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Lady Macbeth or Macbeth?
The real question is: Who really killed Duncan? Was Lady Macbeth more responsible for the murder of Duncan, or was it her husband, Macbeth? In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth invented the idea of murdering Duncan before her husband. Macbeth acquiesce to his wife’s plot of killing Duncan. Though it was not his idea, Macbeth had to commit the deed of murdering King Duncan. Lady Macbeth confessed that she would have murdered Duncan if he did not resemble her father while he was sleeping.
Macbeth was certainly a more evil character than his wife, Lady Macbeth. Although he was surprised at first, Macbeth believed everything that the witches predicted to happen to him. When Macbeth was in disbelief of what the witches had prophesied about him, Lady Macbeth was in shock. She was ecstatic about becoming the wife of the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and the King of Scotland. On the other hand, Macbeth was worried about the prophecies of Banquo’s children taking his throne. Lady Macbeth schemes up plans to kill Duncan as soon as she hears that the king is coming to visit overnight, but Macbeth goes through with that plan and many more murders following that night. Macbeth came up with all of the plots to kill Macduff, Banquo, Fleance, and Macduff’s family all on his own.
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In my opinion, I think that Macbeth was more responsible for the killing of King Duncan.
Lady Macbeth did conjure up the idea of murdering Duncan, but Macbeth committed the crime. Macbeth went into the room where Duncan was sleeping and murdered him. Lady Macbeth would have committed the crime if Duncan did not resemble her father. Though Lady Macbeth did not commit the crime, she cleaned up the crime scene for her husband. “Leave it all to me,” said Lady Macbeth as her husband is feeling guilty about the crime he just committed. Macbeth convinced himself in Act I, Scene 7 that he was not going to murder Duncan, but his wife bullied him into doing the
crime. Though Macbeth is a more evil character than his wife, Lady Macbeth still has an evil side to her. Lady Macbeth plots to kill Duncan as soon as she hears the news that he is coming for an overnight visit in their castle. Lady Macbeth would have murdered Duncan herself if he did not resemble her father while he slept. In contrast to Lady Macbeth being evil, she requests that the spirits unsex her. In comparison, she began to regret killing Duncan because it made her have nightmares and sleep walk. I believe that Macbeth is more responsible than Lady Macbeth for the murder of King Duncan. Though Lady Macbeth plotted the murder of Duncan, Macbeth committed the crime. I also believe that Macbeth is a more evil character than his wife, Lady Macbeth. My reasoning for this belief is that Macbeth committed murders after the killing of Duncan. Though Lady Macbeth plotted the murder, Macbeth actually committed the murder of Duncan.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
However, it was Lady Macbeth who convinced him to slay the king so that he could usurp the throne: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear”. So we can say that Lady Macbeth has more responsibility for Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to commit the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status as a woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not being the strong, valiant man he is, in battle with her wife and standing before those childish yet effective arguments she used, Lady Macbeth is the immediate cause for Macbeth’s actions.
When Macbeth was off at war, and told Lady Macbeth that the witches greeted him as Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland before he received those titles, she was probably scheming on how to fulfill those before he returned home. Once home, they had King Duncan stay at Dunsinane. Lady Macbeth then b-tches at her husband and ridicules his masculinity in order to make him commit murder (Friedlander). Macbeth reluctantly murders Duncan, even though he wanted to wait and have it all play out without killing anyone. When he went to the well to wash off his hands he speaks of his remorse, and lady Macbeth finds out that he did not implicate the guards, so she tells him to go do it.
Although Macbeth had changed his mind and basically refused to murder Duncan, Lady Macbeth was able to eventually convince him to carry through with the plan. Even though Macbeth was the one who executed the plan, Lady Macbeth was the mastermind behind the scheme. Her greed for power was the one major factor that possessed her to convince Macbeth of the plan and carry through with it. Macbeth murdered Duncan at Iverness, and became hysterical after doing so.
In life everyone has goals that they hope to attain and there are many ways that one can achieve these goals. To achieve what you desire you can either wait for time to take its toll, or take matters into your own hands and do what you have to do in order to fulfill your desires. You can attain your goal as long as you have ambition. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had the goal of Macbeth becoming king: to obtain this they took matters into hands and killed Duncan. In order for somebody to commit such a heinous act as murder the conspirators must be ruthless, and this is what Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were, ruthless. Lady Macbeth’s is more ruthless than her spouse and her ruthlessness is what fueled Duncan’s murder. However some may claim that this is not so and that Macbeth is more ruthless than his wife.
In the novel, Macbeth, King Duncan was killed by Macbeth with the assistance of his better half, Lady Macbeth. In the arranging of the murder of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth was more dependable than Macbeth himself and is viewed as a more hazardous character than her significant other. Lady Macbeth had more effect on executing King Duncan than Macbeth in light of her desire and hurry to end up Queen, which was the driving force of the King Duncan murder.
