Lady Macbeth; The Real Housewife of Scotland “It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it” (Aung San Suu Kyi). Fear of losing power has more of an influence on the mind than the actual possession of power. In Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare, the hanging of power over the character's head causes them to do irreversible things to obtain more power. Lady Macbeth's power hungry personality caused her demise. By manipulating her husband to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth allows the illusion of power to influence her decisions. When she realizes that her actions are irrevocable, she begins to lose control of her life, leading to her tragic demise through suicide. Lady Macbeth's descent into her …show more content…
Lady Macbeth sees that the power that King Duncan wields is very easily obtained by herself if she was able to convince Macbeth to kill him. Leading her to manipulate Macbeth by taunting his masculinity in his face. Since in Macbeth, gender roles were very prominent with the assumption of men having to be strong providers and women as incapable and weak. Lady Macbeth takes advantage of Macbeth wanting to meet up with that stereotype. Once again when Macbeth was very hesitant about killing Duncan, Lady Macbeth's response was; “you shall put / This night’s great business to my disposal” (1.5.58-59). Lady Macbeth questions why Macbeth would feel so much guilt, if she, as a woman, could commit the same crime and feel nothing. Showing that even as an “incapable, weak woman” she could do a task as simple as that, causing Macbeth to rethink the idea of killing Duncan. These instances show the manipulation of Macbeth masculinity that Lady Macbeth uses to obtain more power stemming from her power hungry personality. When Lady Macbeth descended into her tragic demise, her panic state caused her demise to
Lady Macbeth, however, defies this gender stereotype as Shakespeare shows her to be controlling and dominant over men. ‘Come to my woman’s breasts/ And take my milk from gall’. Shakespeare has done this to show the audience that the stereotype of traditional women is not always as it seems and that woman can be just as cold-blooded as men. I believe that Lady Macbeth wanted Macbeth to kill the King because she was motivated by power. If she were to be the Queen she would have been the most powerful woman in the country. It is her only chance to achieve this goal. This shows how self-centred she is, as she doesn’t seem to care that the King has to die for her to have have power and wealth. Shakespeare demonstrates that Lady Macbeths desire for power overcomes any feeling of guilt she may feel, as she believes she will be so content in being powerful that they have no time to
So far, in the play, Lady Macbeth has been shown to be a very powerful and ambitious character. After reading Macbeth's letter, she says, "Thou wouldst be great, / Art not without ambition, but without / The illness that should attend it"(I.v 17-19), here, she is saying that he needs more evil or "illness" in him to become King, and therefore implies that she will "poison" him and give him the illness he needs to increase his ambition. Here she is also undermining her husband's authority (which is very unusual for a woman in the Elizabethan era) by saying he is unable to become a King, and is undermining his masculinity as she is thinking about things that a man would usually take charge of. To try to persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan when the audience first see them meet on stage, she is very bold, "Your hand, you tongue, look like th'innocent flower, / But be the serpent under't" (I.v 65-66), she shows her strong female identity, whose ambitions speak for her obsession with power.
Initially, when her character is introduced, she displays her masculine traits with complete disregard for any form of femininity. She commands the heavens in these lines, ”Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty.”(1.5.30-33). In this, Lady Macbeth sheds any attachment she has to her natural embodiment as a woman, and asks the supernatural to help her in her quest to power. It is clearly shown that Lady Macbeth yearns to achieve ambitions that weren’t considered womanly in the time period that this play is set in. As a consequence, she pushes her husband to fulfill her horrendous dreams, because she knows that she will not be affected if Macbeth fails to execute his plans. If Macbeth gets caught, then she remains blameless, and if he doesn’t, she becomes a queen. Either way she doesn’t get hurt. Nonetheless, Lady Macbeth hides another aspiration, one which is evidenced from her humane actions. As a loyal companion to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth wants to ensure that her husband achieves his dream, to be king, at any cost, even if that means sacrificing her femininity and humanity. Generally speaking, this unique perspective on Lady Macbeth shows that her demeaning of Macbeth’s masculinity is actually a display of her true feminine traits; to always support her husband regardless of the price. Lady
Power is a theme used by Shakespeare throughout the play Macbeth. The plot involves Macbeth trying to gain more power. Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan so that he will become king in his place. Macbeth also is persuaded to kill anyone who threatens his chances of being king, including Banquo. Power is used by certain characters in the play to influence others. One such character is Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, she is a strong-willed character. She takes on the role of a dominant male. She has great influence over her husband, who appears to be weaker than she is. It is her influence that convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner at the beginning of the play, she persuades Macbeth to achieve his goal, and she plans the murder of Duncan.
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
Macbeth's desire to become king is strongly supported by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a highly ambitious woman who, like her husband, is willing to do anything to obtain power. Shakespeare uses a series of imagery to vividly portray the desire for power in Lady Macbeth's soliloquy: “Come, you spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/Of direst cruelty!” To achieve her ambition, Lady Macbeth urges Macbeth “to catch the nearest way.” This means she wants him to kill Duncan so that he can become king. However, she fears that Macbeth is “too full o' th' milk of human kindness” to “catch the nearest way.” When Macbeth is reluctant to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth starts attacking his masculinity. “Then you were a man,” she said. Lady Macbeth also uses the power of emotional blackmail to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan.
