The Influence In Lady Macbeth's Life

Olivia L. Coppedge

Vanessa Dean

Literature

01/10/17

Macbeth

During the Elizabethan age, women were thought of as delicate little creatures who were there to birth children and look beautiful. They were not thought to be equal or as smart as a man. Although, Lady Macbeth, serves as the main influence in Lord Macbeth’s life. She is, after all, his “dearest partner of greatness.” (Mac. 1.5.11-12) Even though Lady Macbeth was portrayed as an evil, conniving, and deceptive woman, analyzing her actions and words provide a different outlook on Lady Macbeth’s persona one that is rather more feminine and proves that she is capable of having a conscience and also even a heart.

The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are fairly different

Most of these deeds are brought up by power, hunger, and greed. In the end, the deeds done had only one fate, death. In the first act Lady Macbeth persuades Lord Macbeth to kill King Duncan and Macbeth finally gives in and kills him, which at first makes Lady Macbeth very ecstatic. Lady Macbeth’s mood quickly changes though; after a while, her guilt begins to gradually build on the inside. Lady Macbeth begins to think about it all the time. Then, she ends up having a sleepwalking episode where she keeps trying to wash blood off of her hands. Finally, she ends up killing herself and Lady Macbeth’s guiltiness is what shows that she’s also responsible for the killing of King Duncan. Lady Macbeth is guilty for more than persuading Macbeth to kill King Duncan. First, she is guilty because she made Macbeth an outright murderer. Secondly, Lady Macbeth had to do with some of the actions of the murders such as framing Duncan’s attendants. “Why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there: go carry them: and smear the sleepy grooms with blood” (Mac.2.2.66-68) Then, she goes to the attendants’ room and smears blood on them. She then talks to Lord Macbeth about the guilt they might have later on. She says, “These deeds must not be thought/ After these ways; so it will make us mad” (Mac.2.2.33-34) This shows that she knows that their feeling guilty, will eventually make them go

In Macbeth, a closer reading reveals that the play actually views women as naturally loving and good, although, Lady Macbeth appears capable of boundless evil, she in fact is not. Throughout the play, Shakespeare produces multiple gender-related metaphors to make women look kind and loving by nature. Lady Macbeth attempts to output her femininity by calling on spirits to “unsex”her. (Mac.1.5.42) To her, being “unsexed” means “[stopping] up th’ access and passage to remorse” so that “compunctious visitings of nature” cannot interfere with her plan. (Mac.1.5.45-46) Lady Macbeth suggests that as a woman, she is too conscience to be capable of committing such an awful crime. Only by surpassing her womanly nature can Lady Macbeth carry out her murderous plans without her conscience getting in the way. Despite her apparent position for evil however, a close examination of Lady Macbeth’s words and actions bring light to the idea that she is not as wicked as she seems. At the beginning of Act II Scene ii, after Lady Macbeth has drugged the king's bodyguards, she says that the wine "which hath made [the guards] drunk hath made me bold" (Mac.2.2.1) In this case, however, Lady Macbeth’s intake of “bold” means waiting in the anteroom while her husband goes through with the actual murder. In order to trigger Macbeth's consent to kill King Duncan, Lady