Lady Macbeth is constantly ridiculing Macbeth because he is too afraid to kill Duncan, and she even tells him that he might as well be a woman. This is ironic because in this quote, Lady Macbeth says “Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (5.1.39), which lets the readers know that she feels guilty. This guilt is what would eventually drive her to madness. Mental madness all due to an attempt to gain and maintain power; power both over their own selves and a run for
Macbeth on the other hand cannot sleep and starts to see things. When Macbeth starts acting strange towards people, Lady Macbeth deceives everyone to hind their secret. When Macbeth kills Banquo and Lady Macduff, Macbeth’s guilt starts to go away because the evil and amount of power has taken over him. Lady Macbeth starts to feel guilty and is no longer able to sleep. She fears the dark, meaning she is afraid of evil and what has become of it.
To avoid the consequences, she cowardly does not do the deed herself but instead manipulates Macbeth. Subsequent to Macbeth's murders, Lady Macbeth develops mental instability, in scene 5 act 1, where she sleep-walks and hallucinates. Her own cowardice and guilt indices her to be "troubled with coming fancies" (5.3.47) and speaks in guilt in her "slumb'ry agitation" (5.8.82-84). To escape this unbearable guilt, she commits suicide. She is too much of a coward to deal with the repercussions, resulting in
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.
Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe topful / Of direst cruelty!” (I.V.38-34).These lines tell how Lady Macbeth pressure Macbeth to kill King Duncan. If I were to add one ingredient to Lady Macbeth, it would be love. The reason why is that if she really loved Macbeth she wouldn’t pressure Macbeth to kill King Duncan because she would of worried what would of happen to him if he got a caught. If I were to remove a ingredient of Lady Macbeth it would be devotion. The reason why is that Lady Macbeth would not be devoted to make Macbeth king and result of having him to kill people to get
Betrayal Leads to Bad Decisions Betrayal is something that will have negative consequences. William Shakespeare shows different ways of consequences in “Macbeth”. At the beginning of the play Macbeth and Banquo, two captains, are loyal to King Duncan. After receiving predictions from three witches Macbeth they betrayed each other when they didn’t expect it. Macbeth betrays King Duncan because the witches told him he will become king.
He can report,/ As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt/ The newest state.” (1.2.1-3), to which blood indicates the open wounds Macbeth had caused to him. Shakespeare’s use of blood in this scene represents the loyalty and honor as Macbeth killed Macdonwald in defense of the king. After the battle, Macbeth was rewarded with a new title as the Thane of Cawdor yet he was not completely satisfied as he became greedy. Shakespeare also uses bloody images to foreshadow future events associated with Macbeth’s power. Aside from symbolizing blood as honor, he uses it to demonstrate the character of Macbeth and his drastic personality change as the play progresses.
/ When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7.47-49).. She defines manhood as stark aggression to achieve power in any means necessary such as killing Duncan. Macbeth, had compassion for Duncan but due to fear of being demasculinized if he did not act on his ambition results in his submission into temptation. As said from a female, it makes the reverse psychology from Lady Macbeth even more potent due to the preservation of gender roles. As one progresses through the story, Macbeth becomes more emotionally numb and tyrannical, for he then kills Banquo for fear of his intelligence on the murder of King Duncan. Then he kills Macduff’s family out of anger.
She criticizes and reproaches Macbeth about his foolish decision and eventually alters his mind by saying “What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me?” By stating such phrase, she lowers Macbeth’s self-esteem and self-worth. In addition, she also brings up the issue of love to intimidate Macbeth by stating if he does not kill Duncan, he does not truly love her. This harsh yet sly comment of her confirms Macbeth’s decision of killing Duncan. After they both decided to kill the king, it’s Lady Macbeth who specifies and sets forth the plot. This very fact further substantiates the point that although Macbeth is ruthless in some sense, Lady Macbeth is much more
When Abigail first enters this play, Miller describes her in the stage prompt as a girl who has “an endless capacity for dissembling,” (7) to inform the reader that she is capable of justifying her means with her ends. For example, when Danforth starts doubting Abigail’s accusations and begins to believe Mary Warren’s plead that she is not affiliated with any kind of witchcraft, Abigail bluffs and threatens him to “beware…the power of Hell,” (108) an unknown force to humans. In doing so, Abigail scares him and ultimately makes him recant his doubtful attitude towards her, which supports Arthur Miller’s claim that people are afraid of the unknown. Arthur Miller further advances his argument that people are afraid of what they don’t know and dread social isolation by showing Danforth’s tone of voice during Abigail’s manipulation. After Abigail intimidates Danforth