The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare Essay Example

is not. But as the play progresses, Lady Macbeth begins to lose her control over Macbeth. She had sparked his killing instincts and he now realizes that he does not need her anymore. Macbeth now makes his own decisions and refuses to be the once submissive husband he once was. He goes ahead and killed Banquo. Lady Macbeth feels the guilty of her past deeds and tries to convince Macbeth to stop the killings but he refuses. Macbeth begins to gain strength which he never possessed in the past while at the same time Lady Macbeth begins to lose her power more. Lady Macbeth saw that the only way to escape the life of guilt and weakness is to die. She decides to take her own life which illustrates how she had become powerless.

However, there are others who believe that Lady Macbeth always stayed in power, even before taking her own life. They argue that Lady Macbeth does not lose her power; instead her character is the one that gradually changes. She starts feeling guilty for the murder of King Duncan. She can’t live with blood on her hands. She says “Here’s the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten the little hand” (5.1). This does not mean she has lost her power. It only means that she is feeling guilty for her part in King Duncan’s murder. She wishes that her husband could also change and try to leave what they had done behind them. She tells Macbeth “What's done cannot be undone” (5.1), “You must leave this" (3.2). But then Macbeth won’t listen; not because Lady Macbeth had

lost power over him, but because he had just gotten more power hungry. All Lady Macbeth wanted to be was the queen. After killing King Duncan and sitting with her husband on the royal throne, Lady Macbeth had gotten what she wanted. She had no desire to continue killing. The witches had told Macbeth that Banquo’s son would murder him and take the throne and this made him to murder Banquo. This show that Lady Macbeth had not lost her power but she had just become less power hungry. She didn’t want to continue with the murders and therefore, she didn’t even need to exert her power over her husband anymore. In fact she was even guilt of participating in the first murder and as she took her own life, it was just as a result of guilt and not the loss of power.

It is clear the there are two perspectives of Lady Macbeth in the play and this can lead to changes in the point of view of the play. One perspective of the play is that unchecked power and ambition may prove to be destructive. Lady Macbeth pursues her ambition of being the queen with a lot of determination. She is willing to kill for it. But then she feels guilty by her husband’s repeated bloodshed in the name of power. The play therefore, points out that once someone resorts to violence and murder so as to obtain power; it becomes very difficult to stop. It was only to be King Duncan but the list of murder victims grows to include Banquo and his family. A lot of people are destroyed in the

process and Lady Macbeth cannot stand the guilt. She says “The thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? What, will these hand ne’er be clean?” (5.1). Of course it can be tempting to use violence to get power, but then it end up destroying you in. the end. Lady Macbeth commits suicide while Macbeth becomes paranoid and blames himself for his wife death. Another point of view of the play is the relationship between masculine and cruelty. Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into doing things by questioning his manhood. She says to him, “Are you a man?” (3.4) and also “When you durst do it, then you were a man” (1.7). She uses this to convince her husband to carry out the murders. In the end Macbeth decided that he was going to be a “man” and refused to let himself be influenced by his wife. He does not consult his wife in the subsequent murders.

Therefore, from the play The Tragedy of Macbeth, two perspective of Lady Macbeth can be identified. One perspective states that throughout the play, Lady Macbeth loses her power and in the end decides to commit suicide. At first she is able to convince her husband to kill King Duncan so as to take the throne. However, her husband does not stop there. He continues killing even though she tells him not to. She is unable to live with the guilt and in the end commits suicide. The other perspective is that Macbeth does not lose her power even though she committed suicide. She only became less power hungry and guilty and did not wish to continue exerting

her power over her husband. From these two perspectives of Lady Macbeth, the point view of the play can be changed. On one side the play can be seen as portraying the destructive nature of desire for power. On the other side, it can be seen to be showing the relationship between masculine and cruelty. Therefore, Lady Macbeth was introduced as a dominant character who losses power in the process becoming weaker. Nevertheless, others point of view is that she always stays in power, even before committing suicide.

References

• Shakespeare, W. (2008). The Tragedy of Macbeth. US: ReadHowYouWant.