Who Is Responsible For Lady Macbeth

   Shakespeare's "Macbeth" holds many hidden themes within its already exuberant plot.  The first of these surrounds the murder of Duncan and the role that both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself played.  However, the true guilt of the murder can fall on either character.  Although Macbeth physically committed the crime, it was Lady Macbeth that pushed him to his limits of rational thought and essentially made fun of him to lower his esteem.  With Macbeth's defenses down, it was an easy task for Lady Macbeth to influence Duncan's murder and make up an excuse as to why she could not do it herself.  The guilt of Duncan's murder can be placed firmly on the head on Lady Macbeth.

They invited Duncan to their home and planned to murder him then. Once Duncan had arrived, Macbeth began to have doubts about killing his upstanding leader. Lady Macbeth did her best to convince Macbeth to go through with the murder. She succeeded in convincing him. It makes sense that someone would think this part made it Lady Macbeth’s fault, but despite Lady Macbeth ‘strongly suggesting’ that he kills Duncan, Macbeth could still have chosen to say no and keep Duncan alive. Lady Macbeth did not control him, she may have persuaded him but in the end it was his choice to kill King Duncan.

Nonetheless we must do the same with Lady Macbeth as we did for his husband, look at the causes for her actions. When we meet Lady Macbeth after she finishes reading Macbeth’s letter we know immediately that she is determined to be the queen of Scotland (“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be / What thou art promised.”) So at the same time the cause for Macbeth’s action of killing the king was caused directly by Lady Macbeth, the reason for her wish is because of Macbeth. Even thou it seems like a circular argument we find an outlet for it when we consider the responsibility of the witches.

“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.

Macbeth's first hallucination of the bloody dagger leading him to Duncan's room was a way for Macbeth's mind to release some of its anxieties concerning the act of murder.  Although Macbeth had killed before, he had never killed for the purpose of improving his position.  His previous killings were in battle where he was killing his enemy, not a man he had no substantial problem with.  I feel that this hallucination was definitely the result of Macbeth's own anxieties coupled with the extreme level of stress he was experiencing.

Lady Macbeth is more power hungry and ambitious then Macbeth is. She, through ambition she gives the finial push to Macbeth to kill Duncan the king of Scotland. Her power however, is not driven by the sisters, hers is greed. She wants to be Queen, she wants the power of being Queen. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeths ambition is tragic flaw. Her ambition drives her to her to go crazy which ultimately drives her to her death. There is an instance where she is sleep walking, eyes open. She goes to her vanity and sits down, she looks at her hands a sees blood. Then she sticks her hand in the water bowl and attempts to wash them. When she pulls them back out the blood did not wash away. Only she can see the blood her maid and doctor see this happening and they just think that she is going crazy. This is only the beginning of her insaneness. Just before her death she vilely reads a letter that Macbeth sent to her, telling her that he was to be King some how. It is her guilt that kills her.

When Lady Macbeth is first planning a way to make Macbeth king, she knows that he is still too kind to act upon his ambitions, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. Lady Macbeth throws aside morals and kindness, instead becoming a cruel and cold-hearted person as a result of her thirst for power. When the time for Duncan’s murder to take place arrives and Macbeth does not follow the plan, Lady Macbeth smears the guards’ with blood herself. An act such as this she could carry out, but not the murder itself, which is explained in the quote, “Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done ‘t. (2.1.12-13)” In Act 1, Lady Macbeth had seemingly stripped herself of any remorse or doubt that may interfere with the murder, but

Tragedies are everywhere whether you know it or not. In tragic events, people tend to point fingers at individuals. In the eventful play Macbeth, many would argue that Macbeth is the one to blame for all the horrific events that occur. However, while Macbeth did play a major role, Lady Macbeth is the one to blame. She came up with the idea to kill the king, convinced Macbeth to go through with it, and pushed both herself and her husband to insanity.

The reason why lady Macbeth is more responsible because she tries guilting Macbeth into killing the king. She also is going to get the gaurds drunk and then kill King Duncan so they won't remeber. Lady Macbeth helps Macbeth kill the king. She talked Macbeth into it. She is the one that is

Therefore, Lady Macbeth is most responsible for the assassination of King Duncan because she ridicules Macbeth, she is very manipulative and she is persistent in her efforts to become Queen. Lady Macbeth is more responsible

In the play “The Tragedy of Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is more responsible for the death of King Duncan. Although other characters did contribute to the murder of the king, such as Macbeth himself, Lady Macbeth plays a more powerful role. Following Macbeth’s letter, Lady Macbeth references the need to do something evil in her soliloquy to achieve the crown and believes the only way to achieve the crown is by killing King Duncan. Lady Macbeth is certain her that her husband should receive what was promised, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised,” but she is afraid her husband is too nice, “yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch thy nearest way.” She believes this will stop him from going to get the crown and believes they have to cheat to get the crown.

She even asks him to come home quickly so that she can talk to him and try to convince him the only way to become king is to kill Duncan which in the end he does end up doing. This advances the plot because this one horrible crime leads to many horrific deaths. This first murder is what starts Macbeth on his killing streak. After he kills Duncan he is a guilty mess, but soon realizes how good the power feels once he is given the honour of replacing him as king. Lady Macbeth is the one who initially convinces him the only way to make his last prophecy come true is to kill Duncan which shows that she is the centre of all the conflict in the play.

“Macbeth’s imagination is not only powerful; it is characterized by what has been happily called “the hallucination of self-credulity” (Paul). “There follows quickly a state of rapture or ecstasy or hallucination which pictures the thing hoped or feared so vividly that he assumes it to be true, act as though it were true, and is thus brought to ruin” (Paul). There are many hallucination scenes in the play. Macbeth first hallucination experience happened after Lady Macbeth persuaded him to kill King Duncan while he was soundly asleep. Right after Macbeth killed Duncan he thought he heard a voice saying to him “Macbeth does murder sleep!”

When comparing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to each other, the main similarity between them that must be mentioned is that they both have high ambitions for royalty and greatness. Beside the only one significant similarity, they also differ with two distinct differences. Throughout the play, they both portrayed as evil characters who have committed the deaths of other characters, however the driving force of their cruel behavior are totally different. The reason that leads Lady Macbeth to her menacing personality was self-denial while Macbeth’s driving force was motivated by his big greed. The flaws each possessed resulted their downfall and this is the last different

If someone were to ask whom was more responsible for King Duncan's death during The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, it would have to be Lady Macbeth. Although, as times goes on, it becomes more and more clear that her husband is the truly evil being; even though she inevitably started the blood bath. Originally, Macbeth and his wife were loyal to the king, but with the proficiencies spoken by evil witches, greed overtook any rational thought, causing the lady to persuade her husband into killing Duncan in order to gain his now fallen crown. Without the aid and determination of Lady Macbeth, the proficiency of Macbeth becoming king would never have come true, nor would anyone have died as a result.