Lady Macbeth's Greed Essay

She viciously rubs the soap on her hands under the burning hot water. Her hands are red, not from the intense scrubbing, but from the blood. No amount of cleansing will ever rid her hands of the blood that she painted on them. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth seems to drench herself with vexation, avarice, and blood. Her greed drives her to encourage extreme actions. She motivates her husband to do fiendish business. Later, she must mentally face the consequences of her inhumane behavior. Slowly, she begins to fall apart and pay the price of her corruption. Lady Macbeth’s greed leads her to immorality, which fuels her guilt.

Once Lady Macbeth hears about the witches’ prophecies, she is determined to make those a reality. When

she hears that the first revelation has come true, she decides that Macbeth must carry out the other truths. When speaking to her husband, she says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised.”(I,v,15-16) She says this with confidence, an eerie assurance as the wheels begin turning in her head. As the play develops, she devotes herself to this greed. She says, “I am settled and bend up, Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.”(I,vii,92-93). Here, it is made clear that she dedicated to feeding her greed. Lady Macbeth speaks with a commanding and forceful tone. Her husband, Macbeth, voices some concern. He carries morals with him, but Lady Macbeth is unable to see them. She is already knee-deep in her greed. When Macbeth tells her that murder may not be the answer she responds with, “But in them nature’s copy’s not eterne,”.(III,iii,43) Lady Macbeth says this very casually, as if murder is easy. She is so consumed in her wanting, that she forgets her conscience.
Soon, Lady Macbeth starts to shift in mindset.

Hesitation starts to sound as she gets doused more and more into this terror. She discovers that there may be consequence to these actions, she says, “‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.” (III,ii,8-9) This is the first time she realizes that fulfilled greed does not always lead to satisfaction. During the feast, she announces to the table, “You shall offend him and extend his passion”, referring to Macbeth’s rowdy behavior. In the literal sense, Lady Macbeth is telling them the lords to not look at him and make him act out anymore. However, it seems somewhat directed towards Macbeth. Lady Macbeth offends her husband’s masculinity in order to motivate him to do vicious deeds. When she threatens his reputation, Macbeth will always feel the need to prove himself. Here, she has offended him, and goes on to say, “are you a man?”, directly targeting his insecurities. Later, she says “Impostors to true fear, would well become a woman’s story at a winter’s fire”.(III,iv,77-78”) She is telling Macbeth and herself to calm down, because all of these things that they fear can not be real. All of these irrational worries will simply be stories someday, made up and unrealistic. Lady Macbeth’s anxiety is starting to show through, and her attitude is

shifting.
Lady Macbeth is now racked with guilt.

She is fully submerged into her greed and realizes that she is drowning. She says, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”.(V,i,45) Lady Macbeth is not referring to the literal state of her hands. She is sleep talking and reveals how she is mentally struggling. Like Macbeth in the beginning, she feels the impurity that she has brought upon herself and regrets it. Later in that scene, Lady Macbeth says, “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”.(V,i,53-55) Here, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking, and in her sleep she utters the truth about how she feels, as all of the murders and blood still haunt her dreams. She believes that nothing can undo her cruel deeds. Not even the most sweet, lovely perfume, can make her hand pure again.When her death is announced, it is said, “his fiend-like queen (who, as ‘tis thought) by self and violent hands, Took off her.”(V,viii,82-84) The guilt became too much for Lady Macbeth to handle. When it came time for her to look her greed in the eye and face off with it, she realized that there was no escaping. She was trapped in her shame, and the only way out may have been this suicide, though it is still uncertain whether she really did kill herself. Although it is not confirmed, Lady Macbeth may have been so consumed with this guilt that she could not stand to bare it any longer and may have decided that it is “‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy”, as she had said earlier. Lady Macbeth

is engulfed in guilt.
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is home to a sinful woman known as Lady Macbeth. She is a greedy woman, soaked in blood. She tries relentlessly to wash herself clean, she scrubs her hands until they are raw and red, but fails to rid herself of the blood that she decorated herself with. Greed, displeasure, and guilt cling to her. Lady Macbeth motivates her husband to carry out immoral acts, due to her own greed. Later, she comes face to face with the consequences that she is unprepared to face, and is filled with guilt. Lady Macbeth’s guilt is fueled with her intense greed.