(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Macbeth


            
             At times, women can have a great deal of influence over men, using language and emotions to control their thoughts and actions. Lady Macbeth, wife to the protagonist in Shakespeare's Macbeth, manipulates her indecisive husband into slaying the Scottish king. Lady Macbeth is responsible for the death of Duncan, rather than her fickle husband.
             Within the play, Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind her husband's plotting, eventually pushing him to murder his beloved King. With Macbeth's conscience burdened with the prophecy of the three witches, he turns to his wife for answers. Lady Macbeth lacks the conscience which her husband is plagued with and says, "I do fear thy nature; it is too full o" th" milk of human kindness"(pg. 31). Lady Macbeth attacks her husband's manhood, claiming he is too soft for the job. Unlike the typical woman, Lady Macbeth is cold hearted and cruel, putting her own prosperity before the moral integrity of Macbeth. Upon reading the letter sent by her husband, she fears that her husband lacks the ruthlessness to slay King Duncan, and calls upon the supernatural to "fill [her] from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty" (pg. 33). Lady Macbeth is intent on her husband usurping the crown from Duncan, and is the compelling force that is able to manipulate and sway Macbeth to do her bidding.
             Even though Macbeth is the one who assassinates Duncan in his sleep, he is very fickle in making the decision, and would not have come to the same conclusion if it weren't for his wife, Lady Macbeth. Shortly after becoming Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth contemplates that by simply staying his course he may become King, similar to how he became the Thane of Cawdor. "If chance may have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir". Macbeth hopes that by being passive he is already fated to take the throne, therefore free from the guilt that would afflict his conscience if he were to murder Duncan.


Essays Related to Macbeth


Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question