Who killed the king!? It’s the ultimate game of who done it for the characters of Macbeth. However, the audience knows that it was Macbeth who actually stabbed Duncan. But, the audience also knows that Lady Macbeth is more at fault. Lady Macbeth is more blameworthy than Macbeth for Duncan’s death because she persuaded him into doing it, planned it, and finished the job. To begin, Macbeth was wheedled into killing Duncan. He told his wife about the witches’ prophecy of him becoming king and she desperately wanted to be queen. She had a thirst for power. But Macbeth kept going back and forth on whether or not he was going to kill the king. He wanted to become king, but he didn’t want to have to kill a man that he respected and who respected him. Lady Macbeth, however, was sure about what she wanted. “When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ and, to be more than what you were, you would/ be so much more the man.” (1.7.49-51) Lady Macbeth took control to get what she wanted. She told her husband that only after killing Duncan will he truly be a man. She’s sneaky and strong-willed and would go to great heights to get what she wants. Lady Macbeth might have even killed Duncan herself if she was unable to persuade Macbeth to do it. …show more content…
When she gets done telling Macbeth that he’s being a big baby for not wanting to murder Duncan, she starts to plan the crime herself. “When Duncan is asleep –/ whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey/ soundly invite him – his two chamberlains/ will I with wine and wassail so convince/ that memory…” (1.7.61-65) She comes up with the perfect way to kill Duncan, getting him and his chamberlains drunk enough that they won’t remember anything. Macbeth just does as he’s told. What other choice does he have? His wife will see to it that Duncan is exterminated. She is more level-headed throughout the
By exaggerating the ease of murdering King Duncan, she wants Macbeth to feel cowardly over backing out since it would be effortless. Effectively, Lady Macbeth understands human nature to not want to be perceived as weak and cowardly, which is how she manipulates Macbeth into committing
She said that right after her husband told her that King Duncan is going to come. She thinks the only way to get the crown is the death of Duncan, so she is elaborating a plan to kill him. But she will not be the one killing him, her goal is getting Macbeth to kill Duncan. Moreover, she manipulates her husband. By questioning his manhood,
She especially fooled Duncan with her great hospitality and thoughtfulness. She also is good at remaining cool in tense situations and is good at getting out of tense situations. For example, when Macbeth was hallucinating at the dinner party, and was seeing Banqou's ghost, Lady Macbeth remained cool and made up a plausible explanation for her husband's actions. Although she seems to have no conscience, we see at the end when she is sleepwalking, that she is deeply troubled. She knows that it is partially her fault for all the murders, especially Duncan's.
In Shakespeare's story Macbeth a key character Duncan is killed in cold blood, however who is completely responsible? In this essay I will explain my response into why I think that Macbeth is the primary subject in the murder of King Duncan, I will also write about how Lady Macbeth also plays a big part in the murder of Duncan. My main reason against Macbeth is the fact that he had indeed committed the deed which would lead to the upheaval of the kingdom, he ignored all signs that the plan could be disastrous and went and killed Duncan. What is mainly agitating for the reader is the fact that he showed deep respect for his kinsman but he completely ignores his conscience and blindly leaves his heart in his wife's hands.
She even suggested that Macbeth should murder King Duncan to end up as king. Even though, Lady Macbeth is crazy she is not the cause for Macbeth’s
She tells him that he is no man if he doesn’t act on it. But just because she calls him names and insults him doesn’t mean he needs to do what she tells him to do. There is something in the back of Macbeth’s mind that gives him a push to do it. It is the greed for power that lies within him. After Macbeth kills King Duncan he returns to his wife bloodied and filled with guilt.
In a murderous rampage Macbeth kills many. Macbeth will kill anyone that is in his way to have the throne. But who is actually to blame for all of these crimes? In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare Macbeth is in a risky situation. Macbeth must decide to live a murderous life and be king or to not be king and live a normal life.
