Macbeth An Analysis Of Lady Essay Example For Students

Macbeth An Analysis Of Lady Essay One of the main characters in the Shakespearean play Macbeth;, ishis wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a very two sided character in thisplay. She consistently acts differently when she is around her husband thanshe does when she is alone. There are many different examples of thiscontained in the play. One of the most notable examples of this is contained in Act I Scene vwhen Lady Macbeth reads the letter written to her by Macbeth. Shortly afterreading it, she makes the comment that she feels Macbeth is too kind tomurder Duncan and that he will need her help, strength, and willpower tocommit it. However, after she hears that Macbeth is returning home, she callsupon evil spirits and other demonic entities to give her some aid. She doesthis because she realizes that she doesnt have the strength of will to persuadeMacbeth into murdering Duncan after all. Then, when Macbeth arrived, justafter she finished praying for help, she acts as if she has a heart of stone andthat Macbeth is not a man if he is afraid of killing Duncan. This is a primeexample of her deception towards him, and how she acts differently when sheis alone than when she is around him. Another example of her being two sided is the role she talks aboutplaying in Duncans death, and the role that she actually does play in it. There are a few times in the play, mostly when she is attempting to persuadeMacbeth into committing the murder, that she says he should just leave themurder to her. Throughout the play she gradually decreases her role in themurder until it becomes Macbeths job to kill Duncan, not hers. This isanother very large trick on her part, but one that Macbeth also fails to see; Whether it is because he chooses not to, or because he is too naive to realizeit. The last noteworthy example of her inconsistency occurs between Act IScene vii and Act II Scene ii. In Act I Scene vii she severely scolds Macbethfor having second thoughts about committing the murder. She tries to get ridof his rational thoughts by saying that he must not really love her if he canchange his mind on the murder, which she says he promised her he would do. She then says that if she promised him something, even if it was as awful askilling her newborn babe, she would do it. Despite the fact that he nevermade such a promise, he once again fails to realize that she is lying to him. She then continues by making fun of him until she has weakened his positionon the subject and he finally agrees to her plan. However, in Act II Scene ii,when she is alone, she makes the statement that she would have killed thesleeping Duncan had he not looked like her father. This just proves that sheisnt nearly as strong and as evil as she pretends to be around Macbeth. In conclusion I feel that it is fairly easy to see how two sided LadyMacbeth is. When around Macbeth she seems to have no emotions, but whenshe is alone with the audience it is quite clear that that is not really true.