ipl-logo

How Is Lady Macbeth Ambitious

1902 Words8 Pages

Lady Macbeth is portrayed as very powerful and ambitious. She is characterized by Shakespeare to be manipulative, cunning, deceitful and cold hearted. During Shakespearian times women were stereotypically meant to sit pretty and be benevolent and were only useful for ‘providing children’. So in contrast, Shakespeare created the character of lady Macbeth, to not only break all these stereotypical characteristics, but emerge as an extreme to the general expectation of the time. She is made to be the catalyst in order to help Macbeth in gaining power, that she desires more than Macbeth himself, but she knows that this is also hugely beneficial to her, as it fulfils her ambition and desire to become queen. Even though Macbeth is portrayed to be the most cunning …show more content…

She decides to go there herself ‘infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers.’ She tries to remind him that the most important thing in the moment is to frame the guards. He refuses to go back as he cannot bare to see what he has done, and this is where like before lady Macbeth has to be the more masculine figure to make him worry that a woman is doing ‘his job’ for him, and this is where she again manipulates and mocks Macbeth on his manliness. When lady Macbeth mocks and taunts Macbeth, her words aggravate him as he is seen to be very brave and masculine and he cannot lose these titles. ‘hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white’. Here she mocks him by saying that she is as guilty as he is but she would be ashamed to be showing as much weakness as he is again here she mocks his kindness and his manliness by saying that he is mentally ‘weak’. In the middle of the play Macbeth seems to be making decisions without Lady Macbeths knowledge and this is where we begin to see that Lady Macbeth is losing her control over Macbeth and the situation, opposite to how confident and overpowering she was during the first few

Show More
Related
603 Words | 3 Pages

Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth, basically, that he would be more of a man if he were more heartless. She would say these things because she knew that she had a very strong influence on Macbeth’s actions.

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

Lady Macbeth is an important character in the play as an ambitious, driven, and manipulative female lead. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth’s wife, as well as the granddaughter of Malcolm II. She is the Queen of Glandis and doesn’t mind her role until she finds out Macbeth is said to become the Thane of Cawdor, this drives her into a spiral of power where her ambition and need to rule overtakes her judgment. “Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it,”(Macbeth 1.5.19-20) She believes she is more a man than Macbeth will ever be and derives a plan to kill King Duncan so she can become the queen of Cawdor.

Read More
1271 Words | 6 Pages

In this play lady Macbeth plays a very important part of the Macbeth story. Without Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would have lived and prospered, being a prime example on how women influence men. Lady Macbeth is often seen as a cruel, manipulative and ruthless woman; by using Macbeth‘s love for her own ambitions, she can more easily persuade him into killing King Duncan, due to Macbeth’s blind love and trust in her. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is a trusted person, who is very honest.

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

In Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is very ambitious and manipulative. To begin with, Lady Macbeth shows how ambitious she is when she receives a letter from Macbeth informing her about the prophecies that he received from the three witches. The prophecies stated that he will become the Thane of Cawdor and later the King of Scotland. I her eyes she believes that Macbeth should have more. “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be/ What thou art promised” (1.5.14-15).

Read More
1103 Words | 5 Pages

Lady Macbeth represents a powerful voice for the women in the book, she lets her determination to give her husband power guide her actions. She's suggested Macbeth should kill Duncan for the outcome of becoming king of Scotland. Lady Macbeth doesn't play the stereotypical woman role which looks over a child and stick within her estate but instead she puts effort into power and leadership. Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth to show the control that women like her have over their husbands. Eventually, her guilt over the murders of Banquo, Duncan, Lady Macduff and Macduff's children leads her to madness and suicide.

Read More
541 Words | 3 Pages

This shows that she is the mastermind behind the planning of Duncan’s murder. This also displays how Lady Macbeth is the one that has the power over Macbeth and can be called a leader, a true sovereign. She knows how to manipulate her husband, so that he will commit the murderous actions that she wants. She is almost the opposite of her husband, because she is stronger, more ambitious, more determined, more ruthless and even lacks some humanity. She is very determined to become queen, to gain more power and a higher position, and that is why she pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan.

