‘ Unsex me here ……..of direst cruelty’.
Lady Macbeth wasn’t going to wait for destiny you could say that Lady Macbeth is guaranteeing that they will arrive at their destinies. At first when he meets his wife, one could well assume that he did not agree with his wife’s plan. Yet he does not say anything to her, and through out the play before the king is murdered he had many opportunities to express his distastes to murdering the king and he could have backed out and not allow Lady Macbeth to push him around.
We will speak further’
There was one point that he uttered that he could gain the crown in a honourable way. Lady Macbeth continues to precede this immoral act. This may be because she is stronger and more persistent out of the two and she is almost certain that Macbeth has a conscience and is also aware that he is morally upright and too sensitive to do something wrong. From this scene the reader is conscious that she is unlike her spouse on the outside. She is a decision maker, domineering manipulative and smooth talking. She abounds with self-confidence and has no qualms what so ever.
Macbeth at first is shown has a honourable man who loves his king and country, and his willing to serve his king and he is only driven to murder by his wife and by the very thought of him being king fulfilling the prophesises. However on close examination the reader can see that there is more to him than at first thought. Of course he knows the king has done no wrong to him in fact he owns him gratitude for the honours he has bestowed open him and Macbeth should not have murdered him because he has done nothing wrong he is also the host and should have prevented someone from murdering the King and shouldn’t have done it himself. Macbeth intelligence is not simple to be pushed around by his wife, he is quite aware of all the consequence after all he is a leader in the army and must have commanded respect from subordinates. But still Macbeth wants to be King. At first the reader thought that Macbeth was a coward but now one can see that he isn’t this is because he tells everyone about is destiny.
Lady Macbeth is depicted as a very ambitious lady and has no regards for morality. When Macbeth writes a letter to her letting Lady Macbeth know about the witches prophesies. Lady Macbeth immediately becomes obsessed with the news. The reader can only but wonder whether or not she thought about the downside of this news she received. She immediately begins to hatch plans for the prophesise to be fulfilled. The reader is made aware that Lady Macbeth is like her husband Macbeth on the inside and she is the decision maker, domineering, manipulative and smooth talking in respect to her husband. She is abounding with self-confidence and has no qualms whatsoever.
‘Look like the innocent flower but be serpent under’t’
Lady Macbeth drives her husband to murder the king. One could but wonder if she uses the witch because she wants to bully Macbeth emotionally when she taunts him about is masculinity. Then she uses terrible, violent imagery as a shock tactic. Lady Macbeth has already lost a child when it was younger she makes a point that she knows the joy of being a mother and she would have given that up for Macbeth to be King.
‘ 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 pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, And dash’d the brains out, had so sworn as you have done this’.
She mocked him about his bravery because she knows that he is a soldier this will worry him and will an insult especially when he had expressed doubt. Lady Macbeth had an answer to every objection he may have come up with. Before the murder Macbeth questions her about her about if they fail and she replies ‘ if we fail we fail’ this is because she had a strong feeling that they were not going to fail. Lady Macbeth is also the one to organise the final details of the murder she also does the cover up of the murder when her husband brought back the dagger from the murder scene she is quite annoyed about his carelessness.
There is only one time in the scene when Lady Macbeth portrayed her female character and this is was only for a brief moment and that was when she could not emotionally make herself carry out the act off killing King Duncan and for the fact that he resembles her father.
When the King told Lady Macbeth he wants to stay at the castle, Lady Macbeth welcomes him she is in fact more anchious for her husband to be king then ever before. Lady Macbeth carries on taunting her husband with words that undermine his masculinity. These words had an effect on Macbeth and which lead to Macbeth to commit an act of murdering the king. When he comes back in some way you could say that he had to prove to his wife and he has succeeded
The witches did not directly kill king Duncan however; they did play a significant part of putting the thought of Macbeth becoming King in his mind because the time we heard about Macbeth thinking about becoming King was when the witches told him that he would the thane of cawdor and king here after. The witches informed Macbeth so he could begin to start harbouring thoughts of being king. The reader also wonders if the witches could read mind because they recognised that Macbeth was ambitious enough to want to become king, not only that but he was weak in the presence of his wife, due to the fact that she is more forceful. The reader also notices that witches decide to talk to Macbeth, when he is full from triumph of battle, and fresh from killing.
The witches could only have so much power over Macbeth if he already had these thoughts in his mind. The witches speak Macbeth’s innermost thoughts, they know exactly what to say, and their timing is precise. They seem unnaturally close and act with one mind.
‘ All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee thane of Glamis
All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee thane of Cawdor
All hail Macbeth! Thou shalt be king here after’
The witches also use riddles, which in some ways confuses Macbeth. You could say that this makes him more eager to know more.
I can only conclude that no single person was responsible for the death of king Duncan and all the mentioned names played a major part in the king’s death. Although Lady Macbeth may have provoked her husband to the killing and she seemed to be the most influential and perhaps the most responsible person for the death of King Duncan. The person who actually committed the crime must bear the consequence of his or her act hence Macbeth is to be blamed.
Written by L Itam
