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Lady Macbeth's Struggle For Power

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Ambition is a strong force of human nature, which can turn people evil if it takes control of them. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are perfect examples of these type of people. In Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both thirsty for power which leads them to their ultimate demise. People might expect that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a mundane husband and wife relationship, but instead they are in a divergent relationship, which causes them to influence each other in a way that lead to their downfall. The ambition that Macbeth and Lady macbeth have for power was portrayed by their motives, morals, goals, relationships, consciousness and personalities throughout the play. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is very clear at the …show more content…

“These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so, it will make us mad” (2.2.34). The more they thought about the murder, the more things they over thought which ultimately led them both to their demise. The amount of guilt that oppressed Macbeth after this murder was huge. “Will all of Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?” (2.2.61). This shows that no matter what Macbeth does, he has to live with the fact that he has killed a person for the rest of his life. Macbeth changed dramatically after the murder, he went insane and started turning into a ruthless king by killing more people such as Banquo and Lady Macduff. Meanwhile, Lady Macbeth turned into a weak, crazy women who suffered from insomnia. “Out damned spot - out I say” (5.1.21). This quote represents that no matter what she does, she will always have to deal with the guilt and paranoia of murdering Duncan. Both the characters changed drastically in their personalities as a result of murdering …show more content…

Both characters portrayed ambition, strength and insanity at one time or another in the play. But as the play progresses, Macbeth gets more powerful and ambitious while Lady Macbeth gets weaker and less ambitious. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth appeared to have switched “attitudes” throughout the play. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth was very ambitious and greedy, while Macbeth was consciously moral and lighthearted. As the play progresses, Macbeth starts to turn into a greedy, ambitious king who does anything he can to preserve his title, while Lady Macbeth loses all her ambition and turns crazy. Even though both the characters have a lot of similarities and differences in terms of ambition, they both realized that they made a big mistake after the murder of King Duncan and chose the wrong path to live their

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When in a relationship, one's quest for power, can result in an endless effort to satisfy this desire, producing a tragic outcome. In the tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare explores how greed and ambition has an influence on one’s actions, leading to the occurrence of a tragedy. In the case of Macbeth, greed and ambition results in Macbeth becoming a highly manipulative, and dangerous individual. The dominant status Lady Macbeth owns, allows her to influence Macbeth into committing harmful acts. When Lady Macbeth’s dominant status begins to deteriorate, Macbeth begins to mature, gradually becoming the more dominant individual within their relationship.

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Both greed and power, if not controlled, can lead to destruction. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses both characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to demonstrate how ambition can change one’s personal relationships. As in the beginning of Act 1, Scene 7 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do not share the same ambition, and it is because of this that their relationship lacks love and affection however through the use of persuasion and other means, Lady Macbeth is able to get Macbeth to pursue her ambition. This not only changes their relationship drastically but it also changes Macbeth’s attitude towards ambition. Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows us through Macbeth, the possibility for ambition to eventually turn into greed and how the lust for power may corrupt us.

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In act one scene 7, Macbeth doubts if he should kill the king; however, his wife, Lady Macbeth, manipulates him into proceeding. It might be difficult for Macbeth, the renowned warrior, to hear his wife accusing him of cowardice. Therefore, under Lady Macbeth’s influence, as she questions his manhood, he commences the murder in order to prove to her that he is not a “coward.” This is important to note because his soliloquy shows his determination to proceed.

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At the beginning of William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ the protagonist Macbeth is described as ‘brave’, ‘noble’ and ‘honourable’, however Lady Macbeth’s and Macbeths desire for power consumes them. Macbeth’s ambition overrides his conscience and transformed his greatest strength into his greatest weakness. Macbeth’s inability to resist temptations that led him to be greedy for power, Macbeth’s easily manipulative nature which allowed his mind to be swayed, Macbeth having no self control and his excessive pride was what allowed him to renew his previously honourable and celebrated title into one of an evil ‘tyrant’. Macbeth is led by the prophecies of the witches after they foretell he will become the Thane of Cawdor. Not only the witches, but also his wife easily manipulate Macbeth as she attacks his manhood in order to provoke him to act on his desires.

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William Shakespeare portrayed the character Lady Macbeth to be extremely ruthless, malicious and manipulative. Thus, being the reason she could easily convince Macbeth to do her will, yet still put on such a convincing performance in front of those who knew nothing of her and her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth shows her complexity constantly throughout the story when she shares her view-point on masculinity by demasculinizing her own husband, when she strategically plans the murder of the King Duncan, and finally when she finally goes crazy because of the guilt she possesses for not only her own actions but also turning her own husband into a

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My soul is too much charged With blood of thine already"(5.8.5-7). This illustrates that Macbeth as well is characterizing the power of guilt because when he gained all the power in cawdor he went around killing whoever he wanted to kill by saying he is charged with blood. Therefore, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s guilt of Lady Macbeth forcing Macbeth to kill Duncan and Macbeth after killing Duncan goes around killing who ever he wants, puts both of them in a phase of guilt at is demonstrated

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To begin, the relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth was a strong, loving, equally based relationship. She was devoted and loyal to him until her unfaithful day. After Macbeth was told the prophecies, he immediately sent a letter to his wife, calling her his dearest partner. This shows how Macbeth treats her as an equal and was truly in love with her. Also, she was Macbeth’s rock, the person he could depend on, his comfort, his confidence and safety and

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(Act 2, Scene 1). Analysis of quotes: The first quote shows how Macbeth's guilt over the murder of King Duncan has disrupted his sleep, creating a sense of anxiety and restlessness. The second quote highlights Lady Macbeth's manipulation and deception, as she tries to keep the details of the murder from becoming known. The third quote shows Macbeth's immediate regret and fear following the murder.

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Ambition has a major role in the play Macbeth. One of the main things for a character such as Macbeth. Ambition lead him to commit the murder of Duncan, and losing Everything he had. In the beginning of the play Macbeth celebrated as he was brave soldier as he rewarded. He becomes the thane of Coward, as predicted by the three witches.

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She is malicious not only in words but also in her intent. Her sole object is to obtain power and wealth, with its attendant treasures. Lady Macbeth lacks humanity and regrets that she was not born as a man. She understands that power and violence are synonymous with manhood and bravery. Additionally, Lady Macbeth interests’ and ambition, override her love for even her husband, Macbeth.

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Lady Macbeth is power hungry for the throne and she will do anything to achieve her goal. Her pleasure of having the thought of killing Duncan is revealed. These murderous thoughts that run through her mind shows how desperate she is to acquire power. Although it is the beginning of the play, her dark ambitions sets a dark tone for her character in the play. This coincidentally adds to the assurance of Macbeth’s prophecy which is that Macbeth will become king, but King Duncan is still alive.

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Macbeth went through so much pressure to do the crime he later regretted and suffered and battles with himself and his paranoia. Lady Macbeth only saw the effects of blood visually she did not see how the blood stain was eating Macbeth from the inside. Once again Lady Macbeth is pushing Macbeth to forget about what happened and move on, the murder does not affect Lady Macbeth but the way Macbeth is acting shows that he was never ready to commit this

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Macbeth, Crime and Punishment Macbeth, a warrior, earns the title of Thane of Cawdor early in the play. His wife, Lady Macbeth, wants him to become king like the witches prophesied. They make a plan to kill Duncan while Macbeth starts to kill other people. All this murder begins to weigh heavily on the Macbeth’s and they start going crazy with guilt.

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