Lady Macbeth's Evil

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Lady macbeth was an interesting character, in that she was able to play with people’s psychology but ends up getting psychology ill herself. According to M. L. LaBlanc “Lady
Macbeth is generally considered one of the most fascinating female characters in Shakespearean drama”. “How in the play she verbally manipulates gender values and expectations to suit her purposes. As Cristina Leon Alfar reminds us, "Lady Macbeth's 'evil' is ... an ideologically inscribed notion that is often linked in our literary tradition to strong female characters who seek power, who reject filial loyalty as prior to self-loyalty, and who pursue desire in all its forms-- romantic, adulterate, authoritarian, and even violent.” Lady Macbeth was full of greed for power …show more content…

As an article on Obsessive-
Compulsive Disorder by Larkin mentioned “Obsessions and compulsions represent human phenomena that have been a topic of interest for several centuries; for example, William
Shakespeare's characterization of the hand-washing Lady Macbeth has entertained audiences for hundreds of years.” This article helps us connect Lady Macbeth’s mental health during her last few days to a phenomena that is known to us that would not have been identified then. Her repetitive action of washing her hands as described in the play connects with her obsession of getting her hands clean of Duncan’s blood leading to her compulsion of washing her hand over and over again.
“In imagination she has already signed and sealed with the blood of her soul the compact with Satan to do his bidding if he will but grant this boon, not for herself but for her husband.
For her own selfish benefit she would probably hesitate to violate the lightest of the laws. But for her husband she is all too willing to lose even her soul forever.” this points to the flip side of the situation, where all her ambition and evil was not for herself but for her husband, so he could …show more content…

One of her line from the play “Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't.” also shows a side of her that we don't usually think about. Macbeth had to be more evil than to not get similar thoughts that stopped him.
"PTSD, refers to the spectrum of responses--ranging from low levels of intrusive thoughts and other signs of distress at one end of the spectrum to high levels at the other.
Everyone exposed to traumatic stress experiences such symptoms to some degree. They are indicative of a need to cognitively process the trauma. Posttraumatic stress is a concept that is non-pathological; it recognizes both sides of trauma, that it can be both destructive and transformational.” (Joseph, 2012). It was obvious that Lady Macbeth had some problems in her head and her condition makes it look like she had PTSD. The trauma of Duncan’s death,
Macbeth losing his mind and the guilt that she made Macbeth become so evil and cold

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