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Power And Guilt In Lady Macbeth By William Shakespeare

738 Words3 Pages

Lady Macbeth Great Tragedy Lady Macbeth wedded the Thane of Glamis in the play Macbeth. Macbeth received three prophecies from the witches who proclaimed his fate, telling him he would become king. This would give him, along with Lady Macbeth, power. Lady Macbeth took this as an opportunity to become queen and gain the power she had always wanted. Through the short journey of Macbeth's reign, Lady Macbeth portrays traits of ambition, power, and guilt. Lady Macbeth holds a great amount of considerable ambition for her future. She strived to become the next queen of Scotland. When Macbeth receives his first prophecy, he sends a letter of explanation on what had appeared to him. When the letter arrived, her wants of power grew greatly. In fact, the idea of Power became so necessary that she would …show more content…

She generated a living monster who cared only about himself and his power. Macbeth changed from a quiet, overall good man, into a vicious murderer. Lady Macbeth altered her aspiration from a fearless, careless women into someone who over analyzes and guilts herself. Lady Macbeth not only feels guilty for the king but for Macduff’s wife as well. She reflects back on the MacDuff family murder and feels great guilt because they displayed characteristics of truly good people. Lady Macbeth believes that: “water clears us of our deeds” (II.ii.65-70). Lady Macbeth feels traumatized by the murder and the guilt keeps eating at her causing her to sleepwalk. Here she confesses her guilty of murder. Macbeth absent, completing king duties, arrives back to check on her and plans to tell her of his future plans of murder. In a normal state, Lady Macbeth would agree to this plan but her mental breakdown changes her. She originally strived for his ambition and to use his power, but killing so many people have made her feel uneasy. She filled herself with this guilt which brought forward her greatest fear,

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