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
Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak. Augurs and understood relations have By magot pies and choughs and rooks brought forth The secret’st man of blood. —What is the night?” (Shakespeare, 3.4, 146-150). This quotation indicates Macbeth’s greed for power, insinuating that he will not stop murdering his enemies until he is reassured that his throne is solely his.
Shakespeare's “Macbeth” is a play that is fundamentally about ambition, guilt, and power of manipulation. It demonstartes the lengths that people may go to in order to achieve a goal. One of the protagonists, known as Lady Macbeth, is a character that deomnstartes the themes of ambition and the power of manipulation. Macbeth had the ambition to kill Duncan in order to become king. If it wasn’t for his wife, Lady Macbeth, he would not have done so.
Shakespeare characterizes Macbeth as greedy through his intentions to kill Banquo and Fleance. During act III scene I of Macbeth, the new king, Macbeth realizes that if the witches prophecies continue to play out, Banquo’s descendants will inherit the throne. This upsets Macbeth who feels like murdering Duncan was pointless if his children aren’t his heirs. During his soliloquy, Macbeth says, “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! / Rather than so, come, fate, into the list,” (Shakespeare 3.1.74-75).
She is able to see through the morality of death and is completely focused on her own ambition for Macbeth to become King, and is willing to do whatever’s necessary to complete her goal. “Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his manhood, wishes that she herself could be ‘unsexed’,” (SparksNotes) She uses this manipulation to influence Macbeth’s desire to kill in order to have his own preservation, going as far to say that doubting hisself makes him cowardice and unmanly. Later in the play, Lady Macbeth tends to contradict herself as she soon becomes insane due to how the murders created a toll on her conscience. "Out, damned spot!
A little water clears us of this deed./ How easy is it, then! Your constancy/ Hath left you unattended” (2,2, 82-87). Lady Macbeth now has metaphorical and physical blood on her hands. Originally, she just knew about the murder of Duncan, but actively assisting Macbeth and encouraging it, makes her just as guilty. Her morals and ethics have now been forever tainted by the crimes that she and Macbeth have done.
“Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” (5.2.53-55) Lady Macbeth’s conscience is constantly overwhelmed by what she’s done. This shows when she’s sleepwalking and is witnessed by the gentleman.
During her delusion, she says, “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (5.1.39) and then later says, “Here’s the smell of blood still. All the / perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little / hand” (5.145-47). Lady Macbeth is unable to let go of her guilt and take responsibility for her actions. She decides she is unable to continue living as such and decides to take her own life.
William Shakespeare wrote a play called Macbeth, where the main character Macbeth is trying to get the most power he possibly can and kill everyone in his way. Macbeth's actions are caused by strong and maybe small emotions that guide his actions. Emotions like anger, guilt, sadness, greed, and many more. Macbeth’s character is very simple, he is a man that is given a very good opportunity for power and he takes it and doesn’t want to give it up. Macbeth's actions were mostly controlled by greed, anger, and guilt.
Macbeth’s jump to murder illustrates the depth of his greed clouding his rational judgement. Shakespeare spotlights the hold greed can take on a righteous individual to emphasis the need for self control. Secondly, Macbeth, jealous of the prophecy stating Banquo “Shalt get kings” Macbeth fears he wears a “fruitless” crown, Macbeth orders the murder of his friend to
The play also does an amazing job of showing the starting and aftermath of greed while having another character that demonstrates the opposites of Macbeth’s greed. With these points, Macbeth, the play is a great example for its readers that shows the scenario greed may come from and what could happen. Shakespeare with over 35 stories and plays demonstrates greed the best in Macbeth and with Macbeth’s life changing in a heartbeat as it did, readers get a clear understanding of the message. Everyone that has read Macbeth has for sure had their fair share of greed boiling up inside, and the play encourages the readers to avoid it, using Macbeth as the main character experiencing the effects of greed as a demonstration. As demonstrated in the text, greed from oneself and the people they are around could turn one from an all-time high to rock bottom while losing everything and everyone one
In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Shakespeare explores the consequences of unchecked ambition and greed paired with blind trust in the wrong people, and how this will ultimately result in inevitable repercussions. Shakespeare's character Macbeth explores these ideas through his political greed and desire to become King of Scotland. Macbeth was a virtuous man who was enrolled in the army, and this play represents how power can corrupt even these kinds of people. His ambition to be the king guides him to commit multiple heinous crimes, including the murder of his friends and allies. He lets this idealized version of himself control him, and lead him to malicious acts that eventually lead him to his death.
Lady Macbeth’s belittlement by her husband brings her to a state of aggrievement, which she displays while she sleepwalks. She unconsciously mumbles, “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?” (5.1.39-42). Lady Macbeth is deeply troubled by her involvement in turning Macbeth into a murderous monster, and is frustrated by her inability to control the situation.
At the beginning of the play when Lady Macbeth receives a letter from her husband, Macbeth, saying that the three witches have prophesied that Macbeth is in line to become king. She is immediately filled with greed and ambition. Lady MacBeth expresses her greed for Macbeth to become king and her ambition to make that happen as soon as possible, when she says, “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” (1.5.30-33). We see that Lady Macbeth has a lot of greed and ambition at this time in the story. Near the end of the play, Lady Macbeth is racked with guilt and she becomes insane: “Out, damned spot!
Lady Macbeth feels confident about not getting caught killing Duncan. ¨Go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand.¨ Shakespeare William act 2 scene 2 lines 45-46. Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to get some water so she could wash Duncan's blood off her and Macbeth's hands. The quote given will come back later in the play when Lady Macbeth rubs her hands together to try to get Duncan's blood off of her hands as she sleepwalks.
This affects her behavior drastically because she is driven by these evil spirits. She calls on the spirits that can thicken her blood and strength, and stop the reasoning. Lady Macbeth is relying on them to help her commit murder with her husband. In doing this, she feels she needs to remove all womanly softness and care. To do this, she feels the need to remove any motherly characteristics such as her womanly breasts that hold milk.