Lady Macbeth's Abuse Of Power

Not feeling any remorse, she is able to skillfully let go of guilt and skillfully get rid of evidence. As Macbeth comes back to her after the deed is complete he is very shaken up and extremely paranoid that someone saw him with the bloody daggers. Lady Macbeth tells him, “These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so it will make us mad” (2.2.34). By saying this she believes that you shouldn’t feel guilty about doing evil, you should just get it done and move on because thinking about it will only drive you crazy. Also she thinks when commiting violent acts such as murder make sure to get rid of any evidence that will lead people to believe you are a suspect. Frustrated and upset that her husband came home bathed in blood and the daggers in his hand she states, “Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers.”(2.2.52-53). She is extremely disappointed in Macbeth for being so careless and cannot believe that he did not go through the well thought out plan smoothly. In her eyes he is still a coward and does not know how to behave calmy when feeling guilty.

Lady Macbeth bashes Macbeth for going back on his word, saying that he must have been drunk previously, and now that he has slept the drunkness has soured him and the plan. Calling him drunk also takes aim at the way he carries himself, as if he is someone who is unable to control himself and relapses to his painful desires. Lady Macbeth views her husband as a man who is too unfocused and distracted, as a drunk is with his liquor, to successfully deal with the task at hand. Later in their conversation, Lady Macbeth additionally attacks her husband's demeanor. When explaining how easy it will be to murder Duncan in his sleep, she yells at her husband "They have made themselves, and that their fitness now Does unmake you"(1.7.60).

However, when Macbeth returns home from fighting he is greeted with the plan to kill Duncan. At first he refuses to co-operate but his wife manipulates him to change his mind. She throws at him insults, such as ‘once you durst do it, then you were a man’ and to call a man who just fought bravely for his king a coward in a mighty insult. She also throws at him ‘From this time such I account thy love’. At the end, in order to make sure Macbeth does commit the unnatural deed she tells him a disturbing image of her with her newborn child ‘And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you’.

Another part in the story where Lady Macbeth just goes along with all of Macbeth’s murderers and spilling blood is in Act 2, scene 2, 45–52 when Macbeth brings the daggers she tells him to plant them on the kings unconscious groom so that the suspicion could be off of

Although she likes to talk like she is tough, when it comes down to it, she shies away from violence and her true colours are revealed. In act one, Lady Macbeth says she would do anything to be a queen. In fact, she specifically says she “Would, while it was smiling in my face/Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums/And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you/Have done to this”(I.vii.56-59). However, later in the play, she admits that she didn’t have the courage to kill King Duncan herself because he looked like her father. She says, “Had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done’t”(II.ii.12-13). Lady Macbeth is being extremely hypocritical. At first, she plays the role of the tough wife that can do all, then as soon as she is faced with the crime, she cannot bring herself to do the deed. It is obvious that she was not being honest with her husband nor herself when she said she would kill her own child, as she was too cowardly to kill a person she did not have a personal or close relationship with. At the beginning of the play, she ridiculed Macbeth for hesitating to kill the king, but in the end she was the one who was too cowardly to do what she needed to do to get what she what she wants. Moreover,

MacBeth was a very good and intriguing play that shakespeare wrote. MacBeth was a undercover villain to many of the readers. Macbeth had a plot and that plot involved his “Best Friend” king duncan. MacBeth’s wife Lady Macbeth was also another ring leader in this equation. She was a very ignorant and mean wife who wasn’t very supportive she was also very power driven.

In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth was an important character. She was the wife of the King of Scotland. Lady Macbeth had first come off as a forceful character but as time passed, her weaknesses were shown.

One of these instances can be seen when Macbeth becomes frightened by the ghost of Banquo at the banquet table. She states: “Impostors to true fear, would well become A woman’s story at a winter’s fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!” (3.4.64-66). Lady Macbeth compares her husband to an old woman telling stories around a fire. She clearly challenges his manhood in order to get him to stop acting out at the dinner. In another instance, Lady Macbeth is attempting to manipulate her husband by claiming she could be considered more of a man than him. She calls her husband’s word into question in the following excerpt when he has doubts about killing Duncan. She says: “How tender ’tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this” (1.7.55-59). She describes that she would kill a child feeding on her breast if she had sworn to do it. Her heinous description of this act makes the killing of Duncan seem more benign. Lady Macbeth’s ambition leads to her using those around her with malicious intent.

24-29). When Macbeth decides not to continue with their plan to murder Duncan, his wife urges him to act on his desires or he will think of himself as a coward. She says, "Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valour / As thou art in desire?" (I, vii. 42-44). She then makes sure he will perform the deed by taking an active role in preparing for the murder. "his two chamberlains / Will I with wine and wassel so convince," (I, vii. 70-71) and cleaning up afterwards, "Give me the daggers: the sleeping, and the dead / Are but as pictures; 'tis the eye of childhood / That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, / I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal, / For it must seem their guilt." (II, ii. 69-73).

This led Macbeth to become even more power hungry and ruthless. He would continue to kill anyone who gets in his way. Once Duncan is dead, Macbeth is very shaken up and Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation once again in her efforts to protect her husband and herself. Lady Macbeth steps in and says, “Give me the daggers.” (2.2. 69)

Are all people power hungry trying to get to the top of some virtual ladder with no discretion to what they are capable of to get their dose of power? Are they like an addict which was shown in the writing of Macbeth or does power corrupt with over whelming ecstasy kicking off a thirst for power that will never be satisfied? In any case Macbeth’s only crimes were not being suited to be king for the power crushed him like a piece of grain going through a mill.

Throughout the course of time, humanity has viewed an individual with power as someone that possess the qualities of unwavering strength, strong influence, and control. Although this is the case, this individual can vary depending on the circumstances. For example, one could be a King who is the overseer to all parts of his kingdom and is well known all around the world. The other could be a poor common man living in the slums of this very kingdom, planning to overthrow that very king. One might think that because the man is in such a small position compared to the king, he holds less power and doesn’t pose as a threat.

Complicated consequences result from the abuse of power that is central in William Shakespeare’s play ’Macbeth’ following immoral manipulation. Macbeth was written in 1606 during the reign of King James I and was used as a warning to potential threats of the King. It is a form of praise and admiration towards the King by Shakespeare as those who immorally seize power will ultimately possess a destroyed fate. Through analysing the text, we can see that abuse of power through supernatural manipulation on human nature is evident therefore guilt and delusions are consequences of that power abuse.

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.

That night Macbeth ends up killing Duncan. Just before the murder Macbeth is walking down the hall when he has a vision of a dagger with a bloody tip, which is pointed for Duncan’s room. He thinks to himself, “Art tho not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation” (II.1.36-38). During the murder Macbeth makes a mistake that angers Lady Macbeth. He has forgotten to leave the daggers with Duncan’s guards, and she must now go and return them. Initially Macbeth is upset over the murder, but Lady Macbeth tells him it is as easy to forget about as washing the blood away with water. This first murder shows the strong character of Lady Macbeth and the influence she has over her husband.