Response To Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth is a very egocentric woman. She fails to have any concern over Macbeth’s interests, and she does not consider his decisions. This lack of care for her husband is shown many times throughout the play, and it is more predominantly shown in the first two acts. Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth has the same viewpoints as her. Because of this, instead of asking if he wants to do something, she tells him what they are going to do. If Macbeth tries to protest against her thoughts or actions, she convinces him to believe in her and do as she says using a variety of tactics. Lady Macbeth does not have Macbeth’s best interest at heart because she manipulated him, she took matters into her own hand,

With attention to the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth struggles with the morality of his actions. Before the murder takes place, Macbeth begins to believe that the murder will “be the be-all and the end-all” to his clear conscious and would risk him to eternal damnation (Act I, line 5). Yet, the murder would bring him power over Scotland and he “shalt be kind” as told by the Weird Sisters(Act 1, line 50). Macbeth goes off of his ambition to murder King Duncan. The internal struggle of choosing mortality over motives brought forth an intense shift of loyalty to betrayal. The murder caused for Macbeth to turn on Scotland and only care for his own selfish motives. The betrayal causes for the play to become horrific and have a double meaning. Macbeth must put on a face to hide his murder to become the king. The double meaning is how Macbeth looks like a hero to all of Scotland, but only the people on the inside know of his horrific actions. He had to murder to to get the position of King, but the

Lady Macbeth had a very powerful hold over Macbeth. Just by questioning his valor she could shift Macbeth’s whole thought process and second-guessing of the murder of Duncan (Booth, 24), and he allows it because he cannot bear to disappoint her. His love for her and need for her approval is what ultimately leads him to commit each and every one of his crimes. She is the center of his world and if she does not see a problem in the murders than why should he. This is naïve ignorance caused by a blindness that is induced by love, and that is both heart breaking and tragic.

Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ is about the leading male protagonist succumbing to his ambition and need for power. Though Macbeth is liable for his own actions, he is not solely responsible for the events that eventually result in his downfall. Macbeth is corrupted by his wife, Lady Macbeth, as well as the three weird sisters. Macbeth’s contribution towards his downfall is his strong ambitious nature. Lady Macbeth is the person who induces Macbeth to assassinate King Duncan. The three weird sisters (witches) play with Macbeth’s ambitious nature and sense of security. Macbeth’s downfall is due to himself and two external factors.

Visualize being in MacBeth’s place, you are announced Thane of Cawdor after your heroic leadership on the battlefield, why would you thirst for a higher rank? Although you may be content with your position, there are many reasons why you would want more power. Your rank becomes very close to that of a king, so you decide to go for it, after all, all you have to do to be king is to kill Duncan. As your sight of kingship would become realistic, your rapacity grows, and you start making nefarious decisions that would affect your disposition. As an effect of your changed mindset, your nobles start to become suspicious that you are deranged. Little do they know they are all pawns in your game of life and your scheme to become king is going impeccably

Lady Macbeth's ambitious nature was a large part of the play. Lady Macbeth often brought Macbeth's manhood into question whenever he was weary of going through with something, even something as atrocious as murder. For example, “Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way”(1.5.14-16). In this quote she basically says that he is too much of a wuss to follow through with their plan to elevate their social status. Lady Macbeth was also the one who planted the daggers on the guards when Macbeth couldn't follow through with it. If she hadn't have done that there is a good chance that they could have been caught. She asks “Why did you bring these daggers from the place? / They must lie there:

Have you ever been tempted to do something you know is wrong by the fear that you won't be good enough if you don't? Like when you and your bestfriend take your moms car without a driver's license, just to feel the adrenaline run through your veins. This is similar to the decisions that Lady Macbeth and her husband make throughout the play. Lady Macbeth is bored in her life, and desires something to fill up the empty hole left from losing her baby. When people are living in a world of doubt and temptation, they project their own fears on others, which causes them to make regretful decisions.

