Lady Macbeth Research Paper

Firstly, Shakespeare wrote Lady Macbeth to be arguably one of the most interesting and BADASS characters in all of his plays. The main question that Shakespeare leads the reader to ask is if Lady Macbeth was truly evil. She may be a power-hungry queen, or she might just love her husband and want to see him rise in the ranks of Scottish royalty. O make matters more complicated, she tries to turn herself to the dark side. She famously calls on evil spirits to make her murderous so she can help Macbeth kill Duncan, saying, 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). Lady Macbeth is literally calling the devil to make her malevolent. The fact

Shakespeare lets the audience decide. Later in the play, after she and Macbeth have killed Duncan and MacDuff’s family, she goes insane. She is regretting her actions now, but she was not regretting them earliar. She keeps washing her hands, saying, “The thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?—What, will these hands ne'er be clean?” (5.1.30-31). She could either be paranoid that people will find out they killed everyone, or so far into her regret that she has gone mad. If she is paranoid, then that means she is an evil or bad person, but if she is regretting it, the reader knows she has some goodness left in her. Whatever the cause for her madness is, it eventually leads to her death. The reader can interpret Lady Macbeth in many different ways because Shakespeare tells us her motivations, and that gives her character

Cleopatra is the queen of Egypt, a massive empire, rich in resources. Antony is an army general and part of the Second Triumvirate in Rome. Cleopatra is the antithesis of all things Roman, but Antony falls in love with her anyway, which eventually gets both of them killed. Cleopatra was married to her brother when she was young, and she killed him to gain power. She also seduced Julius Caesar, and had a child with him. These were both power moves, which leads to the question: Was she in love with Antony, or did she just use him for the political power? She is always thinking of him, and she hates it when he leaves. She asks Charmain, Where think’st thou he is now? Stands he or sits he? / Or does he walk? Or is he on his