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Macbeth character analysis
Macbeth character analysis
Macbeth literature paper act 1 scene 5
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A commonly asked question from people who have read Macbeth is “Who is more at fault for the murder of King Duncan? Lady Macbeth or Macbeth himself?” There are many arguments for each side explaining who could be more at fault for the King’s murder. Personally, from the evidence of the book I believe that Lady Macbeth is more responsible for the king’s death. Throughout the book there are numerous examples showing how she is more at fault for this. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare Lady Macbeth not only talks her husband into reluctantly killing the king, she turned killing the King into a matter of Macbeth being a true man, and she felt no remorse after the King’s death while Macbeth felt awful about the situation and he felt very disloyal to the King. …show more content…
However, Lady Macbeth was in complete support of the murder of King Duncan. She talked her husband into killing the King even though he was hesitant about the idea. “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 round, which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal.”(Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 15-20) Without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have never been pressured into killing the King and the King would have probably lived. Lady Macbeth challenged Macbeth’s manliness in order to convince him to murder the King. “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.” (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 3-5). Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that he is too nice and that although he could manage the Kings position he doesn’t have a mean streak in his body and that there is no way that he will step up and follow through with the killing of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is very manipulative in her ways and how she convinces Macbeth to kill
In the play, Macbeth was responsible for his downfall and let his greed take over. He was always ambitious, but ended up abandoning his loyalty from King Duncan, the King of Scotland and slowly changed him from a trustworthy, brave and loyal soldier to a merciless tyrant. Lady Macbeth and the three witches are responsible for Macbeth’s downfall. The prophecies changed Macbeth for the worst and is willing to remove any threats that stand in his way. Macbeth, although a loyal warrior, had always possessed ambitious motives that finally turned him into a murderer.
Without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would probably not have killed Duncan.
In Act 1,Scene 5, Lady Macbeth says “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”. In this quote Lady Macbeth is basically saying that Macbeth is weak and isn't strong enough to do the task,that need to be done. Which is killing King Duncan,and taking his crown. She is very selfish,and doesn't care about the consequences of what her, and her husband are about to do. Lady Macbeth also says beforehand, that she knows she is going to have to convince her husband, in order for Duncan to be killed off,and her and him get the crown.
In regards to Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth demonstrates her tragic flaw in her conscious suppression of her muliebrity and her subconscious support of it. In Act I scene 5, she receives a letter from Macbeth. When she hears about the prophecy, she considers killing Duncan to gain power for the first time. Lady Macbeth is too gentle Lady Macbeth has a glorified idea of what it means to be masculine, so she thinks that she could achieve more without her femininity. Consciously, she wishes to be, “top-full/of direst cruelty,” (I.v.48-50).
...Without her persuasion, King Duncan would never have been murdered, meaning that none of the other ensuing deaths would have occurred either, and Macbeth would have stayed the heroic, brave man he was.
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. It is this selfishness that makes it hard for the reader to be empathetic towards her later in the play, as it is evident in this scene that her hardships were brought on by herself. If she hadn’t insisted on the murder, she would not be driven in...
In my opinion Lady Macbeth is most to blame, because she forced Macbeth to kill the king when he truly didn’t want to. Lady Macbeth made Macbeth kill the king when he didn't want to kill him but he still wanted the power. Macbeth wanted the king's power but he didn't want to have to kill the king. The lesson to learn from this story is to never let someone pressure you to do something you absolutely don't want to
However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility for Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to commit the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status as a woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not being the strong, valiant man he is, in battle with her wife and standing before those childish yet effective arguments she used, Lady Macbeth is the immediate cause for Macbeth’s actions.
