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The role of lady macbeth in macbeth
Macbeth critical interpretation
Symbolism in the play of macbeth.pdf
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Although both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had their respective roles in killing Duncan, one of them must be guiltier than the other. Although both of them had their roles in the murder, Lady Macbeth did more than her husband. That doesn’t mean that Macbeth was innocent, as he did a lot as well. Lady Macbeth did much more as she was the one to get the guards drunk, and plan the murder as well as returning the daggers into the crime scene while being so cold and calm about it. Lady Macbeth’s part doesn’t end there as her biggest part in the murder was manipulating her husband into killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth part in the murder was much more than Macbeth’s part, as she got the guards drunk which allowed her husband to kill Duncan. Other than that Lady Macbeth was the one to plan everything in the murder. Her plan started by getting the guards drunk, and then giving their daggers to Macbeth. After that Macbeth, will use the daggers that Lady Macbeth gave him and stab the unguarded Duncan, and blame it on the guards. After stabbing Duncan Macbeth will leave the daggers with the dead guards. …show more content…
Macbeth didn’t want to go back to the crime scene because he was ashamed of what he did, and he didn’t want to look at it again. Macbeth’s regret caused his wife to take back the daggers to the crime scene, so they could blame it on the guards. While Macbeth felt so much guilt and regret, his wife took the daggers to the crime scene while being so cold and calm. Other than that Lady Macbeth didn’t feel the slightest bit of regret about the murder when she saw the crime
Macbeth displays a moral conscience when he claims, “We will proceed no further in this business” however, he ultimately pretends to be oblivious to his morals (Shakespeare I. vii. 34). According to Coursen, "as he comes closer to killing Duncan, his awareness of the heinousness of the crime becomes clearer" (Coursen 379). His “awareness of the heinousness of the crime” is evident both before and after Duncan’s murder as he is conscious of the possible consequences and outcomes of the crime. However, he becomes preoccupied with his ambition and Lady Macbeth’s coerciveness, giving in to Duncan’s murder and, perhaps, his own downfall. Therefore, Lady Macbeth is not primarily accountable as Macbeth ignored his
After the death of King Duncan, Macbeth becomes the more controlling one, and Lady Macbeth’s guilt eventually becomes too much for her to handle which leads to her death. Lady Macbeth is in fact the one that performs the preparations for the murder of King Duncan, but still shows some signs of humanity by not committing the murder herself because he resembles "My father as he slept". After the murder has been committed, she also shows signs of being a strong person because she calms Macbeth down in order to keep him from going insane.
Firstly, we shall consider Lady Macbeth and Macbeth as they are the two who planned and performed the murder. Although after the witches told Macbeth that he was to be king and he was burning in desire to be so he, on first instance, decided that if fate had determined that he was to be the sovereign of Scotland he shouldn’t try to be reach the throne by his own actions, that it would come eventually: “If Chance will have me king, why, Chance / may crown me, / Without my stir”. 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 on Duncan’s murder than Macbeth himself as she used her position as a wife and a woman to induce his husband to the sin. She knew the “adoration” Macbeth had for her (“My dearest love” referring to Lady Macbeth) and used her status of woman to judge Macbeth a coward if he didn’t kill Duncan. Even though Macbeth holds some blame for not...
After being told that her husband could potentially be the next king, Lady Macbeth was quick to say that Macbeth should kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth was the one that came up with the whole plan to kill Duncan and intoxicate the guards, that way it will look like they were the ones who did it. Macbeth killed Duncan, but after doing so he is extremely troubled and stressed out. He comes walking out from the room with the daggers in his hands. Lady Macbeth orders him to go put the daggers back, to which Macbeth refuses. Lady Macbeth grabs the daggers from his hands and goes back to the king’s room to leave the daggers (Act II, scene II). She then proceeds to tell Macbeth to return to bed and if woken up, pretend like they have been sleeping this whole time. Lady Macbeth, even though she should not be in this time period, is the emotionally strong one in her relationship with Macbeth. She keeps her fasade up and we only see her actual feelings a couple times. Despite that, Lady Macbeth is a dynamic character and change quite drastically throughout the play. Lady Macbeth becomes less white-hearted. However, due to the guilt after the murder and the stress from constantly looking after her husband, Lady Macbeth takes her own life (Act V, scene
Lady Macbeth was a small but very important part of the play Macbeth. She is always on the side of Macbeth telling him what she thinks he should do. 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 no 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. But he wont, so she insults him more, and goes to do it herself.
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.
