Lady Macbeth Character Analysis Essay

Character Analysis Of Lady Macbeth
When Lady Macbeth hears of Macbeth's news, King Duncan is coming to her castle; she
instantly starts planning the murder, she speaks to her husband about her plan and when he
refuses to carry out the murder she calls him a coward. 'Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o' th'
milk of human kindness.' She is basically saying he is too nice and calling him a coward. She is
calling him a coward to try and get him to do it. In a sense, being called a coward by a lady would
be total humiliation so she calls him that to persuade him to do it. She also says that he has ambition,
and wants to be powerful but doesn't have the mean streak required to strike at the first opportunity.
Macbeth is very happy to wait until he becomes king but Lady Macbeth wants it NOW. She is
prepared to do whatever it takes but Macbeth is a coward. He wants to be King, but he's afraid of
what he needs to do to get the crown. Lady Macbeth tells him to 'hurry home so I can persuade
you' she tries to talk him into taking the crown. 'After all, fate and witchcraft both seem to want you
to be king' she mentions the witches to add more persuasion, like saying that because the witches
were right about you becoming Thane of Cawdor they would be right about you becoming king as
well. She is trying to manipulate her husband and will try whatever to become queen.
When the servant comes in saying that King Duncan will visit tonight, Lady Macbeth starts plotting,
she wants to become less like a woman and more like
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Lady Macbeth The Most Powerful Character Analysis
How can women be stronger than men? In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare Lady Macbeth
influences Macbeth in the beginning. She then covers for Macbeth during act three to cover his
cowardice. Finally, Lady Macbeth dies after the guilt she acquired throughout the play for Macbeth.
Although men are considered more powerful than women, Lady Macbeth is the most powerful
character in Macbeth because she is unmerciful, deceitful, and vigorous First and foremost Lady
Macbeth is a dominant character because she is bloodthirsty. In act one, the messenger has assured
Lady Macbeth the king is coming to the castle that night. As a response to this news Lady Macbeth
states, "Fill me from the crown to the top full of direst cruelty make my blood...show more content...
Lady Macbeth is asking for the witches to give her the strength and courage of a man and to
allow her femininity to be gone so that she can help Macbeth complete the horrific crime. The
view that men are more powerful than women is demonstrated because she is asking for the
witches to make her less feminine, so she can accomplish the task this relates to common day now
because many women wish to be considered equal to men and to be treated as an equal to men just
as Lady Macbeth's character is trying to do. On the other hand lady Macbeth is definitely the most
significant character because she is vigorous in act two Macbeth has just completed the horrific
crime of murdering King Duncan and he brings the daggers back to Lady Macbeth who takes them
from Macbeth and returns them Lady Macbeth states, "infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers
the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures tis the eye of childhood that fears a pain tol devil if he
do bleed i'll gild the faces of the grooms withal for it must seem their guilt " (II.ii.68–73). Lady
Macbeth is criticizing Macbeth for having childish fears that are unnecessary because the dead are
harmless to them. She is also demonstrating her power over Macbeth by taking the daggers away
from Macbeth and taking them back herself and completing the crime. Lady Macbeth demonstrates
tremendous power when questioning Macbeth's fears because assuming that he is childish means
she feels no fear and she feels superior to him because she has ensured that the plan of the crime
would work. This relates to the real world because when someone feels superior they

Lady Macbeth Character Analysis
it's quite a image, Ophelia, topped in flowers, singing to herself because the current pulls her
underneath the water. It's particularly quite a image once you notice that Gertrude stood there and
watched the entire factor.
Did she yell, "Guards! facilitate her!"?
Did she yell, "Be careful, don't kill yourself!"?
Why did she follow Ophelia thereto remote spot? perhaps she simply needed to speak, far from
the castle, far from the dudes in body armor with swords. perhaps she pushed Ophelia within the
water, or surprised her, inflicting her to fall. perhaps her whole description of the event is associate
in an elaborate way elaborated lie. perhaps she simply watched, and thought, "She's higher off" or
"That ought to be ME." perhaps she thought, "What might I do associateyway?" perhaps she was
jealous of Ophelia of achieving an escape that she couldn't.
Working back from this moment, you have got to form a call concerningGertrude. Did she aggroup
with Roman Emperor to murder the king? is that this a love story? Did she "Lady Macbeth" that shit
and set the entire unhappy plot in motion? Is she oblivious? Is she numb from grief and trauma? Is
she maintaining plausible deniability to make sure her own survival and perhaps discount for her
son's life? Instigator, victim, clever survivor–the text leaves space for all of those prospects, however
if you're swing on Hamlet, you have got to make a decision. you have got to visualize her as a
personality's being United Nations agency

