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Lady Macbeth's Cruelty

Decent Essays

Lady Macbeth asks external forces to fill her with cruelty because she believes in order to commit the necessary acts needed to become queen, she must be completely purged of her kind soul. After reading Macbeth's letter describing the witches and the prophecy that he and Lady Macbeth are to become rulers of Cawdor, Lady Macbeth realizes that Macbeth's kindness is problematic to his path to become king; Lady Macbeth describes him saying, "thy nature; it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness" (1.5 16). Here Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth's kindness to milk because she believes, that like milk, being kind and harmless will not allow him to do whatever it takes to become king, instead she believes he has to be cruel and merciless in order to …show more content…

Lady Macbeth has realized that the king is what is keeping her and Macbeth from the throne…(needs to be moved) Before she attempts to kill the king Lady Macbeth drinks alcohol and states, “that which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;/ What hath quenched them hath given me fire” (2.2 1-2) Here Lady Macbeth is confessing that before she attempts to kill the king that she needs to and has gotten drunk. When drunk one is not in control of their actions and are reckless. Lady Macbeth has realized that the king is in her and Macbeth’s way of ruling Cawdor is she asks external forces to fill her with darkness in order to be cruel enough to kill him, yet, after being filled with darkness she also needs toxins to take over in order to kill the king. Lady Macbeth’s actions imply that she is not fully evil because to kill the king she needs to be drunk in order to be compelled enough to commit horrible acts. Lady Macbeth is proven to not to be committed to her mission when she fails to kill the king saying, “had he not resembled my father as he slept,/ I had done’t” (2.2 12-13). Here Lady Macbeth claims that she did not kill the king because he resembled her father. If she were truly evil and committed she would not consider the resemblance to her father and would be detached from her humanity enough to kill him. Lady Macbeth’s failure to kill the king on her own, despite being filled with darkness and being drunk, because of something as minute as him reminding her of her father implies that she is not as evil or committed to the crimes that she wants to commit, thus she is not committed to her mission of becoming

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