Lady Macbeth Essay Hannah Lee

Grade 12

Women during Shakespeare's time are often expected to be obedient.modest and

humble. Unfortunately, In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth did not represent a

woman of that period. Lady Macbeth is one of the most relentlessly ambitious and most cold-

hearted of all the characters Shakespeare created. Lady Macbeth is manipulative, evil and

heartless; her burden of remorse from her actions had corrupted her mind which leads her to

commit suicide.

Lady Macbeth is very cunning and she manipulates Macbeth in order to receive power.

She manipulates Macbeth when he has second thoughts of killing Duncan by saying,

"What beast was 't, then,

That made you break this enterprise to me?

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

Did then adhere, and yet you would make both." (Act 1, Scene 7)

In the quote above, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth courage, knowing this is the best way to

manipulate him. Lady Macbeth insults him and says he is not a man now that he has second

thoughts of killing Duncan. She also persuades Macbeth and manipulates Macbeth by telling

him how the time and place now is the just right time, and it is just too good for him

She mocked Macbeth, and it forced Macbeth to prove her wrong. Since Lady Macbeth and

Macbeth were close at the start of the play, she precisely knows how to manipulate him into

committing murder. Lady Macbeth is very manipulative and cunning; she was able to make

Macbeth commit a cruel and heartless act so that she could benefit from the power she will

receive when Macbeth becomes king.

Lady Macbeth is evil she openly invites evil spirits to her body by saying,
 Lady Macbeth Essay Hannah Lee
Grade 12
"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! make thick my blood;

Stop up the access and passage to remorse,

That no compunctious visitings of nature

Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between

The effect and it!" (Act 1, Scene 5, 41-48)

Here, Lady Macbeth is demonstrating that nothing can stop her from obtaining power from

letting evil spirits entering her. The most tragic fact is that she demands "direst cruelty." She

asks that the evil spirits will fill her up from head to toe, that shows she knows what the evil

spirits are capable, and still she asks for it. Also, she calls the dark spirits to remove her

feminine, gentle feels so she can obtain power. Lady Macbeth has evil intentions, and she plans

to use the evil spirits to obtain power. Lady Macbeth is a very ambitious and evil character, she

never gives up on what she wants, and she will go the extreme to get what she wants. This

quote also foreshadows that her ambition for power does her evil, which leads to intense guilt,

and something terrible will happen to her. That proves she is, by far, one of the evilest

characters in the play.

Lady Macbeth is a cruel and heartless villain, and she does not care about anyone but

herself. She will even kill her baby in order to receive power, she says,

"[...] I have given suck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me.

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums

And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you

 Lady Macbeth Essay Hannah Lee
Grade 12
Have done to this." (Act 1, Scene 7)

Here, Lady Macbeth is talking about the subject of breastfeeding, which is an essential

fundamental biological trait of women in the Early modern period, which she makes it very

monstrous. In the quote, she is saying that she will never break any promise, even if she

promised to kill her own baby, she would do it. But she would not just kill it in a peaceful way;

she said she would pluck its nippled out of its mouth and smash its brains out. It shows that

Lady Macbeth is cruel, heartless and she has no humanity whatsoever in her.

In Shakespearian time women are regularly anticipated that would be obedient, modest and

humble. Shockingly, In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth did not live up to that

standard on how a woman would act. Lady Macbeth is a standout amongst the most steadily

aspiring and most shameful of the considerable number of characters Shakespeare made.

Woman Macbeth is manipulative, fiendish and merciless, her weight of regret from her activities

had undermined her mind which leads her to commit suicide.