Lady Macbeth Character Analysis Essay
In Act 2 of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth can be characterized as determined, by
using any method to kill Duncan – even if it's in his sleep, and also by doing whatever she has to do
to cover up the very bloody evidence of the murder.
Lady Macbeth shows she is determined to killing Duncan, even if it means murdering him while he
is sleeping, which to her is cowardly. After Duncan goes to sleep, LadyMacbeth proceeds to start
making plans on how to kill him, saying, "Alack, I am afraid they have not awakened, and tis not
done. Th' attempt and not the deed confounds us. Hark!–I laid their daggers ready; He could not
miss em. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't" (2.2. 13–14). Lady Macbeth has
such strong determination...show more content...
When Macbeth comes back with the bloody daggers, he immediately feels guilt Lady Macbeth
responds to his guilty emotion by exclaiming, "Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead.
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eyes of childhood that fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the
faces of the grooms withal; for it must seem their guilt" (2.2. 53–57). When Lady Macbeth says, "for
it must seem their guilt", she is so determined to cover up the murder that she will even bloody
other people, to blame it on someone else. When Lady Macbeth says "If he do bleed, I'll gild the
faces of the grooms withal; for it must seem their guilt", she is saying that she will go so far as to
put Duncan's blood on the servants', so it looks like they killed him. After Macbeth kills Duncan,
Macbeth is looking over Duncan's dead body, and he addresses how gory his body is, saying,
"Who can wise, amazed, temp'rate, and furious, neutral, in a moment? No man. Th' expedition of
my violent love outrun the pauser, reason. Here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden
blood,a nd his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature for ruin's wasteful entrance; there the
murderers, steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers unmannerly breached with gore. Who
could refrain, that had a heart to love, and in that heart courage to make love's known?"

Character Analysis
Lady Macbeth can be said to be one of Shakespeare's most famous and frightening female characters.
She fulfills her role among the nobility and is well respected, like Macbeth. She is loving, yet very
determined that her husband will be king. At the beginning of the play, when she is first seen, she is
already plotting the murder of Duncan, showing more strength, ruthlessness, and ambition than
Macbeth. She lusts after power and position and then pressures her husband into killing Duncan.
Upon receiving the letter with the witches' prophecies from her husband, she begins to think and
knowing that Macbeth lacks the courage for something like this, she calls upon the forces of evil to
help her do what must be...show more content...
Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband with such effectiveness and overrides all his objections.
She repeatedly questions his manhood, courage, and his love for her. She knows he is too weak to kill
Duncan so she has no choice but to manipulate him to win him the title of King. She does this until
he feels that he has no choice but to commit the murder to prove him to her.
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dressed yourself? Hath if slept since?
And wakes it now to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valor
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would,"
Like the poor cat I' the adage? (lines 36–45/act 1/scene 7)
As the strong hold in the relationship, Lady Macbeth shows remarkable strength up to the point of
Duncan's murder. She is the comforter of Macbeth immediately after he commits the crime. Both
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth later lose the ability to sleep because if they do, they have terrifying
dreams but she still shows more strength during the day than her husband. To help keep Macbeth
from feeling guilty and to help keep him calm in the night, she once again questions his manhood.
That is until she cracks and her conscience becomes too much for her to handle. She was the one
who had more