She used deceit to convince her husband to commit the first murder, saying that she would “chastise [him] with the valour of [her] tongue.” (I,v, 26) What convinced him to go through with the murder, however, was when Lady Macbeth laid out the plan for him. (I,vii,60-72) After the murder occurred, it was Lady Macbeth who took control, while Macbeth was extremely shaken. She returned the daggers to the chamberlains, then again insulted Macbeth, saying she would be ashamed “[t]o wear a heart so white.”
Lady Macbeth seems like the right person who the most at fault. It is true that Lady Macbeth is the one who tells Macbeth to murder Duncan, and with her words in her aside, “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty,” (I.v. 391-392) along with many other horrible scenes Lady Macbeth gives. It gives the audience a purpose to accuse her for all the murders. Lady Macbeth is argued to be in control of Macbeth. John Turner, coauthor of two books on Shakespeare, says, “Until her sense of time dissolves and Macbeth seems crowed already,” (Johnson) which shows that the image of Macbeth being King and having power is driven by Lady Macbeth’s ambitiousness. This is not entirely true. Lady Macbeth does have an ambition for power but not to the extent to be killing everyone. She only wanted Duncan off the throne, she was not aware of the other men in authority, such as Macduff, suspecting her and her husband. She was not paranoid like Macbeth, which is why he killed so many people. It’s reasonable to argue that Lady Macbeth was the influence; therefore she is to be at most at fault. She also was not the one to kill Duncan and the other people, Macbeth did.
Macbeth’s growing aspiration changed him from a honorable and respected man to that of a ruthless murder whose guilt eventually caught up with him. Macbeth is guilty of first degree murder because even though he was being manipulated by his wife, Lady Macbeth, he still murdered the king with his own bare hands. If he really didn’t want to manslaughter the king, he would not have gone through with the plan, but instead he chose to. He is guilty of slaying the beloved King Duncan and others as well.
Furthermore, Macbeth cannot escape punishment if he fails. We see Lady Macbeth's persuasiveness producing a new courage in her husband, and that courage is manly enough to perform murder. Therefore, Macbeth has no reason for murdering Duncan except for his "vaulting ambition," his lust for power. Throughout the play we see Lady Macbeth's and Macbeth's conscience, or lack of, change places. Macbeth transformed from having a guilt-ridden conscience to having no conscience what so ever.
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. “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder is yet but fantastical, shakes so that my single state of man that function is smoldered I surmise and nothing is but what is not.” Macbeth as you can see is thinking about the witches’ prophecy of him becoming king.
Macbeth sent a letter to Lady Macbeth outlining the witches' prophecy. He also consults her concerning his plans. This is how Macbeth reduces some of the responsibility of the incident of the murder by accepting her guidance and advice.
Even though Lord Macbeth is generally the one to have the final say in the many killings that take place in the play, Lady Macbeth plays the role of a villain alongside him. She mocks her Lord if he frets over something she has instructed him to do, saying he would be less of a man if he does not follow through on their plan (I. vii. 56-57). She gives Lord Macbeth a short lecture in deceptiveness when they are planning to kill King Duncan (I. vi. 73-78). She also prepared the daggers for Macbeth to kill Duncan in advance (II. ii. 15-16). Though her Lord was still having doubts, she was, in the most literal sense, ready to go in for the kill.
In the play Macbeth, some believe Lady Macbeth was at fault for all the critical events within the play. Firstly, some think that Lady Macbeth was the one that killed Duncan and the two guards because she told Macbeth to. In fact, Macbeth was the one that killed both the guards and King Duncan as it was his own actions and his final choice as to whether he would do it or not. I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise? (Act II Scene II).” This was spoken by Macbeth after the deed was done, which was the murder of the three innocent men. Lady Macbeth may have brought up the idea of killing King Duncan but Macbeth was the one that decided wither to do it or not. This play would not have been the same if Macbeth wasn’t so narrow sighted and very ambitious. Lady Macbeth only gave a slight push to Macbeth’s choices at the beginning, once he had committed the first upon many murders he became powerful, ...
If MacBeth had never been persuaded to kill Duncan, MacBeth probably would not have committed any other murder crimes throughout the rest of the play. One could blame Lady MacBeth for persuading her husband to become a killer --- blame women’s ability to manipulate men into having bad character. Though, one could also blame MacBeth, seeing as he was responsible for his own decisions. MacBeth had the option of how strongly he stood up to his wife for his moral beliefs, and he chose to barely defend his opinion. It’s clear that neither MacBeth nor his wife were solely responsible for his final decision to murder King Duncan. Without his wife’s persuasion, MacBeth would not have killed the king, but MacBeth could have chosen to not be so easily persuaded by his wife.