When Lady Macbeth says “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be /What thou art promis'd: yet do I fear thy nature / Is too full o' the milk of human kindness” (I, v, 14-16), we see how she considers Macbeth too kind, to prone to letting his conscience take over that she asks the evil spirits to enter her, so that she will be able to achieve what she fears he husband will not. Lady Macbeth thinks that gentleness is weakness. When she says Macbeth is "too full o' the milk of human kindness” (I, v, 16), she means that he will back out of murdering Duncan for reasons of loyalty and common human decency. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth is calm and rational with the idea of committing treason. Her character is shown in Act I, Scene 5, just after she receives Macbeth's letter, and before Duncan and Banquo arrive at the castle.
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.
One of the main messages he is trying to deliver to us is to always weigh what you achieve to what the consequences will be. This especially holds true for Macbeth, as when first contemplating if he should kill Duncan, not once did he think of how he could be punished. Also, when Macbeth first hears the witch’s prophecy of him being a king, he jumps directly to the idea of murder. This kind of thinking is exhibited in Macbeth’s monologue in scene 5 act 5, where he discus’s the uselessness of living, and this attitude towards life made him go mad. This also points to how unintelligent Macbeth really was.
Lady Macbeth has just been thinking that her husband is too weak willed to seize what she sees as rightfully his, the throne of Scotland. When she hears that King Duncan will be staying in her home, she says: 'Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top--full of direst cruelty' (1.5). In other words, she longs to act like a 'man' and kill Duncan herself. Lady Macbeth goes as far as to invite demons, or spirits, to inhabit her, enabling her to commit this great evil
Near the end of the play she admits to her crimes, further solidifying her guilt. Still, however guilty she may be, Lady Macbeth’s greatest skill lies in her aptitude for deception and cunning. During Macbeth, Lady Macbeth forces her husband to do her bidding and commit vile murders using a variety of methods and means. Chief amongst her tools are the arts of persuasion and deception, both of which she teaches to Macbeth. As she receives a letter from her husband, she says, “...I may pour my spirits into thine ear and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round”(I v 25-26), proving that she plans to convince Macbeth to remove all that impedes him from the crown, clearing the way for her to be queen.
She shaped the mindset that it was necessary to murder someone who trusts you for more power and accordingly she changed Macbeth’s way of thinking. Lady Macbeth’s breakdown is at its peak in the middle of the night, when she was walking the halls and she says “Here’s the smell of blood still: all/the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little/ hand. Oh, oh, oh!” (5.1.50-52). Also another major example in Macbeth of how corruption leads to devastation is when Lady Macbeth is so overwhelmed by her guilty conscious she commits suicide and Macbeth is left to deal with this dilemma on his own, “Wherefore was that cry?/ The queen my lord is dead” (5.5.15-16). In this case Lady Macbeths need for power is extremely destructive.
The witches then manipulate him to believe he is immortal by telling him “laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” (Act 4, scene 1 lines 86-88). This lead Macbeth to his downfall because he believes no on can harm him. The witches know this is not true but use their power of control to let him create his own tragedy. Although the witches do not directly kill anyone, they use their power over Macbeth to manipulate him into believing his throne is in danger of being over taken. Macbeth desire to be king causes him to believe the witches for their prophesies have come true before.
She finds him a coward because he fails to follow the murder plan and does not leave two daggers with Duncan’s sleeping guards so as to blame them for the murder. By boldly doing the act herself and going back to the murder scene to smear blood on the guards, Lady Macbeth proves ambitious and ruthless while Macbeth appears yet still contemplative and somewhat humane. After Macbeth says “I am afraid to think what I have done./ Look on it again I dare not..” [2.1.63] Macbeth scrutinizes him and tells him “‘tis the eyes of childhood/ That fears a painted devil,” [2.1.66] which ultimately shows Macbeth’s moral compass falling into the hands of his wife who proves the stronger
Thou wouldst be great, art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." said Lady Macbeth (I, V, Lines 15-20). Lady Macbeth is showing her ambition, she wants Macbeth to seize the throne and become a king. She is trying to convince her husband to start rising to power, even when such atrocious acts are involved. Lady Macbeth becomes fearful after the murder of Banquo (although she is not involved) from her guilt.
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.