Lady Macbeth:
If we look at the stage time Lady Macbeth's character gets throughout the play, we cannot be consider
her to be marginalised. Appearing in about 10 scenes, she has a great number of powerful,
memorable monologues and is for all intents and purposes, the female protagonist. It is however the
changes her character goes through that classifes her as marginalised. Her character is the one
undergoing the greatest transformation.
She begins the play with full strength and a dominating personality. Her 'unsex me' speech in act 1
scene 5 is iconic. Through that monologue, we get our first glimpse into the mind of Lady Macbeth.
On first reading, it seems more witchlike than anything the three witches say through the play. But it
has...show more content...
When the murder is underway and her hands are deeply plunged in guilt, Shakespeare deliberately
gives her an element of sentiment ("Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done't."). It
seems to me, that she isn't quite the iron character she portrays herself to be. To put it simply, in the
first part of the play, she has to assume the qualities she believes her husband lacks in order to attain
what they both equally desire and she therefore crushes the what she calls her 'womanly weakness'
and acts for her husband's benefit. However, it is this crushing of humanity and her conscious that
comes back to her, almost in a feral way. When she finds out that that Macbeth has slain the servants
of Duncan's chamber, she faints. It is this fainting, it has been said, this touch of nature that is one of
the finest things in the play.
Up till act 2 scene 1, Lady Macbeth was the driving agent for the action of the play. After the first
murder however, Macbeth no longer needs the sharp lash of her tongue to drive him to crime. Killing
suddenly becomes more natural to him. After this, the dynamics between the two change. He thrives
on the murders he plans himself. Thus in a sense, depriving Lady Macbeth of her occupation.
Deprived of the stimulus by the increasing independence of her husband and his ability to kill
without urging, she

Character Analysis Of Lady Macbeth
It is out of the ordinary for a woman to set up a murder for her husbands gain. Lady Macbeth in
Shakespeare's "Macbeth" is know to be a very mean and cruel character that just isn't scared of
anything by the readers. But as we get further towards the end of the play we see that she starts to
show her true colors and state of mind.
Throughout the play lady Macbeth's attitude and bravery changes but at the beginning of the play
she starts off with a lot of ambition. She makes all of her plans on killing Duncan and keeps them
away from Macbeth until the time is right. "Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are
but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces
of the grooms withal, For it must seem their guilt."(Macbeth; Act 1, Scene 2). This quote shows how
Lady Macbeth has more ambition and is less concerned than Macbeth. She is willing to place the
daggers back sice Macbeth is to afraid to see the what he has done to his loyal King Duncan. It
seems as if Lady Macbeth does all of the planning and sets everything up to make things easier for
Macbeth to execute. As we get further into the play it seems as if Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
completely switch roles. Lady Macbeth starts to regret everything that she has done and she starts
to go see a doctor to get help. "Here's the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not
sweeten this little hand. Oh, Oh, Oh!" (Macbeth; Act 5, Scene 1). This quote

Macbeth, written by william shakespeare displays a diverse range of themes and topics throughout
the play. These themes are represented through a wide range of characters throughout the dramatic
text. One that is strongly underlined throughout the whole play is the theme of the connection
between ambition and manipulation and one of the main characters; Lady Macbeth. Throughout the
sequences of the play, lady macbeth is depicted as a head–strong ambitious woman who challenges
her husband's masculinity in order for him to commit actions in order to gain power.
Lady Macbeth throughout the play shows her dominance in the relationship by challenging
Macbeth's masculinity and making him seem weak. This tactic worked in her favour as it always
resulted in the way she wanted. Act one scene scene 7 supports this through lady macbeth's
statement; "Was the hope drunk Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since? And wakes it
now, to look so green and pale At what it did so freely?". Lady macbeth provides a range of
rhetorical questions and allusions to motivate macbeth. By using the rhetorical question "to look so
green and pale At what it did so freely?", lady macbeth describes her husband as green and pale.
These two adjectives alludes to the popular disease at the time of macbeth, anemia. Anemia was
heavily popular during the time of macbeth, with it being most popular in young virgin girls. This
insult encouraged macbeth to pursue through with lady macbeth's wishes. Lady Macbeth continues
to fire insults at macbeth through her words in Act 3 scene 4 "This is the air–drawn dagger which
you said Led you to Duncan. O, these flaws and starts,Impostors to true fear, would well become
A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!" In this scene, lady
macbeth uses a metaphor to convey the weakness of macbeth. She does this by calling macbeth's
hallucination; a story made by a young girl, but had to be double checked with her mother to see if
it was appropriate enough to say. Lady Macbeth describes these actions as proper shame,
encouraging macbeth to fulfil his plans. Furthermore, lady macbeth uses this same strategy in Act 1
scene 5 , "your eye, Your hand, your tongue; look like th'

