Lady Macbeth is a captivating character in William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. Initially, she exhibits manipulation and dominance over Macbeth, prompting him to commit regicide. However, by the conclusion of the play, she becomes powerless, desolate, and overwhelmed with guilt. Despite her initial self-perception as manly and her relentless pursuit of power, she ultimately cannot handle the emotional toll and descends into madness. Lady Macbeth's intriguing nature stems from her combination of fragility and strength, as well as her complete transformation from an ambitious wife to a forlorn, despairing version of herself.
This is thought provoking because Lady Macbeth is uncommon and prompts us to consider real life parallels. At the beginning of the play, she is portrayed as courageous and resolute. Lady Macbeth is willing to go to any leng
...ths for Macbeth to become king and for her to become queen. She beseeches the 'spirits' to "unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty." She believes she can attain masculine traits and lack a conscience, but she never anticipated Macbeth's extreme actions.
She believes she will be able to forget about killing Duncan when she returns after giving back Macbeth's daggers - "a little water clears us of this deed." However, later in the play, it becomes evident that this is not the case. When she exclaims "Out, damned spot! Out I say!" and "What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" she realizes that she cannot wash the blood from her hands. Initially, she thought she lacked a conscience, and thus wouldn't experience guilt after persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan. Nevertheless, as the play progresses, it becomes clear that
her actions have affected her greatly as the blood on her hands serves as a constant reminder of what she has done.
The symbol of having blood on her hands is employed to demonstrate Lady Macbeth's sense of remorse. Macbeth asks the doctor if he can help her forget her crimes by inquiring, "canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow?" This question is equally relevant to Macbeth himself. Both characters experience their guilt haunting them, but Lady Macbeth, unlike Macbeth, deluded herself into believing that murder would not affect her. This realization prompts us to acknowledge that, despite appearances, Lady Macbeth was naive at the beginning of the play in assuming that she would escape the haunting consequences of her actions.
This challenges us to consider whether Lady Macbeth would have been happier if she hadn't been so ambitious and power hungry, and had instead accepted what she already had. Lady Macbeth's character is thought-provoking because she desires more power, but in her pursuit of it, she loses control. Initially, she dominates her marriage with Macbeth and manipulates him to fulfill her desires. For instance, when persuading him to murder Duncan, she asks him "Are you afraid to take action and be as fearless in reality as you are in your desires?" This indicates her ability to easily control Macbeth at this point.
She appears braver than Macbeth, as exemplified when she assures him that their plan to kill Duncan will not fail: “We fail? But screw you courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail.” However, as the play progresses, we observe her diminishing power despite being queen.
This is due to the torment caused by her actions and Macbeth's decision to withhold his confidences from her. The shift occurs when Macbeth keeps his plan to kill Banquo secret from her, stating “Be innocent of knowledge dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed.” It is noteworthy that she stops speaking in iambic pentameter as she becomes increasingly burdened with guilt and begins to sleepwalk.
By the end of the play, before her death, Lady Macbeth even loses the ability to speak. This is uncommon because most characters who die in Macbeth, and indeed most characters who die in Shakespeare's works, are given the opportunity to deliver an eloquent death. The irony here is thought-provoking, as Lady Macbeth desired power but ultimately found herself empty and consumed by grief, completely devoid of any power. Additionally, Lady Macbeth's character is particularly intriguing due to the conflict between her femininity and masculinity, as well as her embrace of ambition and ruthlessness, which challenges societal expectations of women during Shakespeare's time.
Initially, she is portrayed as confident, shrewd, and ambitious. For instance, she reprimands Macbeth for his cowardice towards Duncan’s body by saying, "infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures. ‘tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil." Unlike Macbeth, she possesses the ability to "look th’innocent flower but be the serpent under’t." However, as the play progresses, her character evolves into a vulnerable and sorrowful woman leading up to her demise. By this point, she has lost all influence over Macbeth who continues to commit senseless murders.
Her character has transformed into a mere shadow of the strong
and courageous woman we witnessed at the play's onset. She never anticipated Macbeth's continuous acts of murder following Duncan's killing, and she now acknowledges that this was not what she originally desired as stated in the quote: "Nought’s had; all’s spent, where our desire is got without content; ‘tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy." This shift in her character prompts us to question whether individuals in real life truly develop a stronger conscience due to their actions, akin to Lady Macbeth, or if they instead acquire an appetite for power like Macbeth.
I was intrigued by Lady Macbeth because of her transformation from a clever and determined woman who was ambitious for her husband, to a despairing and powerless character who was haunted by guilt because of her actions. She deludes herself into believing that she will not feel any emotional consequences after the murder of Duncan, but her guilt torments her and she ultimately takes her own life. Lady Macbeth teaches us to be cautious about pursuing our desires. In this world, there are only two tragedies: not achieving what one desires and achieving it. – Oscar Wilde