Classics such as Macbeth by William Shakespeare have a lot of plot development. This, in particular, is a book about Macbeth receiving a prophecy from three witches about him being future king. When telling his wife this story she demanded he murder the current king,Duncan, in order to get the title faster. Macbeth is an individual that doesn’t make decisions lightly, which is why this prophecy was told to him. Lady Macbeth,his wife, and other forces like the telling of the prophecy are what caused Macbeth to kill Duncan because he is hesitant about his decisions.
While she did suggest Duncan’s murder, she did not force him to become a murderer; she was simply asking for him to become more manly. Her underlying desire was power and not murder. The reason why she even suggested murder was to push Macbeth over the edge and finally benefit something from their marriage. Macbeth was not even sure if he desired Duncan’s head in the first place. In Act 2 Scene 1, he exhibits extremely indecisive behaviour when he argues with himself mentally about pleasing his wife.
Macbeth allowed the wicked witches to get to him by giving him prophecies about his future “All hail thane of Glamis… thane of Cawdor… that shall be king hereafter.” (1.3.50-53) which led him to believe that killing the king will be the only way to become King while his wife Lady Macbeth is leading him to believe that killing King Duncan will be the only way to get the crown. “Wouldst thou have that which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem” (1.7.44-46) Macbeth allowing his wife to talk to him like this, he ultimately lets his wife control him and degrade his masculinity by calling him a coward to his face because he does not want to kill the King of Scotland. Macbeth believes that killing innocent people like Banquo will secure his position of being a King in order for no one to get in the way of him succeeding with his plan. “ Given to the common enemy of man,To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th' utterance.” (3.1.73-76) Macbeth fights to ensure that he will be able to stay King without any disturbances. He let the prophecies get to him that he kills his friend just t take power of something that wasn’t his to begin with.When the wicked witches told Macbeth that “None of woman born shall hurt Macbeth” (4.1.87-88) Macbeth thought he was invincible against all men during the war but the witches did not reveal that “Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d” (5.8.19-20). Macbeth not knowing that Macduff was not born of a woman led Macbeth to be killed and beheaded by Macduff, because he put all his trust in the witches and Lady
While not the only contributing factor, Lady Macbeth does play a substantial role in the downfall of her husband. She is a like a catalyst for Macbeth and essentially pushes him to do what he would not have been able to do on his own. Macbeth himself highly ambitious and determined, but his wife is even more so. At first he refuses to kill Duncan but she persists and eventually gets him to do it. It is important to note here that Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth forward by manipulating him. In this sense, she can be related to Cathy Ames from East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Also, being a woman, she is confined by the conventions of society which prevent her from doing much. At what point she even wishes that she were 'unsexed' so she could commit the murder herself. Because of this, she pours her ambition and desire for power into Macbeth. Again she accomplishes this through manipulation. For example, at one point when Macbeth is disagreeing with her idea of killing Duncan, she questions his manhood:
Lady Macbeth’s role as a supporting wife at the start of the play exceeds the duties of a ‘normal’ wife. She is the ‘Eve’ to Macbeth’s ‘Adam’ and is tempted. Although Macbeth hints at the idea of taking the crown in his letter home, it is Lady Macbeth’s ruthless determination to make him king that persuaded him to murder Duncan. Did she do this in the interests of Macbeth or was it to fulfil her own ambition? I would argue that it was to fulfil her own ambition because she decided straight away that murder was the best option to take without any regard to guilt, in this view I have no sympathy for Lady Macbeth because it is a sign of her inner evilness.
The murder of Duncan was highly encouraged by his wife, so one could argue that she was partially to blame for it. However, the murder of Banquo, Macduff’s family, and Young Siward were all Macbeth’s doing. His wife knew nothing of these murders before they were committed, as Macbeth chose to keep them secret. He even murdered Macduff’s family despite the apparitions telling him not to fear.
Lady Macbeth as the Real Driving Force Behind the Murder of King Duncan Even though Macbeth is actually the murderer of King Duncan, it is. appears that he committed this murder reluctantly and should not be blamed for the murder or bear the full responsibility for the murder. The three witches and Lady Macbeth actually played significant roles. in cajoling Macbeth into committing the murder and could be argued.
When Macbeth initially hesitates to murder King Duncan, Lady Macbeth questions his masculinity and challenges his determination to close out the murder, but she does not physically force him. It is Macbeth who makes the decision to proceed with the murder, which is driven by his ambition and desire for power. After the murder, Macbeth's guilt and paranoia drive him to commit further crazy crimes. Crimes such as ordering the murder of Banquo and his family without Lady Macbeth's direct influence or awareness of the
Macbeth is ok with killing Duncan after the plan; he even envisions picking up the dagger and stabbing Duncan. Macbeth completely trusts in his wife by killing Duncan except for the fact that he does not truly complete the plans as he forgets to kill the guards. Later Macbeth starts killing more that he even kills kids; while Lady Macbeth is scared of getting caught and gets put under watch. She even admits to killing King Duncan. Then Macbeth says, “O, yet I do repent me of my fury, that I did kill them” (Mac. II.