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Comparison of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
Macbeth literary analysis
Macbeth challenges the gender roles of its time through lady macbeth's behavior
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In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is the most ambitious character, especially when compared to her husband Macbeth when plotting Duncan’s murder, willingness to kill her own baby and she wishes to have been born a man. To begin with, Lady Macbeth knew Macbeth’s weaknesses and how to motivate him to kill Duncan, “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.” (1.5.16-19). Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem to be similar characters but are different in many aspects. Lady Macbeth influences her husband to do things that will benefit the both of them. Lady Macbeth wants Duncan dead because of her hunger for the throne. …show more content…
Macbeth has a hard time embracing the idea of murdering Macbeth lacks ambition, action, and destruction which proves their differences. Accordingly, Lady Macbeth shows her ambition and drive when she says she is willing to kill her on baby, “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.” (1.7.55-59). Lady Macbeth is trying to prove her willingness to eliminate anyone who stands in her way. She continues to be the dominant character in her relationship with Macbeth. She uses her own ambition as persuasion to influence Macbeth to kill Duncan, and is trying to make Macbeth come to the realization that he deserves to be king. Macbeth struggles being overwhelmed with ambition and self doubt. He constantly questions his own actions and relies on Lady Macbeth for all decisions. If the roles were reversed, Macbeth would never make a proposal that he would kill his own
Lady Macbeth has a greater control on Macbeth’s actions than any other character in Macbeth apart from the Weïrd Sisters. She is well known for her persuading speeches to her husband, convincing him to fulfill the murder of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth’s manly qualities, and informs him that only when he follows through with the murder that
In the beginning of the drama Lady Macbeth dramatically influenced Macbeth. Macbeth would always second guess his decisions. Macbeth seemed inclined to listen to his wife. Throughout the story, Lady Macbeth would find a way to twist Macbeth’s emotion. “When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you where, you would be so much more the man” (Shakespeare, Macbeth 1.7 49-51). In this quote Lady Macbeth was insulting Macbeth, she was telling her husband he wasn’t man enough to kill King Duncan. “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling…dashed its brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this” (Shakespeare, Macbeth 1.7 54-58). Lady Macbeth brings up the baby that they had together. The baby died long before she says this. She explains that she would “smash” its head for him. This became the turning point in Macbeth’s decision to kill Duncan. At first he was hesitant to kill him, but Lady Macbeth angered and then saddened Macbeth. She twisted his emotions and provided the motivation Macbeth needed to kill Duncan. This is the start to Macbeth reign as King.
We start to see Lady Macbeth’s actions have a huge impact on Macbeth’s character as he transforms from a decent being to an overly bitter creature. The cause of his alteration is due to the fact that Lady Macbeth is constantly excreting heartless information into his mind. "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour as thou art in desire?" (I;vii;39-41) "And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I;vii;50-51) Lady Macbeth uses these quotes to push her husband beyond limits and is therefore responsible for his dramatic change in attitude. She is constantly feeding his thoughts with negative comments and later on Macbeth realizes that he has another side to him. As he moves along to discover the concealed side of him, Macbeth falls in love with himself and begins to be drawn towards his evil desires. Because Lady Macbeth was the main cause of his new hidden discovery, she is fully responsible for opening up the door and letting the darkness in. This results in Macbeth committing both murders.
Lady Macbeth takes the role of the dominant partner in the beginning of the play, by acting as the real power behind the throne. For example, it is easily recognized that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are opposite in many ways (Scott 236). He is weak, indecisive, and takes on the traditional female role of the marriage; she is strong, decisive, and takes on the traditional male role. One place in the play where Macbeth’s character is shown is Act I, Scene 5, Lines 15-17. She says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promis’d : yet do I fear thy nature / Is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.” This is just after Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth. It is also important to notice that when Macbeth’s first thoughts of killing Duncan appear, he is scared. After he commits the murder, Macbeth says, “To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself ” ( 2. 2. 72 ). Knowing that he has committed such a vile act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and deal with his guilt.
A quote which really defines Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s ambition regarding power is “Power does not corrupt men; fools; however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power” George Bernard Shaw. Lady Macbeth is more ambitious in terms of gaining power then Macbeth is and that Lady Macbeth will do almost anything to gain power, even evil things that she normally wouldn’t do. This is shown when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth learn about the witches’ predictions, then roles in the plans to murder king Duncan in order to gain power and then finally after the murder, Macbeth doesn’t want to finish the plan making Lady Macbeth angry and causing a chance they might get caught and gain no power at all.
