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| N.d. Web. 19 May 2013. http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/094/5/3/Lady_Macbeth_by_HFFK.jpg. |
After reading the first act of the play, Lady Macbeth seems to be the force behind pushing Macbeth to the act of violence. An example of that would be when Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth's letter in Scene 5. Lady Macbeth thinks that Macbeth is too weak and kind to kill Duncun, the king of Scotland. Since Lady Macbeth is the wife of Macbeth, the former Thane of Glamis and current Thane of Cawdor, she needs to support and be the one pushing Macbeth to proceed in the murder of Duncan; therefore, Macbeth, himself, can be the new King of Scotland and Lady Macbeth can be the queen. When Macbeth tries to back out of the murder, Lady Macbeth says to him "What beast was't, then,/ That made you break this enterprisei to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man;" (I, xii, 53-55). In these lines, it is clear that Lady Macbeth accuses Macbeth as being a coward and not a man; therefore she is the one who pressured Macbeth into committing the crime. However, I predict that Lady Macbeth will also be the one who tells Macbeth to stop once he gets too out of control and she might be the one killed by Macbeth too. This is because Lady Macbeth is not entirely an evil woman. For example when Lady Macbeth tells herself "Under my battlements. Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty Make thick my blood" (I, v, 46-50). This shows that she is trying to tell herself to be really cruel and ruthless and try not to act "womanly" in a stereotypical way. It is clear that Lady Macbeth is not born naturally evil, but she thinks that not thinking "humanely" and not lettting her morals take over will make her husband's plan to become king come true.
By reading the first act, it is also evident that Lady Macbeth is really good at putting on a show for Duncan. For instance, when Duncan arrives, Lady Macbeth acts like the very charming and polite wife of the very brave soldier, Macbeth. However, Lady Macbeth has been hiding her dark side all along with all the evil thoughts and plans in her mind. As a result, this also teaches us that people are not always what they seem. Like Lady Macbeth, people can hide their dark side even with their pleasant demeanor.
So far in the play, Lady Macbeth has proved to be an unusual character because the wife is not normally shown to be more violent and ambitious than the husband. In this case, Macbeth is the more cautious and kind-hearted character compared to Lady Macbeth. As a result, I do not find Lady Macbeth as a likable character because she comes across as the evil and violent one in the play; therefore I cannot relate to lady Macbeth at all. I highly doubt anyone would have the mind of Lady Macbeth's unless they are a serial killer.
This is a video of when Lady Macbeth reads Macbeth's letter and think that Macbeth is too weak to kill Duncan, the King of Scotland.
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