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    Lady Macbeth Characterization

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    Reina Tarhini

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    Lady Macbeth Characterization

    Uploaded by

    Reina Tarhini
    30 views2 pages

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    30 views2 pages

    Lady Macbeth Characterization

    Uploaded by

    Reina Tarhini

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Lady Macbeth Characterization:

    Almost all the women in Shakespeare’s novels are displayed as weak and sensitive characters
    with little to no sense throughout their entire journey. However, Lady Macbeth is shown to be
    fearless, cold-blooded and hungry for power at full length through most of the play Lady Macbeth
    is a profoundly equivocal and appalling character; her boldness, determination and persuasive
    skills can rouse open affection and elation if she was not so surrounded by sinful and evil motives.
    Her psyche, which becomes controlled by evil spirits, reveals her peculiarities that include Lady
    Macbeth’s manipulative ways, ambition and her burdened moral sense.

    Lady Macbeth seems to be the perfect wife to the outer world, who supports her husband in every
    way; but in reality, this is just a tactic she uses in order to mislead and deceive. This woman has the
    power of manipulation which she uses on Macbeth when he hesitates about killing Duncan. She
    also utilizes her cunning methods on Duncan once she greets him as a “Fair and noble hostess” (1,
    6, 24). Lady Macbeth orders Macbeth to be, like how Duncan sees her, “the innocent flower” (1,
    5, 54) which is sardonic because within the confidential scenes we see her as the ‘serpent
    under’t” (1, 5, 55).

    It is no secret the total power demolishes, and that can happen with ambition. Lady Macbeth
    begins out confident, beyond any doubt of her aspiration as she is more determined and set on
    than Macbeth. Our first encounter with Lady Macbeth when she reads her husband’s letter
    blatantly shows her willingness to do all in her power so Macbeth can become king, “shalt be
    what art thou promised” (1, 5). She can only be Queen on the off chance that Macbeth gets to be
    King; so when he wavers, she shows sufficient aspiration, “Lady Macbeth’s threats of violence,
    for all their force and cruelty, are empty fantasies. It is Macbeth who converts them to hard
    reality.” Her relationship with Macbeth was first based on delicate love but with the ambition the
    both have and the crimes they kept on committing, their love for each other began to fade.

    Lady Macbeth’s moral sense starts from being completely burdened and ends with someone who
    is overpowered by sentiments of guilt. Her conscience is stricken and now she cannot bear the
    thought of her being involved with the killing of Duncan. We see this when Lady Macbeth starts
    to sleepwalk and recalls all the cruel and brutal things her husband have done and tries to wash
    nonexistent blood from her hands "Out, cursed spot out, I say!" (5, 1, 25); Lady Macbeth says
    that as she remembers the horrific deed her and her husband committed.

    Lady Macbeth is a victim of her own ambition, which complicates her part within the play. She
    both opposes and characterizes what it implies to be a female reprobate, especially in
    Shakespeare's time.
    Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost; "never shake thy gory locks at me.” (3.4.61), his feeling of regret
    is so solid that he can’t tell whether the phantom of Banquo is real or not which confuses and
    scares him since Macbeth cannot give a reason into why this is happening.

    The sixth and final stage is how sin can make earth feel like a living hell. The Darkness
    occurring, the whispers Macbeth hears after killing Duncan, and the porter scene all indicate hell
    on earth. The porter scene for instance shows how the hell did not only arrive in Macbeth’s soul
    but also into the castle.

    In conclusion, sin will cause retribution and power corrupts. We do have control over our own
    lives and with Macbeth, being king in his mind was something he deserved since the witches put
    the thought in his head. However the desire was already there.

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