What Is Your Opinion Of Lady Macbeth As A Woman And As A Wife.

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                                                                                                          Emma Wrigley 10J

What Is Your Opinion Of Lady Macbeth

As A Woman And As A Wife

At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth is portrayed as a callous, malicious overpowering woman, but at the same time she is a loving wife, who is willing to put aside her own womanly feelings for the sake of her husband’s happiness. She represses her natural feelings of guilt and sorrow after the murder of King Duncan, so she can become the woman Macbeth needs to make sure he remains sane and does not lose control of his feelings. When she is left alone without Macbeth depending on her, her true feelings start to show through and we see a contrast from the Lady we first thought she was. When Macbeth becomes independent and she is left alone, the guilt she possesses builds up and becomes so powerful that Lady Macbeth commits suicide.

When we first meet Lady Macbeth she is reading the letter from her husband describing the predictions of the three witches. She does not question what Macbeth has written. She knows her husband intimately and knows that he is too full of the ‘milk of human kindness’ to be able to realise his ambition. She realises that she will have to take control and be the dominant character to enable Macbeth to commit the murder of the King. She calls upon the evil spirits to ‘unsex’ her and ‘make thick my blood’ to make her ruthless so she can carry out the murder. She is willing to pervert her feelings for her husband, which shows how much she really feels for him and how much she is willing to sacrifice for his happiness. This also tells me that she is not normally evil if she has to call on the spirits to possess her and give her the strength to go on with the murder.

When Macbeth arrives she appears calm and collected. Macbeth tells her that King Duncan will be arriving that night. She replies testily with ‘And when goes hence.’ Lady Macbeth goes about the murder in a sly way. She reminds Macbeth to ‘look like th’ innocent flower / But be the serpent under’t.’ Then she tells Macbeth to ‘leave the rest to me’. This shows that she is definitely the dominant character in the relationship and is confident of her plan. When King Duncan arrived for the banquet Lady Macbeth plays the humble, ‘honoured hostess’ acting exactly as everyone would expect her to act, pretending that everything is fine and there would be nothing to worry about.

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Lady Macbeth realises that this will be their only opportunity to kill King Duncan and is outraged when she hears that Macbeth has changed his mind and doesn’t want to carry on. She uses her scornful and manipulative ways to get Macbeth to change his mind. She knows how much Macbeth loves her and uses this against him. ‘Such I account thy love’. She also tests Macbeth’s manhood. She asked if the strong words Macbeth had spoken about Duncan’s murder were just drunken boasting and since then, had he woken up without any courage in him.

Lady Macbeth ...

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