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  • Essay / How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth as wicked and cunning

    I think Lady Macbeth should be blamed for Duncan's death, but I don't think she is wicked, she is cunning and cunning when she influences Macbeth to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth's ability to influence her husband leads us to believe that she is the main cause of Macbeth's destruction. I believe she is responsible because she invents the details of the plan to kill Duncan, when Macbeth was even considering not carrying out the murder. Although Macbeth had the idea to kill Duncan, he would not have acted on it unless Lady Macbeth had persuaded him. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayLady Macbeth is a devious person, capable of manipulating her husband, and this ability to manipulate Macbeth makes her partly responsible for the destruction of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth knows that her husband is too kind to kill Duncan without her help, which she fears. She is very aware that she must push Macbeth to kill Duncan, otherwise he won't. We see Macbeth's hesitation to kill the king when he lists his reasons for not killing Duncan. Lady Macbeth insults her husband by undermining his manhood. Lady Macbeth said to her husband, “If you dared to do it, you would be a man, and to be much more than what you were, you would be much more than a man.” This is the main way in which Lady Macbeth is responsible for Duncan's murder. Lady Macbeth is responsible for her husband's destruction because she orchestrated Duncan's murder and did just about everything except kill Duncan. She plans the murder and ignites the powder by giving the wine to the king's servants. It is also she who gives the signal that everything is ready. Lady Macbeth only arranged the murder of Duncan, which made it as easy as possible for Macbeth to carry out the assassination of the king. The audience is unaware that Lady Macbeth feels responsible for Macbeth's destruction until the end when she sleepwalks. Lady Macbeth deceived Duncan with her great hospitality and thoughtfulness. She is also good at remaining calm in tense situations and getting through them. For example, when Macbeth was hallucinating at dinner and seeing Banquo's ghost, Lady Macbeth remained calm and invented a plausible explanation for her husband's actions. Although she appears to have no consciousness, we see at the end, when she is sleepwalking, that she is deeply troubled. She knows it's partly her fault for all the murders, especially Duncan's. Her fear of the dark shows the audience that she regrets what she did and knows that what she did was wrong. The idea of ​​killing Duncan entered Macbeth's mind before he spoke to his wife. He first reveals his thoughts when he says, "If it's good, why am I giving in to this suggestion?" » Macbeth expresses his desire to be able to kill Duncan even though he knows he will regret it when he says: "the eye winks to the hand, but let it be / what the eye fears, a once finished, to see.” Lady Macbeth gave Macbeth the extra push he needed to become a ruthless killer. However, not all the blame can be placed on Lady Macbeth, her husband did not have to listen to her and he did not have to kill Duncan. Macbeth chose to kill Duncan, it was of his own free will. Lady Macbeth did influence his thinking, but Macbeth could not be completely blameless. He has to take at least half the responsibility for her destruction, but Lady Macbeth is also responsible and she can't get away with it, she deserves what she gets in the end because she was the main factor in the decision of Macbeth to kill Duncan. This decision hasleads Macbeth to become a ruthless killer. And this leads to Lady Macbeth being more wicked than her husband Macbeth.Lady Macbeth - a manipulative evildoerIntroduction: In his 1606 play Macbeth, Shakespeare portrays the character of Lady Macbeth as a fourth witch in order to satirize traditional and misogynistic conceptions of witches . Shakespeare depicts Lady Macbeth as a witch, attributing to her characteristics commonly associated with witches and alluding to recurring symbols associated with witchcraft. Thesis Statement: Lady Macbeth is characterized as a masculine anti-mother and a manipulative "poisoner", all of which are common misogynistic stereotypes of the witch. Lady Macbeth also refers to evil spirits and pigs, both of which are traditional symbols associated with the witch. Topic Sentence: Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as an anti-mother in order to mock the misogynistic stereotype that witches were not motherly. Evidence and Quote: Anti-motherly characteristics can be seen in Lady Macbeth when she shames her