However, Lady MacBeth attacked MacBeth’s masculinity when MacBeth hesitated to follow the murder plan. “When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man” (Act 1 sc. 7 lines 49-51). Despite the criticism, MacBeth still loves his wife, mourns her death, and states that there is no reason for him to live any longer. “She should have died hereafter;/ There would have been a time for such word./ Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” (Act 5 sc.
When Duncan announces that he would be visiting their castle, not only does she display the expected joy of the news, but begins implore an elaborate plan of murder, a concept in which Macbeth has already considered and rejected out of fear: “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,/! Shakes so my single state of man”(.) Acknowledging his husband’s good nature, thus his inability to proceed, she calls on the spirits of darkness and evil to “fill [Her] from the crown to the toe, with direst cruelty”, and to remove her of all feminine qualities - essentially turning herself into the very incarnation of malice; bent towards making Macbeth follow suit. However when Macbeth further considers how he is kinsmen, subject and host towards the king, and is bound by duty to keep Duncan from attack, and obviously not attacking himself, with the added facts of Duncan being a virtuous and highly respected man, he decides to “proceed to further in this business.” Lady Macbeth who furiously accuses of Macbeth of acting cowardly and delivers a final blow to his resolve by saying how she would soon rather kill her own baby than to back down from such a solemn commitment. Her total lack of restraint would suggest that she is not only a simply a woman of persistence, she is possessed by evil passion so tremendous and irresistible that Macbeth’s Loyal nature is inevitably
Her ambitious plans plant the seed in Macbeth's mind and she ultimately convinces him to kill Duncan. Not only does she have a corrupted character, but she also corrupts her husband by means of manipulation. She lays out the whole murderous plan and even helps Macbeth get rid of the evidence. It is safe to say that this points to the lady's wicked and even aloof character.
This gives Macbeth more of a desire to kill Duncan, however, Macbeth is still slightly hesitant to do the act. The technique that Lady Macbeth used to persuade her husband was by vividly saying that she would always stick by what she said she would do just as Macbeth told her that he would kill Duncan. She goes on to say that if she had a baby in her hands, she would “Have plucked my nipple from his boneless / gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you / Have done this” (Macbeth 1.7.64-66). After hearing everything Lady Macbeth had to say, Macbeth agreed to kill Duncan so he could become
It seems that she can convince him to do anything as long as she pushes the right buttons. On the other hand, as the play goes one, and Duncan is killed, their is a reversal of natural order, and Macbeth becomes the dominating one. Lady Macbeth becomes very obedient. She becomes pathetic and only a shadow of her former self. Where she used to be manipulative and stong willed she is now weak and is unable to control Macbeth.
She begins to explain to Macbeth what her plan is, “When Duncan is asleep-- whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey soundly invite him-- his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail to convince that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume and the receipt of reason A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep their drenched natures lie as in a death, what cannot you and I perform upon the unguarded Duncan?” (Act I sc. vii lines 61-66). Her master plan is to kill Duncan while he is asleep by sneaking into his castle and getting the guards drunk. Since she came up with the plan to kill Duncan, it shows that she is the one at fault. If Lady Macbeth had never compelled her husband to go along with her plan, he would never have thought about murdering King Duncan and things could have gone in favor for Macbeth instead of how they actually played out. More proof that she was to blame for the death of Duncan was when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were preparing to kill him. Lady Macbeth said, “The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms do mock their charge with snores. I have drugged their possets, that death and nature do contend about them, whether they live or die” (Act II sc. ii lines 6-10). Lady Macbeth had just told Macbeth that she had poisoned the wine and that the guards were fast asleep. Even though Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth can be said to be one of Shakespeare's most famous and frightening female characters. She fulfills her role among the nobility and is well respected, like Macbeth. She is loving, yet very determined that her husband will be king. At the beginning of the play, when she is first seen, she is already plotting the murder of Duncan, showing more strength, ruthlessness, and ambition than Macbeth. She lusts after power and position and then pressures her husband into killing Duncan. Upon receiving the letter with the witches' prophecies from her husband, she begins to think and knowing that Macbeth lacks the courage for something like this, she calls upon the forces of evil to help her do what must be