How Is Lady Macbeth A Sympathetic Character

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Through the entirety Shakespeare’s play, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a malicious, manipulative character who will not stop until she gets what she wants. Her behavior and actions in 'Macbeth' prove so, but she doesn’t show her true colors until Macbeth receives the news from the witches about becoming king. She becomes blinded by ambition and begins manipulating Macbeth, contriving a plan to do whatever it takes for her husband to become king. Even if it means getting her hands bloody. She pleads to the witches to rid her of her femininity, only seeing it as a weakness keeping her from being completely ruthless. But even so, she is racked with grief and guilt after Duncan’s murder, Banquo’s death, and ends up taking her own life near the very end, these are not the actions of a typical “evil” character. Lady Macbeth and her husband were both tempted by evil as once in the beginning of the story they were good people, but their ambition was the downfall of them both. Lady Macbeth is not a sympathetic character by any means, but her being unable to commit murder, her genuine remorse, and confessing to the crimes …show more content…

This shows her descent into madness as she panics and exclaims to the doctor and gentlewoman that nothing will ever wash the blood on her hands off. The death of Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff's wife and child is too much for Lady Macbeth, the guilt eating at her, she can no longer live with herself. She commits suicide from the horrible acts she and her husband both committed, this proves she's not a truly evil person. She's unable to relish being queen of Scotland because she's not as evil as her actions make her seem. This specific scene is important because even though it's established that Lady Macbeth is a power-hungry character, she's not completely merciless if she sincerely feels remorse for her

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