Lady Macbeth is getting very confused that Macbeth is refusing to kill King Duncan and she cannot commit the crime her self because evidently King Duncan resembles too much like her father. She fells that Macbeth is not a man and she ridicules and tries to persuade him to kill King Duncan by saying that he is not a man and that the only way to become a man is to kill the king (regicide).
Lady Macbeth negatively guides lots of Macbeth’s behaviour, for instance, when Macbeth hesitates to commit murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he has to do it to prove himself as the man that Lady Macbeth always mentioned; it is also one of the reasons that lead to Macbeth’s downfall, as well as the deaths of the other innocent characters in the text. “[Macbeth does] Like the poor cat i' th' adage? ”(1.7.46) says Lady Macbeth, when Macbeth is hesitating whether kill Duncan or not while he’s in Macbeth’s castle. Lady Macbeth describes Macbeth as a poor cat from old stories to satire Macbeth’s indecision. She degrades Macbeth’s manhood as he doesn’t have the dare to act the way he desires, to pursue the power and glory that he wants. Macbeth replies that he only dares to do what is proper for a man to do. However later in the text, Macbeth’s actions go crazy, he cares his family no more, as well as his friends and subordinates. Lady Macbeth seems to know that she needs to push Macbeth into committing murder, or Macbeth will just let nature take its course. At some points, she wishes that she was not a woman so that she could do the things that man could do by herself, such as the murder, so she won’t see Macbeth lacks in the power of decision and his overtaken by misgivings and fear. In addition, Julia encourages
Macbeth: Shakespeare's Comparisons and Contrasts. Throughout Macbeth Shakespeare uses comparison and contrast to bring out characteristics of his main character, Macbeth. Shakespeare uses comparisons with Duncan, Lady Macbeth, and Banquo to bring out aspects of Macbeth's character. After hearing of Macbeth's courageousness on the battlefield, Duncan, a good and honest king, bestows the title of Cawdor on Macbeth.
In the plays Antigone by Sophocles and Macbeth by Shakespeare, the lead feminine protagonists Antigone and Lady Macbeth are two women with strong beliefs, ambition, and personalities. They are both female characters with underlying power, and must fight the feminine social stereotypes in order to succeed. These women live in a time where men are ultimately superior, but end up having more mentality then any of the men in their plays anyway. These characters are both willing to do anything to achieve what they want, even if it is turning against the rules of society that have been built around strong feminine stereotypes. While these two women are trying to achieve two completely different tasks for two very different reasons, their ambition and motivation is rooted from similar places due to their personalities, similar situations, strong wills, and sense of determination. One could argue that Antigone and Lady Macbeth are both strong women who have contrasting beliefs and views, often causing the ambition for their actions to be analogous.
Lady Macbeth is a very loving wife to Macbeth and she wants to do anything she can for him to achieve his goals. She just takes it a little too far, and she puts too much pressure on Macbeth to commit crimes that he is not sure he wants to do. After Macbeth sends her a letter about the witches’ premonitions, Lady Macbeth is no longer the sweet innocent lady we expect her to be. She turns into a person who is just as ambitious as her husband and she wants to do whatever it takes to help him get Duncan out of the way. She even goes to the point of calling Macbeth a coward, and mocking his bravery when he fails to complete the job. She is even willing to do it herself (plant the bloody knife with the guard). Lady Macbeth is constantly putting the pressure on Macbeth to do things that he is not sure about. She almost turns into a bully who dares Macbeth to go out and do evil things. She even says in a soliloquy that she wants to be released of all her morals and values so that she can help him commit these crimes.
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...
When anything in life first begins to grow, it begins as a seed. The seed of a plant, or of a thought, or of an idea. Once created, the seed can do one of two things. It can grow, or it can die. Shakespeare’s play Macbeth tells the story of an innocent man who is turned evil from the seeds planted by those around him, allowing readers to explore the repetition of growth and how it is implied through characters. Throughout the play, growth is used to display Macbeth and Banquo as foil characters, show Banquo’s “goodness” through positive imagery, and to show Macbeth’s “evilness” through negative growth imagery. By analyzing Shakespeare’s use of growth imagery, critical readers recognize that growth enforces the idea that growth triumphs evil, embodied in the actions and consequences of Macbeth and Banquo as they make one of two crucial choices? Good, or evil?
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.
Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition, helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches, is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.