In his tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare presents his female protagonist, Lady Macbeth as a normal
noblewoman who is fiercely ambitious. However, by the end of the play, Shakespeare portrays her
as a frail, broken woman who suffers from, the consequences of her actions in the regicide of the
King.
Shakespeare first presents Lady Macbeth in medias res while she is reading a letter from her husband,
Macbeth. By being introduced this way, the audience may view Lady Macbeth as an important
character that they should take note of, emphasising her power. In addition, her introduction parallels
that of the witches, who were also introduced in media res. Lady Macbeth starts to speak in prose
and iambic pentameter, just as the witches, the only other predominant female characters in the play.
Shakespeare may have been implying that the witches were influencing Lady Macbeth's fate.
The letter Lady Macbeth is reading in Act 1 Scene 5 reveals many other aspects of her character
and relationship with her husband, such as when Macbeth refers to her as "my dearest partner of
greatness", Shakespeare's use of "my dearest" hints towards the intimacy of their relationship, and
the use of soft, feminine language could refer to Lady Macbeth's charm as a woman. On the other
hand, the phrase "of greatness" has quite the opposite connotations for the audience. It is implied
that Macbeth thinks of his wife as an equal, which, for a Jacobean audience, would have been
rather challenging as a viewpoint. However, the slightly harsher language coincides with the idea of
Lady Macbeth being powerful. For the audience at the time, who lived in a Patriarchal Society, this
phrase may leave them with a negative impression of the character of Lady Macbeth, as women
were viewed as less important than men, and a strong woman would have been thought of as a witch.
Jacobeans feared the supernatural, and this presentation may have caused them to fear Lady Macbeth.
Furthermore, Shakespeare directs the audience to view her as a powerful and manipulative character
through her actions. Rather than pushing Macbeth to kill Duncan directly, she questions his courage
and masculinity, knowing that this is the greatest insult she could say to him, and

In contrast to the typical standards of Elizabethan times, Macbeth appears to be submissive and
obedient compared to Lady Macbeth's dominant, manipulative personality. When the couple
discusses their plot to kill the king, Macbeth is initially hesitant and attempts to do away with the
morbid plan several times. However, when he voices his thoughts to Lady Macbeth, she is quick
to use the account of her own love to guilt him into carrying out the murder. Not only does she
threaten to cease her love for him (1.7.39), but she also insults his character by saying that he "live
a coward in thine own esteem" (1.7.43). Lady Macbeth reveals an ultimate distaste for cowardice
and weakened virtue, and she uses this, as well as her irrefutable bond with Macbeth, to...show more
content...
Macbeth's fundamental weakness is his utmost desire to be seen as a courageous, upstanding
individual; he prides himself on the strength of his character. Lady Macbeth, knowing this, is able
to use it against him to suit her own agenda. She insults his manhood, saying, "When you durst do
it, then you were a man" (1.7.49). By doing so, she calculatedly attacks one of his most esteemed
qualities and revokes his identity as a "real man." The effect of this on Macbeth clearly portrays the
respect he has for his wife's opinion and allows the reader to speculate that he bases his self–worth
on how he is perceived, especially by Lady Macbeth. The strong bond between the pair is evident,
and perhaps it is even on a higher level than an average relationship at the time. Despite their roles as
husband and wife, the dynamic between the two dramatically differs from the norm of

Lady Macbeth is a very interesting character. She is very ambitious and sneaky; these qualities
are what drive her to go after what she wants, no matter what she has to do to get there. In scene
three of act one, Macbeth meets the Three Witches. They tell him he would be king, but he is
startled by what they are saying. He doesn't believe he could ever be king or thane of Cawdor like
they are saying, because both of the men are alive, rich, and powerful. Macbeth doesn't understand
why the Three Witches are saying these things, he tried to ask them more questions but they
disappeared. When Lady Macbeth hear of this news she went crazy. Lady Macbeth became
overwhelmed with the feeling of future power and questions if her husband has the guts to be king.
...show more content...
But I worry about weather or not you have what it takes to seize the crown." (1. 5. 5) Even though
I have only read the play up to this point, I am surprised that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are
married. The are opposites; Lady Macbeth is very ambitious and claims things in evil ways,
while Macbeth is also ambitious, he isn't greedy or evil like his wife. To prove my point, Lady
Macbeth says, "You are too full of the milk of human kindness to strike aggressively at your first
opportunity." (1. 5. 5) It seems as if Lady Macbeth wants the crown more than Macbeth, because she
is willing to do anything to get Macbeth the crown now, and Macbeth is fine with waiting until he
naturally gets the crown because he knows it will happen since he is now the Thane of Glamis, just
like the Three Witches