h is portrayed in the beginning of the play as a courageous hero, whose valour is depicted as "he unseamed him from the nave to th' chops." Although he puts on a fearless persona during conflict, his soliloquies reveal a character that it fuelled by greed and desire. Not only does Macbeth obliterate the notion of The Divine Right of Kings, but he goes against the Righteous Rule. Throughout the play, Macbeth lets irrational greed overcome his logical conscience. It is clear that Macbeth is reluctant to murder Duncan as he states, “We will proceed no further in this business,” yet his vaulting ambition and desire to become King outweighs his conscience. Before murdering Duncan, Macbeth utters “I have no spur to prick the sides of intent, but only Vaulting ambition.” In his soliloquy, he continuously reasons with himself as “first I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against deed, then as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself.” Shakespeare utilises the recurring motif of hallucinations to depict a dagger as a symbol of guilt and murder. Macbeth’s thoughts of murder create an imaginary bloody dagger, showing him the path to the king's chambers as he questions "Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." As the tragedy continues, Macbeth transforms into a more conventional villain, and attempts to control Fate and Fortune. Macbeth’s ambition is further explored when he visits the witches and witnesses the four apparitions.

The struggle for power is encountered through the interactions between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. When initially introduced to the character of Lady Macbeth, she reads a letter addressed to her from Macbeth in which he states his plans to kill King Duncan and assume the throne. Lady Macbeth responds with a speech signifying her agreeance and calls for the strength to carry on with the plan: “Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me from the crown to the top-full/ of direst cruelty” (1.5.47-50). Here, she is denouncing her femininity to take on a more masculine role and to be filled with nothing but motivation for the cruel crime. Shakespeare uses this scene to foreshadow the event in which the crime will be committed. While Macbeth begins to have second thoughts and uneasiness towards the situation, Lady Macbeth tells him: “What beast was ’t,/ then, / That made you break this enterprise to me?/ 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” (1.7.53-58). Lady Macbeth is emasculating her husband her by questioning his ability to be a man and how he hesitates to make the move towards power while she is confident in her decision. Shakespeare makes a choice to have a woman be the one to urge the death of Duncan to show the reversal of gender roles and to expose Lady Macbeth’s character. The playwright

While Lady Macbeth believes that men are superior when it comes to power and warfare, the effect that she has on Macbeth’s actions manages to change the outcome of the entire play. This speech illustrates a prominent power relation in the text - Lady Macbeth and the power that she has over her husband. While Macbeth is the one carrying out the deeds, Lady Macbeth, at least at the beginning of the play, is the brains behind the operation and manages to maintain a certain amount of control over him. “When you durst do it, then you were a man.” - Lady Macbeth. Being a man is something Macbeth cares about strongly, and Lady Macbeth manages to harness this desire of Macbeth’s to keep the power in their relationship. This speech is revealing because it manages to expose the inner workings of the relationship between the two

I,Malcolm, let Macbeth do anything to be king. While I watch him ruin his legacy.Macbeth proves his loyalty to Duncan by serving him. Macbeth states, " the service and the loyalty I owe in doing it pays itself(I.iv.25) To avoid being taken advantage of, Macbeth must demonstrate that he is not weak. He fulfills this by taking the cowardly way out and murdering Duncan King of Scotland. He acts out because he is jealous and feels as if he deserves to be king. At this point once Macbeth displays that he is no longer loyal to his once King of Scotland, who said " for brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name"(I.ii.95). A disloyal Macbeth cannot accept the promotion to thane of Cawdor, so he get greedy and does the unthinkable. Macbeth says, "Let not light see my black and deep desires: the eye wink at the hand yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done to see"(I.ii.50-53). These words reveal Macbeth's deep desire to be king, after King Duncan announces that his son Malcolm will be the one to take the throne after him.

In scene 4 of act 2 Macduff reveals to the Thane of Ross that king Duncan’s death, during the middle of a crazy storm. Before knowing about the king’s death an old man says that “[h]ours dreadful and thing strange” (2.4.3-4). This quote allows the audience to understand that the world is acting crazy, where it is dark during the day and that animals’ behaviors are changing. This is why I have a picture of a storm in my slide. In addition,

Macbeth was, shortly after the murdering incident, driven insane by the immense guilt produced by his withered conscience. The dagger that was used in the killing of King Duncan haunted him before the murder took place. This tragedy in the play gives us both fear of where the sword came from and pity for Macbeth's character that had degraded to such a point that he has become paranoid.

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.

As a virgin to The Shakespeare Theatre, I was pleasantly surprised when my recent encounter with Macbeth was a stimulating and enjoyable excursion. The two and a half hours I had predicted to be less than enchanting were filled with symbolism, and an overall attitude towards the Shakespeare classic that I had never contemplated before.