Lady Macbeth Research Paper

The idea that people’s choices and actions make them and affect them greatly is pretty basic. What they do in life is what they will become and will influence their conscious. In the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare conveys the idea that when an individual makes a decision that is harmful to his/her well being and conscious then guilt and regret can weigh down on him/her which can lead to physical illness, insanity and being haunted by the past. Lady Macbeth’s decision to convince Macbeth of killing Duncan and help causes worry and is later regretted, but eventually causes her to go mad and be continually haunted by her past. How she comes to make that decision is the start of her downfall.
The start of Lady Macbeth’s unfortunate choice or helping and

She goes insane. Lady Macbeth seems to be endlessly “washing her hands” (5.1.24-25) to get out an imaginary “damned spot” (5.1.30) of blood on her hands that she cannot wash off, and smells “blood” (5.1.43). The irony in this situation is that she tells Macbeth that if he thinks of the murder too much “it will make us mad,” which is what happens to her. Lady Macbeth’s decision also makes her physically ill with noctambulation, which is sleepwalking. Her “slumbery agitation” (5.1.10) is brought on by stress and sleep deprivation. The doctor says that Lady Macbeth’s “heart is sorely charged” or afflicted and that “this disease is beyond [his] practice.” (5.1.51) In Lady Macbeth’s sleeping trances she is haunted by past events. She alludes to the murder of Duncan when questioning “who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” The second murder arranged by Macbeth “The Thane of Fife had a wife” (5.1.36) that was slaughtered by order of Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is also haunted by in her sleep. Her choices and the ones of her husband affect her well