Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have total control over someone? People would do everything you tell them to and they would always listen to you. In life, many people wish they could have that kind of power. Although, things probably will not end too well when you go a little too far. Macbeth a play by William Shakespeare, is an outstanding example of how characters manipulate Macbeth to his downfall. The character that is the most responsible for Macbeth’s downfall is Lady Macbeth because Lady Macbeth evil and manipulates Macbeth to kill people to get what he wants. Lady Macbeth is very manipulative as she is the one to push Macbeth to murder. Some may say that she just wants what is best for Macbeth or that she is motivating him to achieve …show more content…
his goals to be king. Although in a soliloquy she says,”Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear and chastise with the valor of my tongue. All that impedes thee from the golden crown.” (1.5.28-31) In modern english this translates to something along the lines of “Come home quickly so I can persuade you and talk you out of whatever it is that is keeping you from chasing after the king’s position.” As these words are spoken, she is alone. Nobody, except the audience, can hear her plans to manipulate Macbeth into doing whatever it takes to rule Scotland. This is one example of how Lady Macbeth is manipulative toward Macbeth. Furthermore, she puts down Macbeth until he agrees to commit the crime.
She tells Macbeth he will “live a cowerd in thine own self esteem letting ‘I dove not’ wait upon ‘I would’.” (1.7 46-8) She is telling Macbeth that he will live as a coward that will always say “I can not” after saying “I want to”. Obviously no one wants to be looked at as a coward so they do whatever they can to remove themselves from that title, even if it means murder. Another example of Lady Macbeth putting down Macbeth is when she tells him,”When you durst do it, then you were a man.” (1.7.56) She says that when you dare to do it -commit the murder-, that is when you will be a man. Every male wants to be seen as a man. So for Lady Macbeth to tell Macbeth that he will only be a man when he commits the murder, it pushes him further to want to do it. This is how Lady Macbeth uses put downs to manipulate her husband, Macbeth, to murder King …show more content…
Duncan. In addition, Lady Macbeth is also evil as she has invited the devil into her body.
She is speaking to Macbeth as she says,” Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” (1.7.65-7) She describes, in great detail, a horrific scene of smashing a baby’s brains out. She is telling Macbeth that unlike him, when she promises to do one thing, she gets the job done, even if it is a terrible deed. Another example of how Lady Macbeth is evil takes place after the murder. Macbeth accidentally brings out the daggers and Lady Macbeth takes them from him and says,”It must seem their guilt.” (2.2.57) This shows that Lady Macbeth will go to any extent to make sure they do not get caught. She is willing to frame two innocent people for the murder of King Duncan. This is how Lady Macbeth is evil and will do anything to get what she
wants. WIlliam Shakespeare reminds the audience that even if Macbeth commits a terrible crime, it is not entirely his fault. While it may be true that people should be responsible for their actions, those actions can come from manipulation from someone else. Even though it is easy to only blame one person in a situation like this, usually more than one person sparks the motive. Macbeth reminds us to always dig a little deeper to reveal the fuller, bigger picture.
Like the witches, Lady Macbeth uses carefully chosen words to exert control over Macbeth. However, whereas the witches’ intentions were unclear, it is clear to see that greed and ambition are the reason for her actions. Lady Macbeth seems to have a large amount of influence over Macbeth, which she uses to her advantage. Lady Macbeth uses her relationship with Macbeth and plays on his emotions in order to exert control over him.
Lady macbeth towards the beginning of the book was showing that she is in control by planning a murder.However, she really was weak as she had to ask for help to rid her of tenderness to commit the
In the play Macbeth I believe that Lady Macbeth is trying to control Macbeth and persuade him to do things against his will. The quote that I chose to portray this characteristic of Lady Macbeth was:
The Manipulative Lady Macbeth In certain situations, women are the downfall of men. Macbeth is a prime example of how women influence men. We are going to probe into the hidden lives of Lord and Lady Macbeth, and show how without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have lived and prospered. Lady Macbeth was a small but very important part of the play Macbeth. She is always on the side of Macbeth, telling him what she thinks he should do.
Secondly Lady Macbeth shows more ambition then Macbeth does in terms of gaining power regarding kingship. When Macbeth does not want to murder Duncan anymore, for he recognizes that he is a kind man, good king and thinks Duncan should remain the king. Lady Macbeth however shows more ambition for power, becomes very upset upon learning how Macbeth feels how he doesn’t want to kill King Duncan anymore, she says “And Live a coward in thine own esteem” (1.7.46) meaning she’s calling him a coward for not wanting to kill Duncan and thereby gaining power. She convinces him to change his mind to want the power of kingship now, which can only be achieved by killing Duncan.
Macbeth shows signs of weakness early on in the play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare but soon changes that into invulnerability. By achieving this he loses his friends and people who once cared for him, and realizes his true destiny and hardships that come with it. One hardship includes manipulation which is one of many themes that is introduced in various parts of the play. Macbeth is manipulated by his own wife Lady Macbeth, apparitions, and hallucinations, that all play a role in his death that occurs later in the play. Manipulation is the act of being tricked or convinced by something or someone to do something indecisively.
