Lady Macbeth Is A Fiend - Like Queen Essay Example

At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare presents the witches as evil which shocks the audience as in the Jacobean times  people believed in witchcraft and were genuinely scared of witches this would have been unusual and quite intimidating to watch. Macbeth was first performed for King James in 1606 (which was a year after the gunpowder plot) and he was very impressed as he was extremely interested in witchcraft at the time of the event.  In act 1 scene 1 for instance when the witches arrive there is bad weather this is used to show that evil is near and upcoming .The bad weather suggests that something bad is going to happen this technique is called pathetic fallacy. The witches speak in trochaic tetrameter which comes across as evil and supernatural. When the witches rhyme it sounds like the witches are creating a spell. Evil is also represented through lady Macbeth through her unusual and supernatural spirits.

Shakespeare introduces lady Macbeth to the play through evil. Lady Macbeth is first met calling upon evil spirits to “unisex” her and take away her feminine weaknesses. Lady Macbeth shows how cold hearted and duplicitous she is when king Duncan is killed as she was kind and friendly to him Macbeth is traumatised and can’t believe what he has done and says if he washed his hands in the sea it would turn red whereas lady Macbeth is calm and isn’t fazed by this at all telling Macbeth a little water will wash the blood of your hands. When Macbeth is hallucinating lady Macbeth stays calm and kicks out the guests. But as time goes on lady Macbeth starts to feel guilty and starts to become crazy. Lady Macbeth couldn’t handle the guilt and killed herself.

Lady Macbeth is introduced in act 1 scene 5 she is introduced as strong manipulative and extremely evil where she is begging to be possessed at the time this was frightening for others to watch because of the view they had on ‘evil spirits’. Lady Macbeth is so evil as she gets rid of all her emotions when she asks the witches to “unsex me here”. Lady Macbeth is being duplicitous when she greets king Duncan as she is being nice and friendly around him but is secretly scheming the brutal death of king Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s words shadow the witches “double double toil and trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bubble” this suggests the evil spirits captured inside Lady Macbeth are appearing. Lady Macbeth is extremely manipulative as she persuades Macbeth to kill king Duncan by convincing Macbeth that he is a “coward”. Lady Macbeth realises that she is able to pursue Macbeth with her crafty speech as Macbeth is frail.

In act 1 scene 7 Macbeth declares that he wants to “proceed no further in this business” however lady Macbeth is able to control him and pursues Macbeth to kill king Duncan. This manifests us Macbeth is extremely weak and vulnerable and could be scared or frightened of his wife. I believe that lady Macbeth is the “man” of the house and holds all the power. Lady Macbeth is evil and powerful and claims she is not afraid of killing which she claims that she would go as far as throwing her baby across the room and watching its brains pour out whereas Macbeth is and is in denial of any killings which he may have to participate in. After the death of king Duncan Macbeth starts to toughen up and becomes uncontrollably evil. This is ironic as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change roles.

Lady Macbeth is presented as a manipulative, evil  and unnatural woman who is extremely persuasive and is able to persuade her husband to kill the king. Lady Macbeth seems to be brave and fearless but without Macbeth by her side she is weak, scared and pathetic. Lady Macbeth Isn’t able to commit the murder as king Duncan looked like her father when he was sleeping I believe this is an excuse because she is not able to execute such a terrible deed as she is a “coward”. Lady Macbeth claims after the murder that they should forget about it and not let it have any effects in them but as more time went on lady Macbeth couldn’t take it anymore and eventually kills herself 

Lady Macbeth successfully is able to fake a response to finding out about the death of king Duncan where she acts as though she is frightened about who the killer is and how they are in her house she tricks the guards with sympathy so they have no suspicion that Macbeth is the true killer. Macbeth acts her way out of any suspicion and is able to.

Act 3 scene 4 is started by Macbeth speaking to the men he hired to kill Banquo and Fleance as Macbeth feels too powerful as king to do his own “dirty work”as being the king makes Macbeth salient. Act 3 scene 4 is a pivotal scene in  view of there being a new reign which resembles a new beginning. Macbeth celebrates his Coronation with a banquet. At the banquet we experience Macbeth hallucinating in light of the fact that Macbeth is informed the death of Banquo has been successful but Fleance has escaped. During this hallucination Macbeth perceives Banquo sitting in Macbeth’s place at the table. “Never shake thy gory locks at me” in this quote Macbeth is explaining to the ghost of Banquo that he had no participation in the death of Banquo but Banquo is aware that Macbeth called the hit. 

Lady Macbeth tries to bring Macbeth back to reality by insulting him and his man hood questioning “are you a man?” But Lady Macbeth fails  to manipulate Macbeth even after mocking Macbeth calling him “a woman’s story at a winters fire, / Authorised by her grandma” but this still has no effect on Macbeth. Shortly after Lady Macbeth changes her tactics where she tries to flatter Macbeth as he is her “worthy lord”. When Macbeth is hallucinating Lady Macbeth tries her hardest not to let Macbeth expose his “deeds” to the thanes where she explains to Macbeth that “your noble friends do lack you”. Shortly after Lady Macbeth kicks the thanes out of the banquet as Lady Macbeth feels as if Macbeth is too distressed and will sooner or later expose himself to the thanes.

Lady Macbeth’s mask slips and we are able to experience lady Macbeth’s vulnerability and weakness where she becomes so taunted by her “deeds”. Later on in the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth contrast each other where Lady Macbeth becomes frail and pathetic not to mention that Macbeth becomes supernatural and powerful which could suggest that Lady Macbeth realises how evil she has become and this shows how much effect it has had on Lady Macbeth another key thing to remember is how comfortable Macbeth gets in his role as a Murderer. Macbeth becomes so addicted to killing where he gets to the point where he doesn’t need any motivation from Lady Macbeth anymore for it doesn’t affect him anymore.

Not only does Lady Macbeth contrast Macbeth she also contrasts Lady Macduff. Lady Macduff acts as a foil to Lady Macbeth which means Lady Macduff is used to highlight another’s qualities through the use of contrast for instance