Who is more ruthless and ambitious; Macbeth or Lady Macbeth?
Macbeth is a dark play written by William Shakespeare somewhere between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of Shakespeare's play; Macbeth is April 1611 at the Globe Theatre. The play was written in and performed in the 17th century which is a long time ago where people still believed in witchcraft, which is a very important subject in Macbeth, as the story focuses on what 3 witches predicted to Macbeth. I am going to be explaining who I think is more ruthless and ambitious; Macbeth or Lady Macbeth, and why I think that is. But to answer that question I first need to define exactly what ruthless and ambitious means. Ruthless is someone without feelings or mercy for others, someone very cruel, who only wishes the best for himself, and to accomplish this will take cruel actions. Ambitious is having desire to achieve a particular goal and work for it to achieve this goal.
The play first opens with Macbeth having an encounter with the three witches who then tell him that he will be Thane of Cawdor and even king, just as he and Banquo returned from a battle where he led King Duncan’s forces to victory against the disloyal Thane of Cawdor, Macdonald, and the king of Norway. The first prediction of the witches, which is Macbeth being the new Thane of Cawdor becomes true very soon. One of the first things Macbeth does is sending a letter to his wife telling her about what happened, and that the weird sisters told him that he will be king. This shows that he loves his wife a lot; because it was very dangerous for him to send a letter trough a servant to his wife. One of the first things she realises is that in order for him to become king, the old king; Duncan must die. But she knows that Macbeth won’t easily do that. [“Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 1)] She then says [“That which cries, “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it, And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal.” (Act 1, Scene 5, Line 1)] She means by this that she is going to talk Macbeth into doing what he has to do in order for him to become king, which is to kill. This is the first impression we get from Lady Macbeth, which indicates to us that she is a very dark and cruel person. She would kill or even worse, talk someone into killing someone who isn’t a bad person for her own benefit.