husband for questioning the plan they had created. In order to persuade Macbeth to carry out his plan, Lady Macbeth refers to brutal infanticide: "I would have, while he smiled at me, torn my nipple from his boneless gums and tore out his brains" (Shakespeare 1.7.64 ). -66). Commentary: In these chilling lines, Lady Macbeth tells her husband that she would rather kill her own child than break a solemn oath. By saying this, Lady Macbeth breaks the mold of the stereotypical loving wife, revealing her unfavorable view of children and, in turn, her anti-maternal nature. Evidence and Quote: Lady Macbeth also displays anti-maternal characteristics when she says, “come to my wives' breasts and take my milk for gall, you murder ministers” (Shakespeare 1.5.54-55). As stated in the Oxford English Dictionary, the term gall refers to the "secretion of the liver, bile" ("Gall"). In this line, Lady Macbeth prays that her breasts be filled with a poison so vile and bitter that it could kill an infant. Commentary: By demanding that her breast milk be replaced with poison, Lady Macbeth rejects the maternal idea that the function of breasts is to nourish infants, further emphasizing her anti-maternal instincts. Evidence and Quote: Additionally, Lady Macbeth displays her anti-maternal attitude when she says, “It is too full of the milk of human kindness” (Shakespeare 1.5.17). In this line, Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth to a pregnant woman who is breastfeeding. She tells him he's too full of breast milk, which means he's acting too nice. This comparison highlights Lady Macbeth's view that pregnancy equates to weakness, portraying her as the ultimate anti-maternal figure. Topic Sentence: Shakespeare also portrays Lady Macbeth as anti-feminine, another common misogynistic stereotype of witches, in order to emphasize the absurdity of this. belief. Background: In Shakespeare's time, witches were believed to violate traditional gender roles, adopting traits that were more masculine than feminine. Evidence and Quotes: An example of Lady Macbeth exhibiting this anti-feminine characteristic is when she says, "Unsex me here, and fill me from head to toe with the most terrible cruelty" (Shakespeare 1.5.48-50). In these lines, Lady Macbeth wishes to strip herself of her feminine traits, in exchange for masculine traits. She believes that her feminine characteristics will interfere with her murderous scheme and she rejects them, declaring her femininity as an obstacle rather than a gift. Evidence and Citation: Another example of theLady Macbeth's anti-feminine nature is at the banquet when she says, "O, these faults and beginnings, impostors of true fear, would well become a woman's story by a winter's fireside" (Shakespeare 3.4. 76 -78). In these lines, Lady Macbeth equates femininity with fear, further emphasizing her inherent masculinity. Commentary: By doing this, Lady Macbeth implies that she cannot possess power or strength, as long as she is a woman. Topic Sentence: Shakespeare also characterizes Lady Macbeth as a manipulative evildoer who successfully persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan. He does this to express his scornful derision at the commonly held view that witches are deceitful and only use their magic for malicious purposes. Evidence and Quote: Lady Macbeth challenges Macbeth to commit the murder, telling him, “but try your courage, and we will not fail” (Shakespeare 1.7.70-71). Commentary: Lady Macbeth wants her husband to kill King Duncan so that he can rise to power and she can revel in that power with him. Lady Macbeth lights the fire of Macbeth's ambition, using her manipulative powers to get what she desires, representing all that is evil and immoral. Evidence and Quote: She tells Macbeth how to follow through on his plan, exclaiming, “welcome to your eyes, your hand, your tongue.” Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent beneath” (Shakespeare 1.6.75-77) Commentary: In these lines, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth to appear harmless on the outside in order to belie his murderous plans, further satirizing the ridiculous stereotype that witches were malevolent forces of evil, bent on manipulating and misleading. Topic Sentence: Additionally, Shakespeare characterizes Lady Macbeth as a "poisoner", ridiculing the absurd stereotype that witches used poisons for evil purposes, such as harming or killing someone. Although Lady Macbeth does not literally poison her husband, she does poison her husband's mind, causing him to become a different person, a power-hungry tyrant, who will not hesitate to harm anyone who gets in his way. She fills his mind with evil thoughts, tainting his morality to the point that Macbeth is unable to decipher right from wrong. At