Is Lady Macbeth Responsible For King Duncan Death Analysis

Improved Essays
Is Lady Macbeth more responsible for King Duncan’s death? Is Lady Macbeth is more evil than her husband?
Lady Macbeth was a component during the murder however she cannot be accused of being more responsible for King Duncan’s death. Lady Macbeth was not eviler than her husband Macbeth. Macbeth was the character who did the deed which therefore makes him more vain.

The first evidence that proves that Lady Macbeth cannot be blamed for the death of the king was because it clearly states that Macbeth was the one who did the deed. Lady Macbeth says, “Only look up clear. To alter favor ever is to fear. Leave all the rest to me”(1,6,71-72). This shows that Lady Macbeth had planned the death but hadn’t done the actual crime. Lady Macbeth informs
…show more content…
Lady Macbeth is very manipulative and ambitious. Her evil is articulated in words and in her cunning strategies. Macbeth had decided not to execute King Duncan and told her not to continue with the deed, instead of ending the plans she replied with a ‘motivational speech’ which then changed Macbeth’s mind. In the speech, Lady Macbeth verbally attacks Macbeth by testing his masculinity and also linking it back to personal attacks such as when she say she would smash her own son's brain then back out of this deed. Macbeth was more motivated to kill King Duncan after she said, “What beast was ’t, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man...” (1,7,48-58). In this line, she questions his masculinity by making him remember that he was the one who told her he wanted to kill the king. She says that he dared to do this deed he was a man but if he backs out then he is considered less of a man. Macbeth questions what happens if they failed but she brushed the thought aside and told him to leave all the planning to her and all he needs to do is commit the murder, it was this line which made him commits the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the last act Macbeth struggled to make his decision on whether to kill Duncan or not. His wife made most of the decision for him. She basically stated that if he wouldn’t kill Duncan she would. Lady Macbeth tried to sexually influence him to do so.…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The last major theme in the play is portrayed by multiple characters, which is guilt. Macbeth felt very guilty right after he committed King Duncan’s murder, “As they had seen me with these hangman’s hands/list’ning their fear, I could not say ‘Amen,’/when they did say ‘God bless us’” (II.ii.35-37). In that quote you can tell Macbeth feels extremely guilty because he cannot say the word “Amen.” A word that he used to be able to say with ease, now seems nearly impossible to come out of his mouth.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analyzation of Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a woman in a man body. She always makes the strong decision as men. For instance, she opened eyes for Macbeth and pushed him off the track of grief. He does not in that he involved. “I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Macbeth starts to think about killing his king, he decides that he will not go through with the plan because this is a terrible crime and the king has treated him extremely well. When he decides this he tells his wife, “We will proceed no further in this business”(i vii 34). This shows that Macbeth does not want to go through with the plan to kill Duncan. After saying this to Lady Macbeth she says to him, “And live a coward in thine own esteem,/ letting I dare not wait upon I would,/ Like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?”(i vii 47- 49) In these lines Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth a coward and accuses him of being able to want something but never having enough courage to get what he wants.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the marvelous play ¨Macbeth¨ written by William shakespeare, A woman by the name of Lady Macbeth convinces and forces her beloved husband,Macbeth, to dethrone the King of Scotland. King Duncan was killed in his sleep by Macbeth and his son was killed in cold blood by a murderer Macbeth hired. These chain of events unfolded because Lady Macbeth believed so heavily that Macbeth should be crowned royalty. Throughout the play,we can see that King and Queen Macbeth are both are very persuasive,but Lady Macbeth is to blame for the death of King duncan and the events that followed. Crowning her more persuasive and ambitious.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, have you ever wondered who was more to blame for Macbeth’s downfall, Macbeth, or Lady Macbeth? In my opinion, Macbeth was more to blame for his downfall. One reason that Macbeth was more to blame for his downfall than his wife was that he was so power-hungry, that he took the Three Witches' prophecies to heart and went along with his wife's plan to kill Duncan so he could become King of Scotland. Another reason that Macbeth was more to blame for his downfall than his wife was that he planned to kill Banquo and his son because the Three Witches prophesied that Banquo's kids would become king.…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is Lady Macbeth To Blame

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Is the death of King Duncan the fault of Lady Macbeth or Macbeth? Sometimes the answer is simpler than it seems. There are a few reasons that show that Macbeth is the one at fault, not Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is weak and let his wife and some witches go against his conscience.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are portrayed with two opposing personalities and how each illustrates their different views on honor and how that affects their society. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are both power-hungry and are eager for the throne but both strive for it in different ways. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth originally plotted the evil scheme to murder King Duncan for assurance of the crown, but Macbeth suddenly realizes that’s not what he wants to do anymore. He believes that he will eventually rise into power.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lady Macbeth’s yearning of overthrowing Duncan’s throne to become queen and for her husband to become a man significantly drives Macbeth’s ambition. It starts out with Lady Macbeth, who is the dominant and controlling person in the relationship. She acts superior than Macbeth while the murder of Duncan occurs. Not only Lady Macbeth has high ambitions for her husband, she is eager to preserve power for herself as a queen. However, her fear of her husband commit Duncan’s murder and covet the throne makes her control her husband, and planning of murdering Duncan.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Despair In Macbeth

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are a moiety of evil and despair. Her views are the same as Macbeth’s in the way that they both strive for power and hunger to watch the world bow down to them. In some aspects she is even more evil than our famed antagonist, Macbeth. They both devise a plan to overthrow King Duncan and frame his servants for the crime. Macbeth shows a slight hint of good, however his cold-blooded wife turns his face from the light and they delve back into the darkness which is the murder of a fair king.…

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After reading Macbeth’s letter about the witches’ prophecies and receiving news from a messenger that Duncan comes to visit, Lady Macbeth knows that Duncan will not leave her house alive. She says, “The raven himself is hoarse/ That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan/ Under my battlements” (1.5.45 47). Her instant solution to gain power is to eliminate Duncan as soon as possible displaying her greed and shows her wickedness by following her gut decision of killing Duncan. She does not hesitant or stop to think about her decision, but instead, she plans to manipulate Macbeth to go forward with her intentions. She thought of the evil plan, and she persuaded Macbeth to follow her plan despite the fact he did not want to.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From just that information, all fingers point to Macbeth being guilty, however the person who is truly responsible for the murder is his wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is more guilty than Macbeth when it comes to the murder of Duncan through her verbal assault and manipulation of Macbeth, along with active participation. The first sign of Lady Macbeth’s guilt is how far she goes to convince Macbeth to commit the murder using verbal assault. At first Macbeth aboard with the idea of killing Duncan to become king, however he quickly changes his mind as he realizes all that Duncan has done for him.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is Lady Macbeth Guilty

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the play “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth was just as guilty of the King’s death as her husband. Lady Macbeth was the one who urges her husband to kill Duncan. Macbeth is only contemplating killing Duncan until Lady Macbeth convinces him to do it by taunting him, “When you durst do it, then you were a man. And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man.” ( Ⅰ.vii.49-51).…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Macbeth Final Essay Who has the power to influence us to do what we do and why? In Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth changes from being a honorable gentleman into a irrational killer. The existent question here is what or who influenced him to change? We recognize that he was influenced by many people throughout the play to commit appalling actions.…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Macbeth is told that he is not a man, and that she is more of a man than he is because he does not want to kill King Duncan. She says, " When you durst do it, then you were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place"(I, IV,50). When she finally convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan she is most pleased with herself, because now they can be the rulers of the…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays