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Macbeth: The Story Of Major Marriage Personality Changes

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“I’m Not Happy with our Relationship!” The Story of Major Marriage Personality Changes
Personality shifts in a relationship can drastically change a couple, even ruining their relationship altogether. Shakespeare once said “we know what we are, but know not what we may be.” This quote perfectly represents the change in personality of the two main protagonists as the story of Macbeth progresses. Lady Macbeth is first written as a manipulative, greedy character, while Macbeth is filled with guilt and constantly being controlled by his wife. Shakespeare writes how when people do bad things, it affects them and the people around them.
At the beginning of Macbeth, Shakespeare characterizes the Macbeths’ marriage as being healthy and tight. Macbeth …show more content…

After Macbeth has completed Duncan’s murder, he is consumed by guilt, saying how even “great Neptune’s ocean [won’t] wash [his] blood clean from [his] hand,” (Shakespeare 2.2.63-64). Lady Macbeth is disgusted by his culpability, retorting that “a little water clears [them] of this deed,” showing how little guilt Lady Macbeth feels and how easy she thinks killing Duncan was, even though she herself felt too guilty to complete the task (2.2.70). Shakespeare shows us how their relationship starts to deteriorate as bad things start to …show more content…

While Macbeth is planning to get Banquo killed, he doesn’t tell his wife his plans, instead saying to “be innocent of the knowledge,” and to wait and she will “applaud the deed” (3.2.45-46). Macbeth tells her that she will be grateful when Banquo is dead, which when she finds out, she says that “murders have been performed too terrible for the ear,” showing how she disapproves and that they now have a greater chance of being caught (3.4.77-78). Due to guilt from Macbeth’s ruthless murdering, which started off because of her manipulation of him, Lady Macbeth starts to show a possibility of OCD, sleepwalking around the house, furiously washing her hands, yelling “out, damned spot! Out I say!” (5.1.30). This shows how much Lady Macbeth has been impacted by what she once thought was an excellent idea. When Lady Macbeth kills herself and Macbeth finds out, he says “she should have died hereafter” (5.5.16). This has two meanings, but they both lean toward the fact that Macbeth is brushing this death off, saying that her demise is inconvenient to his chance to stay king. Shakespeare makes plain how the couple’s relationship has completely been affected by bad decisions, resulting in karma towards both the

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