Macbeth Essay, Research Paper
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth had one of the most important roles in the play I believe. Lady Macbeth is far worse than Macbeth. Although they both think of murdering King Duncan as soon as they hear the witches prophecies; Macbeth thinks more about what would happen if he did kill king Duncan, on the hand Lady Macbeth right away to evil spirits to get her the strength to kill King Duncan.
When Macbeth first hears the prophecies and when the first 2/3 of it comes true, he does think of killing the king, but also, towards the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that possibly he doesn’t need to do anything to become the king. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.”
On the other hand Lady Macbeth on receiving the letter telling her about the witches prophecies, she immediately thinks that she and Macbeth will have to kill king Duncan. This is one of the roles the lady Macbeth plays she tells Macbeth what to do. She also decides that Macbeth is too nice to kill the king. Lady Macbeth says this about Macbeth “is too ful o’ the milk of human kindness” and when she hears the Duncan will visit their castle that night she immediately appeals to the evil spirits, to give her the strength to kill the king.
In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth is unsure of Lady Macbeth s plot to kill the king. He doesn’t think that he will be able to live with the guilt of killing his king while he is staying under his very roof, and then decides that he will not kill the king. This shows that Macbeth is thinking about what he is going to do, and shows that he does feel guilt, unlike Lady Macbeth who never thinks twice about killing the king and wants him to kill so she can have power.
When Lady Macbeth notices that Macbeth has left the room, she goes to speak to him. Macbeth firmly tells her that they will not kill the king. “we will proceed no further in this business”. Said Lady Macbeth, however tells him that his love is worth nothing if he refuses to go through with the plan. Macbeth wants his wife to love him and wants her to trust him, so he agrees to go through with their plan.
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 he will feel guilty. Unlike Macbeth, she never considers what they are going to do and instead jumps straight into it without thinking. This shows that Lady Macbeth plays the role of the bad guy instead of Macbeth, because Macbeth thinks about what he is doing to someone s life.
At the climax of the play Macbeth makes plans to kill Banquo, with out Lady Macbeth, without anyone. This is a turning point because up until now, Macbeth was a respectable man, who didn’t feel the need to kill for the crown. But suddenly he decides he is going to go against everything he has believed in up till now.
Throughout the play “Macbeth”, two of the main characters, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth gradually exchange roles. Macbeth is the kind, caring one of the two in the beginning, but completely changes as the play goes on, as with Lady Macbeth. She starts out as an evil, vicious beast. She is an evil woman who is bond and determined to kill king Duncan. At the end of the play this character feels guilt for what she has done and has taken the personality, which was that of her husband in the beginning.