The Change of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth
Shakespeare’s Macbeth shows the downfall of two entities conjoined by marriage with the gain of power. It is incredible to think of how much someone changes when given power. The play documents a man’s desire to be in power and the murderous acts he is willing to commit to get there.
Ambition isn’t a precise concept. While “ambition” and a “love of honor” may not be synonyms, they do run hand in hand. “We praise the quality we think of the man who loves honor more than most people, and when we blame it we think of him who loves it more than is right” (Langis). Macbeth is praised for his valiant abilities and he receives the title of Thane of Cawdor. If he hadn’t had fought and killed, he would have never …show more content…
In the letter Macbeth praises his wife of how special she is to him. As she reads his note, Lady Macbeth states “I fear thy nature; / It is too full of the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way”. She feminizes his actions, declaring him too kind. Upon the discovery of Duncan being between the Macbeths and the throne, Lady Macbeth plots out a murder. When Macbeth hesitates she repeatedly tears at his manhood with lines like, ‘‘I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none’’, until he believes committing murder will be the only way to prove himself (Langis). After the crime is committed, Lady Macbeth soothes her husband as he struggles with paranoia , all while falling apart herself. While it may seem that Lady Macbeth is merciless, she does show some humanity. After the murder of Duncan she declares she could not have killed him herself because of his resemblance to her …show more content…
In this scene you see that her mental state has been altered to the point she sleepwalks, mutters, and cannot quit washing her hands. “Out, out damned spot!” is her unconscious beggary of the guilt to be taken from her. She is fixated on the atrocities her and Macbeth have caused. She cannot distinguish the “real world” from her haunting nightmares (O’Rourke). At the very end of the play, Lady Macbeth reads aloud the letter her husband wrote her before he became the King of Scotland. She is so overwhelmed with the personal torment of guilt that she commits suicide. Macbeth heard the scream but confesses in a brief soliloquy that such noises of horror no longer have the power to frighten him. Upon finding of her death Macbeth is solemn and empty but he shows no remorse for his actions. Some see the lines “She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word”, as him seeing her death as an inconvenience others see it as wishing he had time to mourn. However, in his famous “tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow” speech he does take the time to say if he and his wife had remained honorable, maybe their deaths could be more dignified than they are destined to
Shakespeare’s Macbeth shows the downfall of two entities conjoined by marriage with the gain of power. It is incredible to think of how much someone changes when given power. The play documents a man’s desire to be in power and the murderous acts he is willing to commit to get there.
Ambition isn’t a precise concept. While “ambition” and a “love of honor” may not be synonyms, they do run hand in hand. “We praise the quality we think of the man who loves honor more than most people, and when we blame it we think of him who loves it more than is right” (Langis). Macbeth is praised for his valiant abilities and he receives the title of Thane of Cawdor. If he hadn’t had fought and killed, he would have never …show more content…
In the letter Macbeth praises his wife of how special she is to him. As she reads his note, Lady Macbeth states “I fear thy nature; / It is too full of the milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way”. She feminizes his actions, declaring him too kind. Upon the discovery of Duncan being between the Macbeths and the throne, Lady Macbeth plots out a murder. When Macbeth hesitates she repeatedly tears at his manhood with lines like, ‘‘I dare do all that may become a man; / Who dares do more is none’’, until he believes committing murder will be the only way to prove himself (Langis). After the crime is committed, Lady Macbeth soothes her husband as he struggles with paranoia , all while falling apart herself. While it may seem that Lady Macbeth is merciless, she does show some humanity. After the murder of Duncan she declares she could not have killed him herself because of his resemblance to her …show more content…
In this scene you see that her mental state has been altered to the point she sleepwalks, mutters, and cannot quit washing her hands. “Out, out damned spot!” is her unconscious beggary of the guilt to be taken from her. She is fixated on the atrocities her and Macbeth have caused. She cannot distinguish the “real world” from her haunting nightmares (O’Rourke). At the very end of the play, Lady Macbeth reads aloud the letter her husband wrote her before he became the King of Scotland. She is so overwhelmed with the personal torment of guilt that she commits suicide. Macbeth heard the scream but confesses in a brief soliloquy that such noises of horror no longer have the power to frighten him. Upon finding of her death Macbeth is solemn and empty but he shows no remorse for his actions. Some see the lines “She should have died hereafter; / There would have been a time for such a word”, as him seeing her death as an inconvenience others see it as wishing he had time to mourn. However, in his famous “tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow” speech he does take the time to say if he and his wife had remained honorable, maybe their deaths could be more dignified than they are destined to