Lady Macbeth Compare And Contrast Essay

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth differ in many ways throughout Act 1 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. A very interesting difference between this couple is that Lady Macbeth is very controlling while Macbeth is not. This controlling factor of Lady Macbeth plays an important role as it is the main source of the erupting dilemmas which lead Macbeth to his destruction. Lady Macbeth’s character shines through as controlling in Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth because she is dominant, power-hungry, and persuasive. Macbeth, however, does not strongly depict any of these traits. Lady Macbeth is dominant because she is mentally stronger than Macbeth. She plans King Duncan’s murder after she has read Macbeth’s letter about the witches’ prophecies and his …show more content…
Lady Macbeth is the ‘poisonous snake beneath the delicate flower’ because she seems composed, but, she is evidently corrupt. Macbeth is mentally weaker because he tries to find many emotional excuses not to kill Duncan, while Lady Macbeth does not care for anyone but herself. Macbeth is sentimental during his soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 7, during lines 1-28 as he goes on a rant about the consequences of killing the King. Thoroughly, Macbeth talks about the punishments, being a bad role model, being Duncan’s kinsman and host which is supposed to protect and serve him, Duncan being an amazing king, and the citizens being in such sorrow because their beloved leader had died. This proves that Lady Macbeth is dominant because she originates the idea of killing Duncan, no matter what the repercussions are, while Macbeth thinks about the effects and the lives of others. Lady Macbeth is power-hungry, which is obvious, when she is first introduced to the audience. She wants all the power to herself. To do that she seeks help from spirits to give her the characteristics of a man since males are capable of holding more power and less