Read More
824 Words | 4 Pages

Macbeth’s pride allowed his wife to use his ambition as leverage calling him a ‘coward’, ‘lesser than a man’. Macbeth was unable to withstand the belittlement and his masculinity mocked. Previously, Macbeths desire to obtain the

Read More
619 Words | 3 Pages

Lady Macbeth takes upon a commanding role to guide her husband in the direction she wishes. The influence of Lady Macbeth on Macbeth is second to none. It can be said that she is the one who wishes to be in power and that Macbeth gives in to her influence. She describes him as “too full of the milk of human kindness” (citation needed) which puts the concept in Macbeth’s head that he is not manly enough.

Read More
1205 Words | 5 Pages

The character of Lady Macbeth is extremely complex, she can be viewed as either a guilt ridden wife; fallen victim to her circumstances. Or a villain who is responsible for the horrific events of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth”. I believe that Lady Macbeth’s malicious intent and actions throughout “Macbeth” clearly present her as the real villain of the play, despite the conflict of her character. Significantly, Lady Macbeth would have been a unique character in Shakespearian times; she is a powerful woman who clearly controls the weaker Macbeth certainly until the onset of her demise.

Read More
911 Words | 4 Pages

In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is a strong female character that does not stay within the boundaries that women were designated back in this time period. Due to the fact that she was Macbeth’s wife she had the most influence of his behavior. Women were not usually thought of as intelligent nor were they influential. In this case Lady Macbeth defied those odds and played a huge role in how Macbeth’s life played out. Lady Macbeth was the driving force that led him to carry out her master plan full of violence and murder.

Read More
342 Words | 2 Pages

My first impression of Lady Macbeth is that she’s an ambitious, ruthless, power-hungry woman, she greatly desires for her husband, Macbeth, to become king of Cawdor, which is seen when she first reads the letter. She believes the witches when they say that Macbeth will be king and she decides that she will do anything that she can to ensure this. Although Lady Macbeth fears that her husband does not have the strength of will to do what it takes to be king of Cawdor. She feels that he is weak and masculine. She knows that her husband is too nice to pursue the crown.

Read More
885 Words | 4 Pages

Her character within the play had very bad intentions that are evident from the start. After Macbeth murdered Duncan, she told him “My hands are of your colour; but I shame to wear a heart so white.” (Mac 2.2.68-69). Lady Macbeth is shaming Macbeth for feeling guilty about the murder, she told him that she felt no guilt whatsoever. She continues to manipulate Macbeth throughout the entire play and has no guilt for what she’s doing to innocent

Read More
316 Words | 2 Pages

In the play called “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare, Women are being portrayed differently in respect as well as their roles in the society. Lady Macbeth is one of the most interesting and intriguing Shakespeare’s female characters. Her action portrayed her right at the time period. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was told by the three witches that he would be the next king. Arriving home, he told his wife about it and quickly Lady Macbeth comes up with a plan to kill Duncan so that his husband would become king.

Read More
1864 Words | 8 Pages

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s best known plays. There are all sorts of reasons for this but perhaps tha main one is that the basic story still strikes modern audiences. It is a bloodthirsty tale of ambition, and the evils we will go to in order to get what we want. The play is considered very unlucky – actors were told that they shouldn’t even say the word ‘Macbeth’ if they aren’t on the stage performing it; hence why people talk about ‘the Scottish play’ or ‘The Comedy of Glamis’.

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

Another way in which she tries to settle Macbeth is by reminding him of the “air-drawn dagger” that appeared in front of him but was not real. Lady Macbeth could have left Macbeth to make a fool of himself at the banquet, but instead with her tender heart she rushed to help him even after all the wrong he had

Read More

More about How Is Lady Macbeth Ambitious

Open Document