In perhaps the most pivotal scene in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's motives are
truly revealed in her manipulation of Macbeth to show how humans have a desire for power and
once they get a taste of it, they will go through any lengths to have it, no matter the effect on others.
Her lust for power is showcased through how she persuades Macbeth by insulting his masculinity
and using emotive language to counter his logical reasoning. This section of the play illustrates the
tipping point of each character's morality with Macbeth having second thoughts about the planned
murder and Lady Macbeth diving straight in. The dynamic between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is
clearly shown in 1.7 as Lady Macbeth being portrayed as the more dominant figure, as she
repeatedly insults the masculinity of her husband. When Lady Macbeth hears that Macbeth has
changed his mind about killing King Duncan, she starts to guilt him about his decision and says
"Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life / And live a coward in thine own esteem / Letting "I
dare not" wait upon "I would. " (1.743 – 45). Lady Macbeth is saying that wanting the crown but not
doing anything about it, makes Macbeth a coward because he doesn't have the guts to do the
necessary actions to get power. She's trying to appeal to his sense of manliness by insulting him
about his reluctance to kill the king in order to convince him to go follow his word. This tactic
reveals how manipulative and cunning Lady Macbeth is

Here Lady Macbeth and her servant would enter SL as the opposing door represents Macbeth's
chambers nor could they enter through SR. Why? In the previous scene, Macbeth has sent his
assassins towards his chamber in order to belay his orders, Lady Macbeth could not possibly be
present there as well as she has exited further outwards of the castle in the events prior. The servant is
then tasked with fetching Macbeth and thus he would initiate a cross over towards SR ("Say to the
king, I would attend his leisure" III.ii 1170). Soon afterwards, Macbeth is then seen entering from SR
and executing a back loop, coming from within his chambers onto this intermediary stage space to
meet Lady Macbeth. Again after their interchange, both...show more content...
In a way, the fact that after the previous banquet with Duncan and the courtiers, both the King
(Duncan) and the Macbeths were last seen withdrawing to their respective bed chambers further
inside the castle by exiting SR instead of SL. If that was the case, we can then pinpoint the location
of the bed chambers regardless of its inhabitants would be much further inwards than the banquet
hall. SL on the other hand, can leads towards an unspecified space that is simply away from the
banquet hall. The Ghost of Banquo should enter through this door otherwise it not only interrupts the
flow for the other characters but also the relationships between spaces. Other lords and attendants
would then exit through the exact same door once Lady Macbeth announced and bid everyone a
good night. The Macbeth themselves exit through SR (the same entrance) towards their
bedchambers as Macbeth has clearly stated ("Come, we'll sleep" III.iv 1446).
We once again see yet an another banquet scene and the Macbeths' are entertaining their guests, but
as king and queen instead. Lady Macbeth's false words of welcome to the lords mirror in Act 1
Scene 6 where she hid her true meanings and intentions. She alone would play the host for a time
when Macbeth left to converse with the assassin. As the scene progresses to include Banquo's ghost
mocking Macbeth, she appears not to realize her husband's wavering confidence and sanity for she
could not see

Essay on Lady Macbeth Character Analysis
Lady Macbeth: Unsexed and Uncovered
Lady Macbeth progresses throughout the play from a seemingly savage and heartless creature to a
very delicate and fragile woman. In the beginning of the play, she is very ambitious and hungry for
power. She pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches' prophecy. In Act I, Scene
6, she asks the gods to make her emotionally strong like a man in order to help her husband go
through with the murder plot. She says, "Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me
here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top–full Of direst cruelty!" Also, she does everything in
her power to convince Macbeth that he would be wrong not to kill Duncan. In Act I,...show more
content...
The first sign of weakness comes in Act II, Scene 2 when she says that she could not kill Duncan
because he resembled her father. She explains, "Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had
done't." The other example of some weakness in Lady Macbeth's character is in Act III, Scene 2
when she tries to comfort Macbeth by telling him not to worry about what he has done to Duncan
and is about to do to Banquo. She tells him, "How now, my lord! Why do you keep alone, Of
sorriest fancies your companions making, Using those thoughts which should indeed have died
With them they think on? Things without all remedy Should be without regard: what's done is
done. Perhaps the most ironic change in Lady Macbeth's character comes at the very end of the
play. Throughout most of the first four acts of the play, she has been the strongest character,
always leading Macbeth and pushing him to carry out their plot, but in Act V we begin to see
that she wasn't as strong as she had appeared. First, in Act V, Scene 1 we see a troubled Lady
Macbeth who is sleepwalking. She seems to be very troubled by blood, presumably that of King
Duncan. Some of the comments she makes are, "Yet who would have thought the old man to have
had so much blood in him?", "What, will these hands ne'er be clean?", and "Here's the smell of the
blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." Later, we learn

