Then she insults his masculinity and questions his courage. Her talent for persuasiveness and deception starts a chain of destructive events and she definitely contributed to the conversion of Macbeth from well respected soldier to a repugnant, bloody tyrant. Lady Macbeth is undoubtedly a woman “of direst cruelty” and had largely a negative impact on Macbeth. At the start of the play Macbeth had the potential for greatness but because of Lady Macbeth influence this potential remained unfulfilled. If he continued on the ethical path he was on he very well may have rose in rank importance without his stir.
Lady Macbeth enters and lectures Macbeth in her soliloquy, while insulting him by calling him a coward and insulting his manhood. This scene has a major impact on the outcome of the play. If Lady Macbeth had not insulted Macbeth while Macbeth was reconsidering King Duncan, Macbeth would have never killed Duncan and been crowned King. Banquo and Fleance would never have been murdered, and neither would Macduff’s family. Also, if Macbeth would not have killed Duncan, Malcolm and Donalbain would not have fled, and Macbeth would never have had a chance to become King.
However, because Lady Macbeth has ambition beyond her status, she wants him to become King as soon as possible. The only problem for Lady Macbeth is she feels Macbeth is too nice to kill Duncan. She says “it is too full o’ the milk of human kindness”, which shows Lady Macbeth thinks of her husband as a coward. The soliloquy used by Shakespeare truly shows the disturbed mind of Lady Macbeth; creating an unsettling affect on the audience through his representation of her as a scheming and dangerous character. The use of imagery reveals that witchcraft was a fascination of Elizabethan England.
Macbeth is the real villain and Lady Macbeth is just a partner in crime, egging him on because of her desire to be Queen. Macbeth was loyal to his King and was an excellent soldier. However his wife, Lady Macbeth could see a better future for Macbeth as King after Macbeth tells her about the witches and their prophesies in a letter. Despite these conflicting ideas, it was Macbeth himself who decided to murder Duncan and the others. 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.
Three major themes Shakespeare exposed are: greed for power can corrupt human behaviour; feelings of guilt can burden the human mind and cause mental breakdowns; receiving a position that is undeserved would cause the human mind to feel uncomfortable. Early on Macbeth was told by the three witches that he, the thane of Glamis, would also be named thane of Cawdor and then would be soon crowned King. When Macbeth was given the title, thane of Cawdor, he became very aware that the rest of the witches’ prophecy may be accurate as well. However, it wasn’t until after Macbeth was crowned King that the power corrupted him. It was Lady Macbeth who had planned King Duncan’s murder and the framing of the guards because Macbeth was too worried about the consequences.
When she says "Come you spirits that tend on murderous thoughts, unsex me," and "make thick my blood, stop th'access and passage to remorse," she is already calling on evil spirits to take away her feminine nature, and to stop her feeling any pity, remorse or compassion; Lady Macbeth is determined to assist Macbeth in murdering Duncan. From this early point, it is already evident that she is contemplating, and intends to take part in a murder so that her husband could have the status he had always wanted, but had been too weak to obtain. When Macbeth enters, Lady Macbeth replies: "O never shall sun that morrow see." When Macbeth informs her Duncan will be leaving the following day. Here, she blatantly reveals that she intends to murder Duncan, saying he won't live to see another day.
This was why women often placed many of their hopes and dreams in either their husband or sons as only they could gain any power. In “Macbeth” this is emphasized when it has been prophesied that Macbeth will become King of Scotland, Lady Macbeth wishes to see this achieved quickly and in doing so subverts the natural order. Natural order has been destabilized for two reasons, firstly Lady Macbeth is now controlling Macbeth and secondly, she has called evil spirits to her and asked: “…unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top full Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
To borrow the words of the renowned critic, Elizabeth Montagu, Macbeth, with his “vehement passions and aspiring wishes, was a subject liable to be seduced by splendid prospects, and ambitious counsels.” Over the course of the play Macbeth significantly changed with respect to his character and his personality. Macbeth started off as a brave soldier whom was devoted to his king, but was tainted from the witches’ prophecies. Lady Macbeth’s strong power was used to effortlessly persuade her weak husband. I think that her strength inspired him at the beginning of the play, but after he realized his actions he persisted with his bloody path. Macbeth was not a man to naturally incline to perform malicious deeds, but he had“dark and deep desires” for power.
Witches come and reveal to him a prophecy of his future, which makes him want it straight away. Lady Macbeth keeps pushing for Macbeth to do whatever it takes to get what the weird sisters have predicted will happen, and finally goes ahead with it. Macbeth kills numerous people to have his prophecy fulfilled and is now the complete opposite person of who he was at the beginning of the play, but it is hard to blame Macbeth for his own demise because of these other factors because they play a role in boosting his actions Macbeth wasn’t an ambitious character until he met the witches. Macbeth is the most “worthiest cousin” of the Kind and is a “brave” soldier serving under him. He is established as a good character in the play and it is apparent that he had no real ambitions until he met the witches.
John Sterrett Mrs. Susser pd. 4 Literary Analysis Essay A recurring trait throughout many of Shakespeare’s plays is the idea of one character that shines light upon the flaws of another character. The character that shows the flaw of the other character is known as a foil. Shakespeare would use foils not only to emphasize someone’s characteristics, but also to help illustrate the play’s overall meaning. For example in Macbeth, Macduff’s loyalty was used to emphasize Macbeth’s disloyalty to the king.