In the beginning of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character is portrayed as a heroic soldier who is loyal to the King. Macbeth, however, is influenced by the witches’ prophecies and by his wife Lady Macbeth in his motive to kill. Lady Macbeth does not believe that her husband has the “guts” to take the necessary actions in order to become king. She thinks Macbeth is “too full o’ the milk of human kindness” (Shakespeare I, v, 17). Macbeth is mentally weak; therefore, Lady Macbeth is easily able to influence him.
Another prophecy made by the witches was that Banquo's son will be king. Fuelled by paranoia, lack of sleep andvisions, Macbeth was thrown into a state of confusion and a belief that the prophecies were inevitable. Lady Macbeth urged her husband to commit murder and it was this action that sparked Macbeth's downfall. When Lady Macbeth heard about the prophecies made by the witches, and how one of them had already come true, she called upon evil spirits to guide her through her task - killing the king. ."..
He is rational about the chances of him becoming king but he decides to let chance take its own course, as he says, “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.” (1.3.144), which proves that he is a good man with a noble mind. Second, the most obvious influence to the disintegration of Macbeth’s mind is his wife, Lady Macbeth. At the end of the first act, Lady Macbeth is reading the letter that Macbeth has sent her informing her of the current and future events. Lady Macbeth is concerned that Macbeth is too kind to kill and go ahead with becoming king showing her evil nature. When Macbeth arrives he informs her that the King will be staying at the castle tonight.
Lady Macbeth In what ways is Lady Macbeth important to the play? Lady Macbeth was important to the play because she provided inspiration to Macbeth to kill Duncan so that he would become king. Her personal life with Macbeth shows us how both Macbeth and her sanity deteriorate throughout the play. During the opening acts Lady Macbeth shows the role of strong women in relationships, with her strength she is able to sway Macbeth to doing what she pleases. In the first scene Lady Macbeth is introduced in (ACT 1 Scene V) she is reading a letter from Macbeth that states how three witches prophesied he would become king.
The witches promise kingship to Macbeth by which Banquo is eager to find out his future. Although Banquo’s descendants are promised to sit on the throne, Banquo hesitates to fully have faith in the witch’s prophecy. He has recognised them to be evil and cunning, “What, can the devil speak true?”. Banquo is quick to distinguish evil plans where Macbeth fails to. Banquo also warns Macbeth as a friend, “… oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths…” Despite Banquo’s warning, Macbeth is now more confident that his deep inner desire will be fulfilled – especially after the witch’s prophecy.
At first Macbeth agrees, but later Macbeth is having second thoughts on his decision. But Lady Macbeth is sure that being king is what Macbeth wants and that this is the best for both of them. So in response to Macbeth’s uncertainty, she manipulates him by questioning his manhood and his love for her. At one point she wishes that she were not a woman so that she could do it herself ‘‘Unsex me here’’…/’’come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall’. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with remarkable effectiveness, overriding all his objections, when he hesitates to murder, she repeatedly questions his manhood until he feels that he must commit murder to prove himself.
The fact that he has written to her to tell her all about this instead of just waiting until he got home shows the audience that he obviously loves Lady Macbeth and can’t wait to share the news with her. He also knows that what he wrote in the letter will please his wife, and so the news that he has written to her is being offered as some sort of present, as shown in lines 10-13. While Lady Macbeth does really like the idea of becoming queen, she expresses her worries that Macbeth is not capable of killing King Duncan, as he is ‘It is too full o' the milk of human kindness/To catch the nearest way’. Meaning, that she thinks that Macbeth is too kind to do what has to be done and to achieve their ambitions. And so, to make sure that Macbeth will do what she want, she will manipulate him, but she just believes that she is going to enable him to reach his potential, as shown in lines 25-28.
“This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness”. Lady Macbeth’s first appearance in the play is when she is shown reading the letter that her husband has written to her about meeting the three witches: “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor and shalt be”“What thou art promised.”Lady Macbeth however knows the attitude of her husband and what he’s like and she knows that if her husband wants something, he’ll want to achieve it in the fairest way possible. She laughs at what she considers his weakness:”yet I do fear thy nature, it is full o’ the milk of human kindness” Lady Macbeth feels she must find the confidence to persuade Macbeth to leave his soft side which prevents him from seizing the crown. Throughout the first act Lady Macbeth seems the stronger partner in the relationship and she calls out supernatural powers and calls for “spirits” more powerful than her own. “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts.” She tells him to hurry home so that she can poison his mind.
Macbeth is a great example of this. Macbeth shows how ambition can be a good thing, or a bad thing. Macbeth’s loyalty and ambition leads him to becoming the thane of cordowr. But Macbeth remembers the prophesies of the witches, and debates on how I become king. He talks it over with his wife, and is pressured onto killing Duncan.
It seems that most people believe that Macbeth is the real villain of the play, after firstly killing the King but then Banquo and Macduff’s family but through Macbeth’s own ambition and desire for power, Lady Macbeth was able to manipulate and evoke weaknesses in Macbeth’s character to cause his respectable needs as a loyal solider, to turn into evil motivations. In the course of the play Macbeth’s mind changes from thinking logically to thinking unreasonably and acting impulsively on every thought that comes to his mind. The ideas that Lady Macbeth had and the prophesies from the witches came together to lead Macbeth into the conflicted character he become, going from a loyal, respected soldier into a tragic flawed hero. Before Macbeth’s character shifted into villainy he was a loyal and respected thane. His desire for power grew throughout the play and begins when he first encoumis, then they hail him the thane of Cawdor, which he didn’t yet know of, to him soon would be his next, second title.