Rajanae Overstreet
English 2022–23
8 December 2017
Carlton
Lady vs the Man
In Shakesperes play, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth was a woman of single purpose. She is seen as a
mainly focused character throughout the duration of the play, where she provides a connection of a
unnatural realm between the witches and reality. Lady Macbeth uses her feminine qualities to
manipulate Macbeth into killing duncan, and gain life long power with fortune. As Macbeth has
his masculinity evoked for being soft hearted and weak minded when it comes to lady Macbeth
along with her Torturous yet poised feminine assets. Lady Macbeth was seen as a caring and
supportive wife in the beginning of Macbeth. As soon as Macbeth informs lady macbeth of the
witches prophecy of him becoming king after Duncan, Lady Macbeth's murderous ambition on
killing duncan comes to light. She is aware her husband has been away from months fighting in the
war and strives for lustful touch as she uses her body as a tactic of persuasion. "Come to my woman's
breasts And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers( Act 1, Scene 5" ). Lady Macbeth
intended to use her strong sex appeal to gain what she wanted the most, good will and fortune.While
seen as being very manipulative, Lady Macbeth took on a whole different meaning when it came to
feminism, that woman strives for dominance and ruling.She strived for the ability to rule, for the
royal title, she took sly shots at Macbeth's insecurities to overpower his

Karin Thomson from the Shakespeare Institute in the University of Birmingham states very well
in her analysis of Shakespeare's Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is not so much a criminal as she is
a "victim of a pathological mental dissociation upon an unstable daydreaming basis". Thomson
continues to mention that this is "due to the emotional shocks of her past experiences", which of
course is the loss of her child. Lady Macbeth's mentally unstable state ultimately ends with with a
tragic conclusion, death. Lady Macbeth's desires seem to be very clear, her ambition to be queen
of Scotland. Lady Macbeth seems to go along with one of the major themes of the play, deception,
even to go as far as deceive herself. After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth tells his wife "what
hands are here? ha! ... Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? ...
making the green one red" [II.ii.60–4]. Macbeth at this point is filled with guilt and emotion, while
Lady Macbeth is doing the opposite by saying "my hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a
heart so white" [II.ii.65–6], implying that the murder is not a big deal for her and Lady Macbeth is
being more of a "man" than Macbeth is. However in reality, as we will see later on in the play,
Lady Macbeth is deceiving Macbeth, the audience, and even herself on her mental state, where as
she may seem emotionally stable, she is really broken inside. The second part of the witches
predictions is that the sons of Banquo will be king. Once Macbeth is king, this prediction is his
biggest problem. Macbeth at the time has no heir, as we see from "he has no children" [IV.iii.201].
However, Macbeth seems to imply earlier that he has had children in the past by saying "and pity,
like a naked new–born babe" [I.vii.21]. Macbeth saying this would seem to imply that he knows
what a naked newborn baby would look like, because he's seen it, his own child. Lady Macbeth
later brings further proof that the have had children in the past by saying "I have given suck, and
know how tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me" [I.vii.54–9]. It is very clear from the text that
Lady Macbeth at one point did in fact have children, and now she does not. While what happens to
her kids are

Katrina Ngo
Mr. Michael
English HL
18 November 2017
Lady Macbeth: An analysis of power association with the male gender in Macbeth In his tragedy,
Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, the central protagonist, Macbeth, is cajoled by a
prophecy received by supernatural witches in which he will hold the title of King. However, his
wife, Lady Macbeth, becomes consumed by the foretelling of royalty and incites Macbeth to execute
immoral manslaughter without malicious forethought. Macbeth becomes increasingly avaricious in
maintaining his title which ultimately leads to his demise.
Shakespeare develops the assertive character of Lady Macbeth to manipulate Macbeth's actions to
convey the power associated with the male gender. Lady Macbeth makes her first appearance in the
play reading a letter of her husband's encounter with the witches and promise for attaining titles of
royalty. Her initial response is to question Macbeth's "nature" (I.5.16) in being too "full o' th' milk
of human kindness" (I.5.17) to have the truculency to fulfill the prophecy regardless of Macbeth's
bloody efficiency on the battlefield. Lady Macbeth's immediate lack of faith in Macbeth shows her
ambitious character to be Queen. In addition to her nature, she appears to have planned out an
elaborate scheme to assassinate King Duncan. As shown in her speech of avoiding terms of murder
and replacing the actions with the use of subtle diction such as,"that" and "it" (I.5.25–26). This
subtle and ambiguous