In general, it could be said that Lady Macbeth takes advantage of her femininity and uses it and her frail image to manipulate the situation to suit her purposes. In Act 1 Scene 7, Lady Macbeth ‘bullies’ her husband by doubting his masculinity and provoking a response. She called Macbeth “afraid” and a “coward”. I am inclined to think that Lady Macbeth chose these words as Macbeth values his courage and fierce nature as it has positioned him highly in society. It is possible that Macbeth’s greatest vulnerability is his love for Lady Macbeth, and that enables her to exploit his love for power.
The Problem of Power in Macbeth "Power poisons every man who covets it for himself" (Chute 126). In the Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the character, Macbeth, kills the respected King Duncan in his quest for power. However, during his rule, Macbeth demonstrates that he is incapable of mastering the power and responsibilities of being a king. His drive for power and maintaining his power is the source of his downfall. Macbeth is not meant to have authority beyond Thane of Cawdor.
Lady Macbeth’s murderous thoughts concerning the demise of King Duncan characterize her as callous and cruel, as well as ruthlessly determined to achieve her goal of rising to power alongside Macbeth. After she reads Macbeth’s letter containing his royal prophecy, Lady Macbeth immediately begins to concoct a plan that will dethrone King Duncan as quickly as possible. She tells “spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts” to “unsex [her] here,” (1.5.47-48) and allow her to promptly lose her identity and transform into a man on the spot. Her readiness to completely alter her appearance and gender emphasizes the lengths to which Lady Macbeth is willing to go in order to successfully carry out her plan. She then further implores the spirits to “come to [her] woman’s breasts/And take [her] milk for gall” (1.5.54-55). By asking the spirits to exchange her nutritive milk for fatal poison, Lady Macbeth suggests that she does not see her breasts as soft and nurturing, but rather obstructive to the execution of her plan, and that
After receiving prophecies from the witches about his future to come, he is forced into an ambition-fuelled madness. As previously mentioned, Macbeth was persuaded to kill King Duncan by his wife due to his debatable manliness. This presented Macbeth’s need to prove to his wife he was manly by being valiant and strong and partaking in violent acts. He responds to his wife’s forceful directives by telling her, “Please stop! I dare do all that may become a man;/ Who dares do more is none” (1.7.46-47). This quote indicates how Macbeth believes a “real” man would not murder, and only due to Lady Macbeth explicitly attempting to manipulate him into action, does he succumb to do so. Macbeth endeavours the heinous crime of murdering the King, all owing to Lady Macbeth’s commands. On more than one occasion Macbeth is seen becoming mad, being overtaken by guilt and concern, highlighting that his manhood does not in fact give him any power, but only draws attention to his lack thereof. The inferiority he has within his relationship, also makes evident that Lady Macbeth’s pressure causes the transpiration of Macbeth’s powerful future. It is clear that Macbeth’s power was affected by his gender, as seen through his desperate need to prove his masculinity. Without the questioning of his manhood, Macbeth would have still been the
Gender roles in Macbeths society automatically expect men to be physically and emotionally stronger than women, however, lady Macbeth plays as a juxtaposition to Macbeth; encapsulating the emasculating woman prototype. She wants to abandon all her feminine qualities as she recognises that the characteristics she wants are not acceptable for females. She asks the spirits to "unsex" (1.5 46) her and to fill her "from the crown to the toe, top-full/ Of direst cruelty" (1.5 46). It is in gaining these ‘masculine’ characteristics in Lady Macbeth ultimately attacks Macbeths biggest insecurity- his masculinity. Lady Macbeth is more ambitious and power hungry than Macbeth, and uses him as a vice for her own power conquests. It is at times when he doubts what is right and wrong for his own ambition, that Lady Macbeth uses her power of manipulation to call his manhood into question. At first, Macbeth suggests that killing the King would make him less a man and would cause him too loose his humanity, however, he changes his mind as Lady Macbeth proposes that a real man keeps promises and acts on his ambitions: "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 54-56). Macbeth therefore murders Duncan to prove that he would be defeated neither by his fear
“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.
...hers and husbands. Although Lady Macbeth believes she has convinced Macbeth to kill Duncan, she resolves to carry out the deed herself. When Lady Macbeth arrives at the king’s chambers, she cannot execute the king. Lady Macbeth expressly rejects the masculine power that would allow her to wield a dagger. While she makes a case for killing Duncan, even declaring that "had he not resembled / My father as he slept, I had done't" (2.2.12-13). According to Chamberlain, “Lady Macbeth ultimately refuses masculine authority. What she craves instead is an alternative gender identity, one that will allow her to slip free of the emotional as well as cultural constraints governing women” (79). Furthermore, Lady Macbeth’s submissive gender role plays an important part in her failure to kill Duncan because she sees the king as the ultimate symbol of male authority.
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
Shakespeare is known for strong male heroes, but they are not laying around in this play, not that Macbeth is full of strong female heroines, either. The women in the play, Lady Macbeth and the witches have very uncommon gender belief, and act as inhumane as the men. While the men engage in direct violence, the women use manipulation to achieve their desires. As Lady Macbeth impels Macbeth to kill King Duncan, she indicated that she must take on some sort of masculine characteristic in order to process the murder. “Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ of direst cruelty.” (i v 31-34) This speech is made after she reads Macbeth’s letter. Macbeth, she has shown her desire to lose her feminine qualities and gain masculine ones. Lady Macbeth's seizure of the dominant role in the Macbeth's marriage, on many occasions, she rules her husband and dictates his actions. Her speeches in the first part of the book give the readers a clear impression. “You shall put this night’s great business into my dispatch, which shall […] gi...