That is a step on which I must fall down, or else oerleap for in my way it lies. Stars hide your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires.” When Lady Macbeth receives the letter from her husband about the witches prediction she also realises that Duncan must killed. She thinks that Macbeth deserves to be great but also believes he is too noble to do such a thing. “Yet do I fear thy nature It is too full othe milk of human-kindness to catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.” This shows that Lady Macbeth simply brings out the murderous butcher within Macbeth which was always subconsciously there with his ambition for glory.
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 realized that the plan might not be reasonable and he started to second guess himself. “If th’assassination/ Could trammel up the consequence” (1.7 3-4) He had always looked up to Duncan and the thought of killing him made him distraught. Lady Macbeth found out that he was thinking about backing out on the plan. This is when she approached Macbeth and yelled at him about not being a man and managed to persuade him back into the plan. When it’s finally time to take action, Macbeth is frightened.
Macbeth, on the other hand, does not like a possible future by the withes prophecy: that he will kill his King. This shows the difference between Lord and Lady Macbeth. It is only after much nagging and cajoling from his wife that he decides to go through with it, and then half heartedly. His wife uses insults, demeans him, and makes him feel less than a man, so Macbeth finally gives in. While Lady Macbeth is the one who sets the ball rolling, it was the witches that put the ball at the top of the hill.
The other interpretation is that something supernatural and scary is at work, that the dagger is a sign from the witches Macbeth spoke to. This part of his soliloquy uses a rhetorical question, as if he is questioning his own sanity, especially when he realises that it is his own blade, ‘such an instrument I was to use’, covered in ‘gouts of blood’. This shows the reader that Macbeth is already seeing the horror of Duncan’s murder and it creates tension for the reader. It then moves onto the dagger and how it ‘marshall’st’ Macbeth towards Duncan’s chamber, suggesting that the witches are beckoning him to kill the king. This in turn makes the reader feel apprehensive and afraid of the supernatural beings corrupting Macbeth, as it gives a feeling that they are always watching, and also highlights the mystical powers they seem to have.
This forebodes the death of Macbeth and also Lady Macbeth by suggesting that they will not be able to kill the King and live a normal, guilt free life afterwards. Lady Macbeth then creates irony as she mocks Macbeth for thinking this way, she refers to him as a ‘coward’ and insists that this murder is necessary. This part of the play is extremely significant as we realise just how harsh Lady Macbeth is and how far she would really go. She removes any maternal characteristics that she may have had by explaining that her lack of pity would extend so far, that she would murder a baby. “Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out”.
She insults his masculinity greatly, by calling him a coward. She says “Live a coward in thine own esteem”. In this patriarchy time, this mockery was a disgrace to Macbeth, thus he chose to act, rather than have his honour snatched from him. The imperative Lady Macbeth uses in ‘live’ derives that she has order and capability over her husband. Furthermore, in Aristotle’s theory he makes
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.
So he is thinking about killing the king to become king but his mind is telling him that it’s a bad idea so he is confused about what to do. In Scene 4, Macbeth finds out that Malcolm has been made Prince, so to Macbeth has to either give up or get rid of him in order to become King. He then decides that he is going to do it eventually even though he kind of doesn’t want to, so he will do it but he won’t look at his hand while he does it to try and relieve some of the guilt. In Scene 5, Lady Macbeth talks about her husband, Macbeth. She says that he will be King as he was promised, but she doesn’t know if he has what it takes to take the crown.
When Macbeth is doubting the decision to kill King Duncan, and his wife, Lady Macbeth, responds by challenging his manhood saying, “When you durst do it, you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.” (Act 1. Scene 7. 55, 56, 57, 58) In this scene, Lady Macbeth is being very cruel and unforgiving in this act, acting more like the man society would expect Macbeth to be. In act 2, Macbeth is seen being very remorseful about his actions and decisions that led to him killing the king, generally playing the more feminine role, acting the way society would expect the female role to act. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is seen being very uncaring, nonchalant, and generally just very unconcerned with the situation and killing the king, the way society would expect the male role to play.