By careful study of the play "Macbeth" decide, in committing Duncan's murder how far Macbeth is driven by his own ambition; how far his wife dominates him; and how far he is influenced by the witches.

As soon as Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth she begins to plan Duncan's murder. She talks about defeminising herself, "Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here." I think she does this maybe, because in Shakespereian times men were seen to have more power than women, and that it might give her the "confidence boost" to pull off the murder, also when she says "Unsex me here" she is saying remove my gentler feelings from my body. This would have shocked a Shakespearean audience because it would not have represented a "stereotypical" Shakespearean women, because in those times a women would have been very feminine, and would not have talked about killing, especially killing the King. Lady Macbeth's main role in Duncan's murder is to try and persuade Macbeth to actually kill him. In the end she turns to insulting Macbeth and using reverse psychology. She says to Macbeth "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valour, as thou art in desire?" She is basically saying, "Are you scared to realise what you are, and what you want, and are you scared to realise your ambitions?" She also says "Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem" In this quote she tells Macbeth that if he does not pull off the murder he will have to live as a "Coward" in his own self esteem. Both of these quotes show hints of insults and reverse psychology, they also show that Lady Macbeth helped drive Macbeth to kill the King.

When you first meet Lady Macbeth she seems an extremely strong and independent women due to her opening soliloquy. It shows her speaking about being evil, "Fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty." This quote shows you that she wants to become evil. Lady Macbeth is also very "sly" because she quotes "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't." This basically means look innocent like a flower, but when needed, evil be ready. In parts of the play Macbeth seems "over powered" by Lady Macbeth, I say this because when confronted by Lady Macbeth, Macbeth thinks up many different reasons why he shouldn't kill the King, showing him to be a weak man who cripples under pressure.

After Macbeth kills Duncan Lady Macbeth quotes "These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad." She tells Macbeth not to ever think of these deeds again, because it will make them go mad. But towards the end of the play Lady Macbeth goes mad and commits suicide, this shows dramatic irony because Lady Macbeth doesn't take her own advice, but Macbeth does. She also helps to contribute to Macbeth's downfall because she kills herself, which leaves Macbeth no one else to turn to, leaving him to fend for himself.

In many ways, I suppose the witches influenced Macbeth more than Lady Macbeth, because they were the people who started Macbeth on this "rush" of ambition.

In act 1 scene 3 the witches said that he will be "Thane of Cawdor" and "King" as well as "Thane of Glamis", which he already is. I think that it was these quotes that firstly set him off, because if the witches didn't say anything to him, he wouldn't have tried so hard to become King. As soon as the witches told him about his fortune you noticed Macbeth's willingness to believe them. I think this because Macbeth tries to get them to explain their thoughts deeper when he says, "Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more." I think that the witches told Macbeth their predictions because they wanted him dead. I think this because if Macbeth hadn't of gone to see the witches he wouldn't have had any reason to kill the King, but as a consequence of killing Duncan he was killed. Even though the apparitions said that "For none of women born shall harm Macbeth." Macduff, the person who killed Macbeth, was born a caesarean; I know this because Macduff quotes "Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped." So this quote also shows that the witches were telling the truth, but had a tenancy to not tell Macbeth the whole truth. But the witches did give him a slight clue that they might not be telling the whole truth, because they said "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" This means that appearances are often deceiving, like Macduff for example, Macbeth wouldn't have known that he was a caesarean if Macduff didn't tell him.

I find the end of the play quite ironic compared to the beginning of the play, because at the beginning Macbeth is described as a "War hero", but at the end his downfall made Macduff the hero. Sought of like Macbeth the "Hunter" has become the "Hunted".

Joe Franco/11w1/English Coursework/Mr Wood