Macbeth's Pessimistic View of Life

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With the unraveling of Lady Macbeth’s mental state, Shakespeare further supports his pesstimistic view of life. According to R.A. Foakes, Lady Macbeth seems to overflow Macbeth’s life with hope by persuading him with her “crude sense of ambition” (Foakes 15). After Macbeth loses Lady Macbeth in his life, he then recognizes the crude side of her influence. Once Macbeth accepts the crude side of her persuasion, he learns that her advice appears positive, but it is in fact weakens life. Also, Lady Macbeth’s final actions of guilt before her death express how humans strive to gain meaning in their lives. Isador Coriat hypothesizes, “The act of washing the hands is a compromise for self-reproach and repressed experiences” (Coriat 8). Despite her guilt of King Duncan’s murder, she tries to rejuvenate her artificial feeling of worth in the world. Although, her attempts do not accomplish her goal because she still did not make her life admirable or productive. When Lady Macbeth finally dies, Macbeth ponders about life’s boredom that the lack of human progression in society causes:

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