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Comparison Of Macbeth And Lady Macbeth

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Contrast & Comparison of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
While analyzing the two main characters in Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth, critics have often argued about their true nature and inner coherence. Despite the effort made, very rarely are the characters presented as their true self, without the inclusion of psychoanalytical theories and other studies. Consequently, this essay’s primary goal is to analyze and discuss the main characteristics of the Macbeth couple—and how they relate with each other—by using nothing but a careful reading of the thoughts and actions of each of the characters and no external influence or studies whatsoever.
The first thing that the Macbeth couple share is the malicious influence exerted on them by the Weird Sisters. On the one hand, Macbeth is directly faced with the witches, who tell him of his new title of Thane of Cawdor (a fact that the audience already knows from what King Duncan said to the nobles after hearing the bleeding captain's report) and more importantly, of his future kingship, with Banquo being “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater. /[Getting] kings, though thou be none”(Macbeth I. iii. 66-68). The immediate fulfillment of this prophecy—in the arrival of Ross and Angus, bringers of Macbeth's new title—wrongly leads the newly crowned Thane of Cawdor to assess the witches’ intention as good, therefore freeing from his mind the murderous thoughts that he supposes will allow him the Crown. In light of these events, because of Malcolm’s

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