After Lady Macbeth reads his letter and Macbeth arrives home, she is excited about becoming queen. She asks Macbeth when King Duncan is to be arriving and tells Macbeth to leave the plan up to her, his only job being that he has to look innocent and hide their true intentions. Macbeth seems to be stunned and nervous, telling his wife that they will talk later when she begins to tell him of her plan. In the seventh scene, at the castle, Macbeth speaks of the intense guilt he is feeling even before he is to kill Duncan; “… this even-handed justice/ Commends the ingredients of our poisoned/ Chalice to our own lips…” (1. 7. 10-12) (Shakespeare), “… He’s here in double trust…” (1. 7. 12) (Shakespeare), “… Besides, this Duncan/ Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been/ So clear in his great office…” (1. 7. 17-19)(Shakespeare) all express Macbeth’s discomfort with murdering Duncan to steal the throne. Not only does he convey these emotions during this monologue, but he does so when Lady Macbeth enters the room, saying “We will proceed no further in this business./ He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people…” (1. 7. 32-34) (Shakespeare). To respond to this, Lady Macbeth does what she does best: emasculating her husband. She first articulates her questioning of his manhood after she reads Macbeth’s letter in the first act when she says “Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness…” (1. 5. 2-3) (Shakespeare), which contrasts with the heroic description the dying Captain gives of Macbeth in the opening scene. After Macbeth tells his wife that he is calling off the plan to kill King Duncan, she
Lady Macbeth certainly had the upper hand over her weak husband; she found it easy to manipulate him into murder and then getting him to think it was his own idea!
“When you first do it, then you were a man, And to be more than what you were, you would, be so much more the man” (I. VII, 54-56). After struggling with the thought of killing Duncan, Macbeth is reprimanded by Lady Macbeth for his lack of courage. She informs him that killing the king will make him a man, insinuating that he isn’t a man if he doesn’t go through with the murder. This develops Lady Macbeth as a merciless, nasty, and selfish woman. She will say, or do anything to get what she desires, even if it means harming others.
Lady Macbeth is the first to strategize a way to kill Duncan. As a character foil to Macbeth she juxtaposes their possession of guilt and ruthlessness, which creates irony and excitement to the play. Originally, she is very power hungry and wants to utilize her husband’s position in status to become queen. Macbeth objects to the plan to kill Duncan because he believes Duncan is Macbeth’s kinsman, host, and an overall virtuous ruler (Act. 1 Scene. 7) and thus feels very guilty for taking advantage of Duncan’s trusting quality towards the Macbeth family. She refers to Macbeth as weak and rebukes his manhood (Act 1. Scene 7.) . As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have a character role reversal of their possession of guilt and ruthlessness. The character foil is extant, however Macbeth’s ruthlessness overcomes his guilt, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt vanquishes her drive for power. In addition to an alteration in character foils, Shakespeare introduces situational irony because now Lady Macbeth succumbs to the weakness Macbeth once possessed and Macbeth is the one who is formidable and ambitious. Macbeth’s ability to transcend his guilt exemplifies his struggle for power and reinforces the theme of evil ambition because Macbeth is able to secure the throne and power only by mass
Throughout the play and leading up to her eventual suicide, Lady Macbeth slowly weakens. Yet, in the beginning of the play, she acts as if she is unstoppable. When Macbeth has his doubts and fears about murdering the loyal Duncan, Lady Macbeth chastises him, calling him everything from a coward to a helpless baby (I. vii. 39-49, 53-67). She even offers to do it herself, possibly to make Macbeth feel that he's even more cowardly because a woman is offering to do "his" job. This pushes Macbeth to kill, though these are the actions that will eventually lead to both of their demises later in the play. Macbeth tries to convince Lady Macbeth, as well as himself, that she is wrong: 3 Prithee, peace. I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares more is none. (I. vii. 50-52) However, Macbeth does not seem to fully convince her, because he is still mocked by his wife. Whether he failed to convince himself or to convince his Lady is irrelevant; he went through with the murder anyhow.
you don’t do it, then you are a man” (Lines 53-55) When her husband is backing out of murdering Duncan, Lady Macbeth uses insults and questions his manhood until he feels forced to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth was strong-willed and tough, using her skills to convince her husband to do things he would rather not. “This presentation of Lady Macbeth has attracted accusations of misogyny from critics because the women in the play (Lady Macbeth and the witches) are manipulative and evil.” (Jamieson) She then acts like a proud wife and calms her husband down after the deed is done.
...loquy, in this she also has more reason to be convicted of being a witch. When Lady Macbeth first reads the letter sent by Macbeth she instantly knows what she has to do but she knows her husband is a coward and that he “is too full o’the milk of human-kindness” and so she takes it upon herself to try and get him to do kill King Duncan because “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be that thou art promised’.” Once she set her aims/ambition high she knows in some way she can reach it, it also shows where her position in the relationship is. It shows that she is forcing/ordering Macbeth to be what she and the witches want him to be, which also says she is in touch with the supernatural side. Now we can see how manipulate this woman can be because she manipulates her husband into killing a king, which is treachery and could resolve in Macbeth being killed.
MacBeth is Responsible for His Downfall. There were many wrongs committed in "MacBeth." But who should bear the major responsibility for these actions? The witches prophesying the truth? Lady MacBeth's scheming and persuasion?
power and the position of king allows lady Macbeth to goad him into doing far more than what