Lady Macbeth Suicide Analysis

Lady Macbeth undergoes a huge change in her attitude. “At the center of this disturbance in normative gender roles is Lady Macbeth. Her headstrong attempts to unsex herself and her masculine indifference to blood and death.” (Bernstein 31) however, here lies the irony of situation that the matters she once used to give no importance, are at one point becomes the stimulus for her conscience, that leads her to mental disruption. “Here’s smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! Oh! Oh.” (Shakespeare 257-58) As, everything is pre-destined, in fact committing of suicide is a favor that fate and nature have given to Jocasta and Lady Macbeth. “That is, the treatment can come only from within the sufferer

himself, through repentance for sin.” (Kocher 341)
In order to save Jocasta and Lady Macbeth from degradation and curse of society, suicide is the only option that can save them from this and from mental destruction that becomes mercy not a murder.

Before their lives would be vulnerable to the attacks of society’s curse and harsh comments, suicide helps to close that chapter of their life, which has become visible to everyone. “…, embodied in Lady Macbeth, depicts the conscience of female rulers as open to view, readable by all, and her body as the page on that it is written.” (Spivack 4)

From first day of life till last, whatever a person strife for is nothing, but the end of all findings be death, that is inevitable. “If according to Freud, the subject pursues its own death, or is steered towards it by a drive for inertia, why not say suicide or masochism lies at the heart of life?” (Smith 67) If one is bound to die, than death with bravery and courage is better than death at the hands of enemy, which may even include nature or fate. “In this state and when confronted with hardships that makes life seem intolerable, suicide becomes a possibility.” (Lester 17)

Conclusion: Suicide if on one hand is defined as “self-killing”, then on the hand, it is an antidote i.e. “killer of inflictions”, that puts an end to all the anxieties inflicted upon person. Suicide is the price paid for serenity and relaxation. Both Jocasta and Lady Macbeth, by

Butt

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committing suicide, lift the burden of guilt and shame from the conscience. Moreover, Oedipus act of blinding himself helps him to see the reality which he was unable to see with his eyes. In this sense suicide is as much glorified as that of sacrifice for saving other’s life. Hence, not only concerns related to one’s obligations to others justify suicide, but one’s own private good is relevant too. “The acceptance of suicide has been defended primarily in terms of an ethical right and psychotherapeutic respect for autonomy.” (Widiger 263)