Lady Macbeth Character Analysis

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In Act 2 of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth can be characterized as determined, by using any method to kill Duncan - even if it’s in his sleep, and also by doing whatever she has to do to cover up the very bloody evidence of the murder. Lady Macbeth shows she is determined to kill Duncan, even if it means murdering him while he is sleeping, which to her is cowardly. After Duncan goes to sleep, Lady Macbeth proceeds to start making plans on how to kill him, saying, “Alack, I am afraid they have not awakened, and tis not done. Th’ attempt and not the deed confounds us. Hark!-I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss em. Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t” (2.2. 13-17). Lady Macbeth has such strong determination to kill Duncan, that she will kill him in his sleep, even if that may make her seem weak and gutless.When Lady Macbeth says “Alack, I am afraid they have not awakened, and tis not done”, she is saying that she is worried Duncan has woken - and they have not had a chance to kill him yet. By saying this, Lady Macbeth shows she is determined to kill Duncan in his sleep, and if it didn’t happen, her plans would be ruined. When she says “Th’ attempt and not the deed confounds us”, she describing how bad it would look for people to see an attempted murder, but not success. In saying this, Lady Macbeth shows she is determined to successfully kill Duncan. Macbeth has been having strange dreams recently, so he decides to talk to Lady