Examples Of Lady Macbeth's Ambition

Lady Macbeth’s Suffering Ambition typically causes good events to happen, and on some occasions, it can cause bad events to happen, leading to tragic situations. These tragic situations create feelings of suffering and isolation. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth go through different tragic situations through their ambition, but Lady Macbeth develops more suffering and isolation. Lady Macbeth’s ambition for her husband leads to her isolation from him and the suffering she endures till the last hours of her life. Lady Macbeth encourages her husband to carry out the terrible task of killing King Duncan. When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth’s future from the prophecies, she asks the spirits to “unsex me here… make my blood thick” (Shakespeare 1.5.31-34). Lady Macbeth, as a woman, needs strength to convince her husband to kill Duncan because she cannot do it herself due to her place in society. Her thought of manhood and masculinity comes from thoughts of fighting and murder. When Lady Macbeth approaches Macbeth to convince him to kill Duncan, she calls him a …show more content…
After Macbeth kills Duncan, he soon distances himself from her, saying his mind is “full of scorpions” (Shakespeare 3.2.41). Macbeth feels this way because of the guilt he holds, so he keeps to himself to ease the pain. Lady Macbeth also suffers because Macbeth stays alone in his misery, leaving her also alone physically and emotionally. As the isolation between them goes on for days, Lady Macbeth begins to have “light by her continually…‘Tis by her command” (Shakespeare 5.1.25-26), and she soon kills herself. This light symbolizes the little hope she holds in the darkness of her guilt. Soon, the darkness of her guilt overtakes her and the light blows out, causing her to take away her own life. Lady Macbeth, isolated from others, kills herself, proving that she suffers more than her