Who is more evil Lady Macbeth or Macbeth?
Who is more evil Lady Macbeth or Macbeth?
This essay will try to explain the characteristics of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Macbeth is the main character and there is a lot of evidence to tell us about him. In Macbeth has been portrayed as a lady who wants it all and at any cost. There is a lot of evidence in the book to tell us about both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Act two scenes one and two have a lot about them such as their relationship and what they talk about.
Lady Macbeth tries to persuade Macbeth to kill the king as soon as she heard the news that Macbeth had been promoted to Thane of Cawder. She realises that if the king and his sons are killed her husband (Macbeth) will be king. She told Macbeth this but Macbeth being a leading servant of the king and having fought under his command for many years and he is reluctant to carry out the wishes of Lady Macbeth. After much persuasion Macbeth is pushed into killing the king. He is reluctant and is not ashamed to tell Lady Macbeth he is not happy. Lady Macbeth pushes Macbeth to near madness by picking on his man hood until he agrees to kill the king. Killing some one on the battle fielded is a lot different to killing some one in clod blood, especially the King.
I think that Lady Macbeth is a conniving lady who will push until she has achieved all her goals. She summons the evil spirits to let her become the man so she can be strong and carry out the deeds,
"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the top full of direct cruelty! Make thick my Blood"
When Macbeth was King Lady Macbeth would be queen and has power and everyone would have to respect her. Lady Macbeth is evil because evil means when a force person or power is believed to cause wicked things to happen. So wanting to become Queen she pushes Macbeth to do something about the big problem. The only way to become queen was if the king and his sons were ...
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"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the top full of direct cruelty! Make thick my Blood"
When Macbeth was King Lady Macbeth would be queen and has power and everyone would have to respect her. Lady Macbeth is evil because evil means when a force person or power is believed to cause wicked things to happen. So wanting to become Queen she pushes Macbeth to do something about the big problem. The only way to become queen was if the king and his sons were to be killed.
Ever since Macbeth wrote the letter to Lady Macbeth explaining what the's had told him, Lady Macbeth started to think about what they should do. When lady Macbeth suggested that Macbeth should kill the king he should just have said no but instead he let himself get knocked down to her level of madness. Right up to the point were Macbeth carried out the murder he could have said no but he did it. Maybe he did not feel comfortable doing it, but he still did it and even if he did regret it afterwards he still carried out a murder and not just any murder, the murder of the king. How do we no from the book that Macbeth really is sorry he does not seem very sorry when he is king? Although Lady Macbeth pushed him to commit the murder he did not have to and if he was really loyal to the king I think I would not have murdered the king no matter what.
As soon as Lady Macbeth realised that she has the chance to be queen she jumps with joy and immediately plans how to become queen quicker and how to get Macbeth to do all her slanderous deeds.
It becomes apparent that Macbeth is somewhat of a moral coward. This could be seen as a positive attribute as it shows the weaknesses of Macbeth, and asks could Macbeth be fully responsible if he is not totally independent? He changes his mind about the murder a number of times. He deceives Banquo by telling him he is going to let the natural order prevail but then changes his mind again when Duncan announces that his son Malcom is to be his successor. Macbeth intends to destroy this. Macbeth has a change of heart before he reaches home until his wife persuades him that it can be done safely. Macbeth leaves the banquet that is to be Duncan's last, deciding not to do it. Finally Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth's manhood and persuades him to go through with the murder. During this intense time, Macbeth is hesitant and his weakness is shown in the way he seeks to put off the murder. He had doubts. Macbeth came under constant pressure from Lady Macbeth.
'Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?'
This shows that Macbeth is not purely evil and that he has a conscience. This could make it easier for Macbeth by reducing some of the blame that could be placed on him for the evil deeds, when we have seen that Macbeth did not commit this crime acting under his own intentions; but rather Lady Macbeth's.
At first, Macbeth felt he had no reason to kill King Duncan, because of the witches' predictions which said that in the future, he would become king.
"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir." However, when Lady Macbeth found out about the prediction that stated that Macbeth would become king, she immediately felt reason to murder him.
"Is too full o' the milk of human kindness" shows that Lady Macbeth considers Macbeth to be a "wimp," and that she'll have to do this all by herself. "Leave all the rest to me" clearly states that Lady Macbeth takes control over Macbeth's thought, which was not to kill Duncan, for he found no reason to. Lady Macbeth continues to convince and persuade Macbeth into her "plan" which is to kill King Duncan. Macbeth agrees to follow Lady Macbeth's thoughts and kills King Duncan. He regrets his actions afterward, which is proof that he never was willing to kill him in the first place. Macbeth has become deeply involved with murder, and eventually kills several others. This is proof that Lady Macbeth has transformed Macbeth into being a greedy, cold-hearted human being, by saying things such as "Are you a man?" She undermines his masculinity, to make him feel at fault, and have it her way. Eventually, Lady Macbeth is driven to Madness by the guilt she holds on her shoulders, and ends up committing suicide. If it weren't for Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have never killed anyone.
The way Macbeth questions and thinks about killing the king shows that he knows that killing the king is wrong and that he will feel guilty if he does so. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth never questions or worries about killing the king. She never worries that they will be caught and never worries that she will feel guilty. Unlike Macbeth, she never weighs up what they are going to do and instead jumps straight into it without thinking.
In my opinion Macbeth is fare more guilty as he actually carried out the murder. If I had to sentence Macbeth I would give sentence him for manslaughter. Lady Macbeth did push him but it is no excuse for the several murders he caused.
By David Sycamore