first, Macbeth is hesitant to follow through with his evil plan, telling Lady Macbeth that “we will go no further in this matter” (Shakespeare 1.7.34). Lady Macbeth, however, doesn't take no for an answer. Evidence and Quote: She psychologically manipulates Macbeth into carrying out her plan by repeatedly questioning his manhood and courage. For example, Lady Macbeth says to her husband, “when you dared to do it, then you were a man; and for being more than you were, you would be so much the more a man” (Shakespeare 1.7.56-58). Commentary: In these lines, Lady Macbeth scolds her husband, telling him that he is acting like a coward and that she will not consider him a real man until he murders the king. This evil influence that Lady Macbeth has had over her husband causes Macbeth to murder King Duncan, an act he probably would not have committed on his own. Topic Sentence: Not only does Lady Macbeth share common characteristics with the stereotypical witch, but she also alludes to the act of summoning evil spirits in order to satirize the misogynistic stereotype that witches acted in accordance with outside forces , such as evil spirits and the devil. Commentary: Lady Macbeth calls upon these evil spirits to fill her heart with cruelty so that she can more easily manipulate her husband into killing King Duncan. Evidence and citation: She calls the spirits, begging them: “Fill me from head to toe with the most terrible cruelty!” Strengthen my blood” (Shakespeare 1.5.49-50). Lady Macbeth hopes that these spirits will fill her with the greatest malevolence so that she can concentrate entirely on her evil design. Lady Macbeth makes yet another reference to the spirit realm when she prepares Macbeth for the murder of King Duncan. Proof and quote: Lady Macbeth said to her husband: “come hither, that I may pour my spirit into thy ear, and punish with the valor of my tongue all that hindereth thee from the golden round” ( Shakespeare 1.5.27-30). Commentary: In this line, Lady Macbeth informs Macbeth that she believes she possesses the necessary evil qualities, which she calls "my spirits", which Macbeth needs to become king. Evidence and Quote: Additionally, Lady Macbeth refers to the devil when she says, "It is the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil" (Shakespeare 2.2.70-71). Commentary: In this line, Lady Macbeth uses her manipulative powers on Macbeth, causing him to question his courage. She compares him to a scared child because he won't return to the scene of the crime and will blame the drunken guards for the murder of King Duncan. By having Lady Macbeth allude to the spiritual world in this way, Shakespeare mocks the stereotypical view that witches were in league with evil forces, which they used to accomplish their evil intentions. Topic Sentence: Lady Macbeth not only refers to the spirit world, but she also refers to pigs, specifically the slaughter of pigs in order to criticize the absurd stereotype that witches sacrificed these animals. Evidence and Quote: When Lady Macbeth sleeps, she says, "When in swine's sleep their tempered nature lies as in death" (Shakespeare 1.7.77-78). Commentary: In this line, Lady Macbeth points out that the two guards are now dead, condemned to eternal sleep. She compares the two dead guards to dead pigs. The belief that witches killed and sacrificed pigs arose long before Shakespeare's time. Homer's Odyssey, written between 675 and 725 BCE, is responsible for the popularity of this idea. In Homer's epic, Circe, the witch of Aiaia drugs a group of sailors and turns them into pigs. Not only were witches believed to kill pigs, but they were also believed to harm other animals, sometimes even sacrificing them to the devil. As Michael D. Bailey stated in Magic and Superstition in Europe, “animals were killed in magical rites such as sacrifices to demons” (Bailey 10). By having Lady Macbeth refer to slaughtering pigs in her sleep, Shakespeare ridicules this ridiculous belief. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Conclusion Paragraph: It is clear that Lady Macbeth is the fourth witch in Macbeth. Although Lady Macbeth cannot be described as a witch in the supernatural sense, as she does not possess magical powers, she shares several common characteristics with the stereotypical view of the witch. These characteristics that Lady Macbeth shares with the witch, such as his masculinity and manipulative nature, are only part of the misogynistic stereotypes that are held against witches. By depicting Macbeth as a fourth witch and attributing these stereotypical characteristics to him, Shakespeare is able to emphasize their inherent sexist and deceptive nature. Although Shakespeare satirizes these concepts by pointing out their absurdity and bizarreness, he urges the reader to.