Lady Macbeth Ambition Essay

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In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the titular character hears a prophecy that proclaims he will become the Thane of Cawdor and later king of Scotland. After the first part of the Weïrd Sisters' prophecy seemingly comes to pass when King Duncan grants him the title Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth resolves to bring about the second part of the sinister witches' foretelling by any means necessary. In this plan, and later plots to secure his kingship, Macbeth is aided and abetted by his wife and confidante, Lady Macbeth. Although it is Macbeth himself who actually murders the king and organises further atrocities, Lady Macbeth is the more dominant figure in their marriage, for without her influence, support and manipulation, Macbeth would never have been able to set the resulting events in motion.
Lady Macbeth's ambition and cunning far outstrip that of her husband. When reading a letter from him describing his encounter with the Weïrd Sisters, she sees that his ambition is limited by his sense of honour and morality. She describes these qualities as an "illness," remarking that his "nature/Is too full o' th' milk of human kindness /To catch the nearest way" (1.5.16-18). Thus Lady Macbeth correctly sees that her husband's ambition is fettered by moral scruples that she utterly lacks, and that without her assistance, his ingrained sense of rectitude will prevent him from ever taking the throne (and thus fulfilling the witches' prophecy). Lady Macbeth's only limitation is her gender. Even though her nature and character belie the gender roles of the time, she acknowledges that because she lacks a man's capacity for cruelty and ruthlessness, it is fitting for her to invoke the "spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts" to "unsex" her and imbue her...

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...r the murder of Macduff's wife and children that Lady Macbeth begins to feel any guilt about the blood that has stained the couple's hands (5.5.44-45). Up to this point, she expresses no remorse over the crimes she and Macbeth have committed to advance and secure their ambitions, and frequently has to coerce her husband for him to proceed with the necessary steps. Although she does not actually commit any murders, Lady Macbeth provides constant moral and material support to her husband, going as far as to plant the evidence of Duncan's murder on the chamberlains when Macbeth is unwilling to do so. She also frequently chastises Macbeth over his expressions of remorse, constantly appealing to his sense of manhood. Therefore, in contrast to the gender norms of Shakespeare's time, Lady Macbeth is actually the more dominant partner in her marriage with Lord Macbeth.

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