Lady Macbeth Greed Quotes

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The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a tale of murder and revenge. When Macbeth is given a prophecy by three witches, his wife Lady Macbeth makes him take action immediately so that the prophecies can come true. This leads Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to do things they will later regret. The actions that take place in this play are controlled by many different emotions. Lady Macbeth is driven by the emotions of greed, anger, and guilt in the play. Greed is a very powerful emotion throughout the play. At first, Lady Macbeth is controlled by the emotion of greed. A quote that shows greed from Lady Macbeth is “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty” (Shakespeare …show more content…

35-42). She is asking the spirits to make her more manly, so she can perform the deed that she wants Macbeth to do. She is asking the spirits to make her not feel guilty for murdering someone so that Macbeth can be king, and she won’t feel bad about it. For example, she shows greed when she finds out about the prophecy. When Macbeth sends her the letter explaining what happened, she decides right away that she is going to be queen, and he will be king. She plans out the entire murder for her husband and tells him he's being childish when he wants to back out. She is so power-hungry that she will not let anything get in the way of them becoming rulers. Furthermore, she continues to be controlled by greed as the story continues. Anger is shown through Lady Macbeth numerous times. Later on, in the play, Lady Macbeth seems to be constantly yelling at Macbeth for doing something wrong. A quote that shows this is …show more content…

Lastly, she not only feels guilt, but it also takes over her life. “Out, damned spot, out, I say. — One, two — why, then, 'tis time to do't. — Hell is murky. — Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard! What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (Shakespeare 5. 1. 31-36). Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking while saying this. She is rubbing her hands together and trying to get the “blood” off. She is seeing the blood that was on her hands after the murder of Duncan. Not only that, but she thinks that it won’t come off her hands. Also, she might not even be sleepwalking. She might have insomnia, which is causing her hallucinations. We don’t know that she was sleeping when trying to get the blood off her hands. She could have terrible insomnia from all the pent-up guilt. While she is at this stage of half asleep, she keeps revealing things that she and Macbeth did. Insomnia will eventually lead her to death. Of all the emotions shown in this play, guilt is the strongest by

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