Lady Macbeth is one of the most dominant characters in the play Macbeth because of her ambitious, manipulative and deceitful nature. Lady Macbeth’s ambition is her most consuming trait. It is expressed in the quote “Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull/of direst cruelty”(I.v.l.39-42). This famous quote said by Lady Macbeth is about how she wishes to be more like a man so she can kill Duncan herself, which proves that she is willing to take any measures possible to earn success for her and her her husband Macbeth. Additionally, Lady Macbeth is a manipulative character . Her controlling nature is exhibited when she manipulates her husband into killing the king, by saying
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
In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth arrays a daunting, chilling, and manipulating woman. Lady Macbeth's’ role is being Macbeth’s wife. Although they show a strong love for eachother, Lady Macbeth still has a pugnacious side to her. This character convinces a brave, strong warrior (Macbeth) to murder the righteous King Duncan (Scottish King). She is very power hungry, comparable to characters in other Shakespearean plays (like Caesar). If she did not manipulate, Macbeth may not have murdered. He may have stayed a humble, guilt free, and bold leader. Before the murder of the king, Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to, “look like an innocent flower, / But be the serpent under’t” (1.5.64-65). Meaning, be evil in your heart, but look
Lady Macbeth progresses throughout the play from a seemingly savage and heartless creature to a very delicate and fragile woman. In the beginning of the play, she is very ambitious and hungry for power. She pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophecy. In Act I, Scene 6, she asks the gods to make her emotionally strong like a man in order to help her husband go through with the murder plot. She says, “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty!” Also, she does everything in her power to convince Macbeth that he would be wrong not to kill Duncan. In Act I,
Her greed for power is similar to Macbeth’s. When she reads Macbeth’s letter about the witches she is determined to do whatever it takes to have power. Lady Macbeth opinion on murder is that it will give her anything she wants and she will go to any length to receive her power. When Macbeth has doubts about murder, Lady Macbeth manipulates him “Then you (are) a man”. Lady Macbeth demonstrated that she will do any bad deed to ensure that Macbeth is crowned king.
Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly a cunningly powerful character. After Lady Macbeth learns of the witches’ prophecy that her husband will become the Thane of Cawdor, her greed drives her to instantly implant poison into her husband’s mind, giving him lethal thoughts of murdering the innocent King Duncan so he can seize the throne immediately. She says, “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty” (1.5,30-33). Lady Macbeth calls on the spirits to remove her feminine weakness and replace it with cruelty so that she can have the ability to commit cold-blooded murder. Lady Macbeth not only has the capacity to kill, but can also lie convincingly. When King Duncan visits
In Macbeth, a brutal tragedy by William Shakespeare, the author explores how when gone unchecked, power can corrupt all those surrounded by it. Lady Macbeth’s lust for power and Macbeth’s impressionable arrogance ultimately cost them their lives, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Notably, after hearing from Macbeth the witches prophecy, Lady Macbeth becomes obsessed with the idea of her husband becoming king. Willing to risk anything she formulates a plan and aggressively pushes Macbeth to murder King Duncan, insulting and manipulating him until he agrees. She chastises Macbeth, insulting his manhood and insisting that “when durst do it, then you were a man”. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into thinking
Aptly described as "fiendlike" by Prince Malcolm, Lady Macbeth was a major participant in the ruin of Macbeth. She was a woman virtually devoid of human emotions and general scruples. Her lack of principles and mindless ambition made her a proponent of seizing the throne. She goaded her husband into the act of vile murder with the words, "Yet do I fear thy nature. / It is too full o' the milk of human kindness" (Shakespeare 189). Lady Macbeth later said, "When you durst do it [kill Duncan], then you were a man" (Shakespeare 189). Lady Macbeth called Macbeth weak and made light of his manhood in order to influence him towards the murder of Duncan. Without the influence of his wife, Macbeth may have lacked the single minded resolve to go through with the murder of good King Duncan. In addition to pushing Macbeth to commit the murders, Lady Macbeth acted as accomplice that made his succession to the throne possible. Lady Macbeth came up with the plan to frame two innocent guards for the murder of Duncan. "...his two chamberlains [the ones she planned to frame for the murder] / Will I with wine and wassail so
Lady Macbeth’s tyranny actions show the corruption that comes with her desperate need for power. William Shakespeare shows examples throughout the play of how Lady Macbeth shows dominance over Macbeth and the corruption that comes with the dominance. Early in the play, Lady Macbeth exclaims, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/ What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness/ To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/ Art not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it” (1.5.15-20). Lady Macbeth proves to be far more powerful to Macbeth. In a famous soliloquy from the play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth dramatically begs: “He brings great news, The raven himself/ is hoarse/
In Macbeth, William Shakespeare develops the feeling of fear through the characterization of Lady Macbeth, the trait of ambition and the grim aspects in the book. To begin with, Shakespeare introduces Macbeth's wife Lady Macbeth, as an antagonist who pushes Macbeth to the breaking point, transforming him from the perceived heroine into a villain. In Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy, she calls upon the evil spirits begging to be transformed into a superior male by stating "That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, /And fill me from the crown to the toe topful"(1.5.41-42). This shows how evil she is and how she will lead Macbeth into their yearnings of power; Lady Macbeth only lusts for power and domination over people , and she will do
Lady Macbeth comes off as one of the most oblique, yet determined characters in the play. She had her mind set on helping her husband conciliate the throne and encourages him to pursue his dreams of being crowned as the king. When his weaknesses appeared she remained firm and made Macbeth’s goals her own ambitions. Things do seem a bit outrageous at that particular moment where Lady Macbeth explains to Macbeth how they should kill King Duncan but it shows not only the true love and devotion for her husband, but how she would stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.
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.
of the situation and to show that she now has the upper hand in their
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
In a sliver of the start of the play, Lady Macbeth is presented as ruthless, manipulative and ambitious, almost completely able to get what she wants, although Macbeth had thoughts about killing the king, the witches and Lady Macbeth really pushed him over the edge and compelled him to go through with the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth is further shown to be ambitious by the fact she wished to be a man so she could go through with the murder herself, and that she dehumanises her husband for being a coward, she is undoubtably a very strong character as she is obviously portrayed as.
Her desire to be evil, her challenging spirit, and her obsession with the prophecy are all contributing factors to Macbeth’s destruction and her evil transformation. In her infamous speech, Lady Macbeth begs to put her natural femininity aside so that she can do the bloody deeds necessary to seize the crown. Lady Macbeth’s desire to become evil is evident when she says, “Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full / Of direst cruelty!”