What tactics does Lady Macbeth use to persuade her husband to commit murder? Why are her tactics successful? What does this show of their relationship at this early stage in the play and how does their relationship change?
Macbeth Coursework
What tactics does Lady Macbeth use to persuade her husband to commit murder? Why are her tactics successful? What does this show of their relationship at this early stage in the play and how does their relationship change?
There are many tactics in which Lady Macbeth persuades her husband, Macbeth, to commit murder. Lady Macbeth is more ambitious than her husband, and has few moral ethics. This can be seen when she persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan. However, her guilt later shows that her moral code is evident.
She urges Macbeth to kill Duncan, and refuses to understand his doubts and hesitations, which are shown through his soliloquies.
Lady Macbeth humiliates Macbeth by questioning his manhood. This can be seen when Lady Macbeth says, "When you durst do it, then you were a man." She tells him that he is not a man if he does not perform the murder.
She pressurises Macbeth to commit the murder by using emotive language,
" Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn
As you have done to this."
Here Lady Macbeth is saying that she would rather kill her baby than go back on her word.
Lady Macbeth tries to persuade Macbeth to become king when she says, "Thus thou must do' if thou have it. And that which rather thou dost fear to do..."
Lady Macbeth accuses Macbeth of cowardice,
"And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would',
Like a poor cat i'th'adage?"
Here, Lady Macbeth is referring to a proverb in which a cat wanted to catch a fish but didn't want to get its feet wet. It is effective because Lady Macbeth is suggesting Macbeth will not have self-respect if he does not commit the murder.
Lady Macbeth taunts her husband for his lack of courage. We eventually see her with mercy before she commits suicide as the event of Duncan's murder builds on her and feels guilty.
To persuade Macbeth to commit the murder, she has to remove any self-doubts he might have in his mind. She feels she needs to strengthen his mind by mocking his weakness. She scorns upon her husband's lack of courage. She says her own lack of pity would murder her own child. She says that, "the milk of human kindness" is absent in her. At the ...
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Lady Macbeth taunts her husband for his lack of courage. We eventually see her with mercy before she commits suicide as the event of Duncan's murder builds on her and feels guilty.
To persuade Macbeth to commit the murder, she has to remove any self-doubts he might have in his mind. She feels she needs to strengthen his mind by mocking his weakness. She scorns upon her husband's lack of courage. She says her own lack of pity would murder her own child. She says that, "the milk of human kindness" is absent in her. At the end of the scene, Lady Macbeth convinced her husband as in the beginning he said, "We will proceed no further in this business."
And at the end of the scene he says, "I am settled," and also,
"False face must hide what the false heart doth know."
Another one of her strategies to persuade Macbeth to commit the murder is praising him. This can be seen in Act 1 Scene 5. This is Lady Macbeth's way of trying to convince Macbeth to do as she pleases.
Lady Macbeth poses rhetorical questions to Macbeth, one of them in which she implies that he is like an adolescent girl be saying that he is "green and pale." Lady Macbeth then reminds Macbeth that he is a brave man in his mind, which shows us that she still does have some trust in him. However, she calls him a coward and says that he changes his mind too much.
Another one of Lady Macbeth's tactics to persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan is she makes the rewards seem worthwhile and attractive. This can be seen when she says:
"This night's great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign away and masterdom:"
Here, she is saying that if they get through the night, by killing Duncan, their future will be secure as king and queen. She wants her desire to be queen, fulfilled.
She also minimises the consequences. After the murder of Duncan has taken place, Macbeth comes back with blood on his hands. She shows how guiltless she feels when she says;
"A little water clears us of this deed."
Lady Macbeth feels that her husband is too soft and lacks the cruelty and ambition to commit the murder of King Duncan. This is seen in Act 1 Scene 5 when she says:
"... Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition..."
Lady Macbeth seems to be more determined for Macbeth to become King than Macbeth. In Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth reveals her raw ambition and how she will strengthen Macbeth's will to get what she thinks he deserves (to be King). Her determination is also shown when she would have killed Duncan herself, if he had not reminded her of her father,
"...Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done't."
Lady Macbeth taunts her husband for his lack of courage and all the guilt he feels. This is quite ironic as we eventually see her with mercy before she commits suicide as the event of Duncan's murder builds on her and she feels guilty.
Lady Macbeth's tactics are proven to be successful as Macbeth does eventually commit the murder. Her range and variety of tactics prove to be successful. This is because Lady Macbeth persuades him in an evil way. She taunts him and makes him feel embarrassed to be a coward. It is also his love for his wife that causes him to kill Duncan. He is overwhelmed, and she is overpowering. More than anything, he wants the desire to be king.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a very strong relationship, which later deteriorates.
In the first Act, Lady Macbeth is the stronger one, and she is always planning things out. She is the one who persuades Macbeth to kill Duncan.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a close bond, and she is involved in everything he does. This can be shown in the letter he wrote to Lady Macbeth. He told her about his encounter with the three witches and what they prophesised. He keeps no secrets from her and shares everything with her. She is his "dearest partner of greatness." The letter Macbeth wrote to his wife shows love and affection.
Their relationship is strong. When one is weak the other is strong and vibrant. When one is determined, the other is tormented. This shows they need each other and are complementary. What one doesn't have the other has.
Shakespeare, at first, created a strong verbal bond between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and this continues through the play until Macbeth doesn't consult or include Lady Macbeth in any of his actions. Before, Lady Macbeth was held responsible for controlling Macbeth's passions and action. This then changed. Lady Macbeth begins to lose charge when Macbeth grows stronger,
"Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill."
Before, Macbeth shared his thoughts with Lady Macbeth but later, he keeps his thoughts to himself, isolating Lady Macbeth.
Later in the play, Macbeth changes the "we" (Lady Macbeth and himself) to himself alone.
"For mine own good..."
The fact the Lady Macbeth knows all Macbeth's strengths and weaknesses emphasises the closeness of their relationship.
Lady Macbeth is a major influence on Macbeth. This, however later changes where Macbeth no longer listens to his wife.
Lady Macbeth sees to be in control of their marriage and of Macbeth's actions. When Macbeth comes out, after murdering Duncan, with the daggers in his hand, Lady Macbeth takes control and takes the daggers back. She is once again in control, for the last time, at the banquet where she says to Macbeth to stop looking so troubled. She tells the guests to leave and protects Macbeth. This shows that she loves and cares for him. However, there is a role reversal when Lady Macbeth consults Macbeth of what to do.
"What's to be done?"
By the time we get to Act 3, Macbeth is the one who has the stronger mind of the two. Lady Macbeth has lost control and by the end of the play, she has been driven mad through her guilt. At this point, Macbeth has the strongest mind. Lady Macbeth was powerful but is now full of guilt and scared. When Macbeth hears the news about his wife's death, he feels no grief. He feels nothing.
"She should have died hereafter."
He feels that Lady Macbeth is worthless.
The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth changes a lot during the play. It changes from a committed loving relationship to a disrespectful strained and deteriorating relationship. There is a lack of communication and control between them, therefore breaking them apart.
Lady Macbeth was once is control. She was once decisive, resourceful, encouraging and promising. Her tactics led Macbeth to commit the murder of King Duncan, just so they could be crowned King and Queen. This changed, where at the end of the play, Macbeth was the one in control and left Lady Macbeth isolated. This was the main cause of the relationship deteriorating.
