Even when Macbeth does have second thoughts, Lady Macbeth is there, insulting his manhood and shaming him into action. She actually does much of the plotting and planning herself. Each time that Macbeth was ready to abandon his evil course, she convinced him to be the serpent under the innocent flower and remain steadfast on his path to power. Even though the witches and Lady Macbeth certainly did play an integral part in Macbeth's downfall, the choice was ultimately his. He could have ignored the hags' prophecies, like
Without Lady Macbeth, he husband Macbeth wouldn’t have gone through with the murders of his fellow friends and King to get the throne. “Look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” (1.6.76-77) This tells us that Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to be nice to the King while he’s planning the murder. Lady Macbeth deceives and betrays her own womans nature, she bretrays herself when she sleep walks and confesses the murder, as well as her King. She plants the dagger that he’s killed with, next to him so that it looks like it was a committed crime. She is a very loving wife, who would do anything for her husband.
Macbeth: Justice or Injustice Murder, deceit, and immorality are not a rare occurrence in the story of Macbeth; in fact they are the basis of the story. The three witches play with Macbeth’s mind and make him thirst for the throne, Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to murder King Duncan, and says Macbeth is a coward for his hesitation, to trick him into killing the King. And Macbeth not only murders King Duncan, but also Banquo, the Macduff family, and attempts to kill Fleance, son of Banquo. The question remains; is justice served where justice is due in this story? A lust for power already existed in Macbeth, but it was his encounter with the three witches on his return from battle that triggered his thirst for the throne, and subsequently the deaths of many, Macbeth among the deceased.
In the opening of the play, a loyal Macbeth is approached by three witches who entice him with their claim that “[he] shalt be king thereafter.” (1-3-50). This information stimulates his hidden thirst for power and willingness to keep the throne for himself. He plots to murder the king and takes the liberty of killing Banquo, and anyone else who poses a threat to his reign to aid his own insecurity. Macbeth begins to lose trust in those around him and becomes unstable. Shakespeare shows through Duncan, who carries a legitimate power, that only direct threats to the kingdom are punished accordingly.
Macbeth further condones this in his action to the witches’ prophecy that he will become king. Once made Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth realizes the truth in the witches’ predictions, and immediately begins to contemplate the other part of their prophecy. “My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,” (Act 1, sc. 3, line 151-152) he thinks, bringing murder to the front of his mind almost as soon as the witches are proven correct. Later in the play, Macbeth’s yearning for power, encouraged by the weird sisters, convinces him to kill the king and assume the throne.
Their prophecies give him new ideas and goals that he would have never thought of before and is constantly seen thinking about their predictions. The first instance in which we see Macbeth thinking about the witch’s comments is right after they first appear to him. After they appear to Macbeth he says, “I am Thane of Cawdor: / If good, why do I yield to that suggestion” (1.3.133-134). This occurs just a few moments after the witches appear to both Macbeth and Banquo, declaring him Thane of Cawdor and future King of Scotland. In this quote Macbeth is saying why should he stop with just being the thane of Cawdor, why not achieve even more greatness; the greatness that the witches promised him.
Macbeth Essay In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare corruption is everywhere whether it is intentional or unintentional some of the most unexpected characters become corrupted. Furthermore when ambition goes unchecked by moral boundaries corruption is created and in turn it leads to devastation. Corruption is most evident in the three witches in Macbeth as they are very deceitful. In addition corruption and unchecked morals are also found in the two main characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, in each situation there ambition which was created by the witches leads to the pair committing more and more cruel acts. This transformation is first true with Macbeth who changes completely from a genuine courageous solider to a bloodthirsty person
She becomes evil and ambitious before the murder of Banquo, and then she becomes fearful of her surroundings because of her guilt after Banquo's murder. Lady Macbeth develops her evil character by informing Macbeth about her idea of killing King Duncan and taking over the throne. "What beast was 't then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst to it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more than a man...When Duncan is asleep, his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince that memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason a limbeck only..." said Lady Macbeth (I, VII, Lines 55-77). Lady Macbeth is convincing Macbeth about her plan to kill Duncan when he sleeps.
Discuss how the characters of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Duncan are established in Act I by using textual evidence to support your points. Macbeth: “return to plague the inventor” Macbeth is a person that knows what he must do but is doubtful of it. He is the war hero and got news of his promotion by the witches, who also said he would be promoted further. To make their prophecy come true he must kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth: “unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty” Lady Macbeth is the “true” evil.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth while being filled with ambition, convinces her husband to kill the king. There are many atrocious crimes committed in the play, not least of all regicide, and the most guilty of all the characters is Lady Macbeth, husband to Lord Macbeth. Lady Macbeth may seem to the outside world to be innocent as a flower, but in fact she uses deception and persuasion to convince others to carry out her bidding. When her lackeys fail at their tasks, she is fully able to finish the deed for them. Near the end of the play she admits to her crimes, further solidifying her guilt.