English Essay In this essay I am will be analysing how Shakespeare and Duffy present madness in “Macbeth” and “Havisham”. Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare. It starts off with three witches who tell Macbeth that he will become the king. Macbeth kills the king and becomes king. Macbeth is beheaded by Macduff who was born by Caesarean section which was not considered to be born of a woman. The play was set in the Jacobean era. The Jacobean Era refers to the time in English and Scottish history that concurs with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also received the crown of England in 1603. “Havisham” is a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy. This poem is spoken by Miss Havisham, a character in Dickens’ Great Expectations. Jilted …show more content…
I think that Lady Macbeth as an evil lady as she actually decided to kill Duncan when she saw Macbeth’s letter even though Macbeth didn’t decide to kill him and wasn’t ready to do it either. Lady Macbeth deserves to go mad since that is like her own punishment for her crime In conclusion, Shakespeare and Duffy both present madness in Lady Macbeth and Miss Havisham in a number of ways, both similarly and differently. Readers are bound to feel more sympathy for Havisham then they are for Lady Macbeth due to the fact that Havisham is the victim in her story whilst Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the villain. Havisham is seen as the victim because she has been left by her fiancé on the day of her wedding and then was left to suffer the rest of her life alone. Lady Macbeth is seen as the villain as she killed King Duncan with absolutely no remorse in her actions whatsoever at the time, she has just shown remorse after falling ill and ranting about the blood from the king being irremovable. It is common psychology that we feel more sympathy for Havisham as she has done no wrong and was betrayed. We view Lady Macbeth as evil as she killed a man out of greed and for her own
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
Finally, Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest works, is near infamous for its main characters, the Lord and Lady Macbeth, both of whom happen to be insane. The first instinence of Macbeth
Lady Macbeth likes to be seen as ruthless and cruel by everyone, yet we know that she must have feelings if she cannot bring herself to murder King Duncan because he 'resembled my father as he slept. ' This shows that she cannot possibly be as
Shakespeare’s Macbeth portrays evil as a perversion of human nature through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s betrayal of Duncan and the repercussions of their actions. Murdering Duncan is not the best way for Macbeth to gain the power promised to him, he and his wife fall into a downward spiral that ends in death.
People will say that she is just a good wife trying to go after happiness and joy with her husband. All she wanted was power and for him to be king. That did not work out well. Everything just turned against them. But, here is the weakness; Lady Macbeth and Macbeth both fell apart. After they did all that was wrong, they both felt guilt and did not stop thinking about it. Macbeth started having bad dreams and imagining things. Lady Macbeth started sleep walking and fell apart until she finally decided to take her own life. It did not turn out well for both of them. One can say she was trying to help and do well for her and her husband but that is not
On the contrary, Lady Macbeth begins as a ruthless woman. She has a manipulative and controlling character, convincing Macbeth to kill King Duncan; she will do anything to gain power. When she says, “How tender ‘tis to love the babe…I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out” (I.vii. 55-58), she shows her ruthlessness and her “bad” ambition. In her “role reversal” with Macbeth, she gains somewhat of a conscience and realizes her guilt. When she tells him, “You must leave this” (III. ii. 35), she wants Macbeth to forget about his plan to murder Banquo’s family. She is very hesitant about committing another murder and does not want Macbeth to follow through with his plan.
In conclusion, Lady Macbeth’s ruthless drive is what makes her liable for causing the most evil in Macbeth. Her persuasive insults attribute Macbeth to commit a series of murders that leads to his downfall. Despite the fact that Macbeth is the one commits these actions, it is Lady Macbeth who motivates him. The witches are less evil, because they only place the idea
“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.
In the play, “Macbeth”, the character that stands out the most is Lady Macbeth. Her role in this story is significant, she is an evil, ruthless, and ambitious person. She is responsible for the murders that her husband commits because she was bloodthirsty for the crown. In fact, she then becomes more eager to get the crown than Macbeth himself and soon realizes that once you commit one violent act, there is almost no way of ever turning back. An analysis of Lady Macbeth reveals that she is a powerful character who adds complexity and depth to a play about murder, madness, and revenge.
Lady Macbeth from “Macbeth” was a very powerful and influential character in the play. However, her traits are portrayed as bitter making her seem as an undesirable figure. Throughout the book she is interpreted as controlling, demanding, power seeking, and corrupt, but it will later come back and cause conflict. In the book she says, “ Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures… For it must seem their guilt” (Shakespeare 59). At this point in the book, Lady Macbeth is showing how controlling she is by taking the matters into
From the beginning, Lady Macbeth is seen as greedy and prepared to do what her husband will not, in order to get what she believes they are destined for. She is more
Truly one of the most terrifying characters in any of Shakespeare's plays is Lady Macbeth. The first time we met her, she was already plotting to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth was much stronger and more ambitious than her husband. This woman was driven by ambition and was the main reason Macbeth went through with the murder. She manipulated him and convinced him that he was doing the right thing.
Lady Macbeth One of Shakespeare’s most feared and famous character, Lady Macbeth is a lover of power. She comes into the the scene already plotting Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth is more powerful, ruthless, manipulative
Miss Havisham uses Estella as an instrument of revenge against Pip, “with my praises, and with my jewels and with my teachings, and with this figure of myself always before her a warning and point my lessons, I stole her heart away and put ice in its place.” (p.434) Being heartless and cruel, Estella will draw men as a candle attracts moths, and she will treat them as Compeyson treated Miss Havisham. For Joseph Miller, Miss Havisham “had deluded herself into thinking she is only letting her state of abandonment be a punishment. Through Estella, she will take an indirect, guiltless revenge and break a hundred hearts for her own heart that was broken.”(1958,p.258) She is willing to enjoy the power of the oppressor without feeling guilty that she is the direct cause behind Estella’s cruel behavior to her suitors, where she feels that men are her natural enemies. For instance, Miss Havisham wants