Two scenes later, Shakespeare delves deeper into Lady Macbeth's character which adds another
perspective to the predicament Macbeth finds himself faced with. Lady Macbeth makes apparent, to
the audience, regarding her husband, that she has 'fear' concerning 'thy nature', and that Macbeth is
'too full o' th' milk of human kindness'. This suggests that Lady Macbeth fears that her husband is
incapable of producing what she deems necessary for him to gain the kingship. He possesses the
desire, but the ruthlessness required in order to secure kingship and usurp the throne, is something
that Lady Macbeth opts to take upon herself after minimal deliberation, which reveals much about
her and her husband, in terms of Lady Macbeth's dominance that would shock a contemporary
audience. The word 'milk' is perhaps alluding to her belief that Macbeth doesn't possess the
strength of character that at the time was seemingly synonymous with masculinity. The audience
may well feel as though Lady Macbeth believes that Macbeth yearns for the kingship, yet he will
not be proactive in going about obtaining it by illegitimate means as she labels him as too kind to
take a leading role in an approach of that ilk. Shakespeare arguably here raises a wider debate by
using the play as a mouthpiece to voice his concerns regarding the twisted society of the time in that
kindness could be seen as something that would be detrimental to an individual. Shakespeare also
perhaps intends to voice concerns over

When Shakespeare first presents Lady Macbeth in the play, we believe that she was an ambitious
woman who was driven to get power at all costs. We are irresolute however as to whether she is
part of a chain of events in the evilness going around the source. The first words we from her mouth
are her husband's word, which he wrote on his letter, showing us that she was the agent of his
thoughts. Women in that period of time, were running a household, producing heirs for their
husband and taking care of them, this is not the case for Lady Macbeth as she involves herself in
social affairs. Her drive for power is what makes them so successful in their deceitful plans. The
play shows us that there is a unique chemistry between two individuals which rare in that period as
marriage was usually arranged. She is essentially what keeps the force going as she guides Macbeth
and teaches is him how to be manipulative. Even though the crime that they had committed was
treason she was simply past the point of caring as she believed she had nothing to lose as she was
childless and she had no emotional fulfilment as a woman. She is superfluous and nothing less than
reigning alongside Macbeth can feel this hole.
In Act One when Shakespeare first presents Lady Macbeth she is shown to be Macbeth's
mouthpiece as the first words we hear are his words. She is shown straight away to be ambitious as
after reading Macbeth's letter she is already planning the murder of Duncan; O never shall sun that

Manipulation, greed, narcissism, desire, impulsivity, paranoia, lack of empathy. These are the words
often used to describe a sociopath. Sociopaths use these traits to fulfill desires and gain power. They
do not retain or possess empathy for anything, and although it may seem like they care, the
relationship is superficial and often toxic. In Macbeth, the relationship between Lady Macbeth and
her husband is not only damaging but is also toxic to those around them. While Macbeth may exhibit
sociopathic tendencies, the true sociopath is Lady Macbeth. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth shows how her sociopathic behavior shaped the story through her use of manipulation used
to coerce Macbeth, the impulsivity of these actions, and the paranoia that follows them. The first
trait that Lady Macbeth exhibits is manipulation. After Macbeth receives a prophecy from three
witches who tell him he will become King, he sends a letter to Lady Macbeth. When he returns
home, Lady Macbeth attempts to convince him that the only way to gain the throne is to kill the
King. At first, he agrees, but after careful consideration, he retracts his earlier promise and decides
not to proceed. When Macbeth refuses, Lady Macbeth blows up and makes several crude remarks.
The first, being, "Which thou esteemВґst the ornaments of life, and live a coward in thine own
esteem,ВЁ (annotation!) She plays on his self–esteem and tells Macbeth that if he does not go
through with the murder, He will live his life

Lady Macbeth Character Analysis Essay

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Lady Macbeth Character Analysis Essay