repetition.
In this essay I will discuss the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I will explain how their relationship is different to traditional relationships of the time. At the time, Jacobean people believed that the men were stronger then the woman. They believed that, when married, the husband would be in control and the wife would have no choice but to do what their husband asked. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s relationship was every different.