She believes that Macbeth is falling short of manliness because of his fear of killing Duncan. According to Lady Macbeth, “When you dared to do it, that’s when you were a man.” his initial plan of murdering Macbeth was manly, but his fear of following through with the plan causes Lady Macbeth to doubt him. When Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to “unsex her” in Act 1 Scene 3, her ideas on manhood come clear. If she were to be unsexed, than the typical characteristics of a woman's kindness and remorse would no longer belong to her. Instead, she would have the potential to be a cruel killer, such as she believes a man truly should be. Lady Macbeth sees being a man as ruthless. They are brutal, showing no remorse for anyone that they may hurt in their path. It is seen that Macbeth fell short of this title because of his hesitation during the murder. Lady Macbeth states, “I fear thy nature, it is too full o'th milk of human kindness” (1.7.3). This proves that she does not think Macbeth will go through with the murder because he is not manly enough and shows too many characteristics proving
Lady Macbeth says and does many things to get Macbeth to do as she says which in the end lead to his downfall. Lady Macbeth seems to want Macbeth to have power more than he wants it himself. She says to her husband, “yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness”(200). Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that he is too feminine because he is not sure if he wants to kill Duncan in the beginning. Lady Macbeth knows how easily Macbeth can be persuaded so she knows what to say. She says “hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear” (200). Lady Macbeth says she will do whatever she has to do to make Macbeth kill Duncan. Literary critic Stephanie Chamberlin says “Scholars have traditionally read this as well as her earlier "unsex me here" (1.5.39) invocation as evidence of Lady Macbeth's attempt to seize a masculine power to further Macbeth's political goals” (72). Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to do what she won’t do and Macbeth’s flaw of being easily persuaded leads to his
If MacBeth had never been persuaded to kill Duncan, MacBeth probably would not have committed any other murder crimes throughout the rest of the play. One could blame Lady MacBeth for persuading her husband to become a killer --- blame women’s ability to manipulate men into having bad character. Though, one could also blame MacBeth, seeing as he was responsible for his own decisions. MacBeth had the option of how strongly he stood up to his wife for his moral beliefs, and he chose to barely defend his opinion. It’s clear that neither MacBeth nor his wife were solely responsible for his final decision to murder King Duncan. Without his wife’s persuasion, MacBeth would not have killed the king, but MacBeth could have chosen to not be so easily persuaded by his wife.
While not the only contributing factor, Lady Macbeth does play a substantial role in the downfall of her husband. She is a like a catalyst for Macbeth and essentially pushes him to do what he would not have been able to do on his own. Macbeth himself highly ambitious and determined, but his wife is even more so. At first he refuses to kill Duncan but she persists and eventually gets him to do it. It is important to note here that Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth forward by manipulating him.
Lady Macbeth is responsible for her husband's actions and what has become of him. She is held accountable for his later murders as well because her forceful nature was the cause of the repeating pattern. If every character had the chance to be Macbeth, they too could not help but think of what would be necessary in order for them to be the highly ranked king and ruler of the land. Although Macbeth expressed feelings to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth was the driving force behind him because she would not lay the idea to rest. She thirsts for the power and the riches of the royalty life.
Macbeth is a fascinating story containing all kinds of plots and murders. The characters that are killing and are planning murders are all very deceiving and treacherous. Macbeth is guiltier because of these three main reasons; Macbeth kills the king, kills the guards, and he kills Banquo. Two of the most dangerous criminals in this play is Lady Macbeth and her husband, Macbeth. Together they committed one of the most dreadful murders by killing King Duncan. This is why it is difficult to determine which one of these two is guiltier because they each do their part in committing the crime. Lady Macbeth would prepare the plan and then manipulated Macbeth to go through with it. Macbeth was the one that committed the murder, and he was also the first person who thought about killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth did not have any involvement in these cases. Based on these ideas, Macbeth should be found more guilty than Lady Macbeth.
Under Lady Macbeth's power, Macbeth kills Duncan while a guest at his home. The hesitation of the whole plan to murder the king sticks with Macbeth throughout the rest of the play haunting him. Lady Macbeth's power comes from her control and harshness towards her husband. She figuratively and literally would have little societal standing if not married to the great warrior Macbeth. Macbeth is a passive person when it comes to his wife and follows her orders as if she were ruling him. Once dead, Macbeth feels immediate guilt which is strange for such a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. This guilt though is just a product of his quest for immediate power over the land and thinks that it is worth the riches and power of the position. Macbeth killing Duncan helped to assure that he would soon