Traits of Lady Macbeth Essay Example

Lady Macbeth is the strongest female role in all of Shakespeare's discography with one of her best traits being her strong ambition; it also leads into her worst trait which is her pure ruthlessness to get what she desires.

Lady Macbeth's strongest trait is her ambition or hubris. This is also a defining trait of Macbeth but it is much more prevalent in the actions and words of Lady Macbeth. She is able to get what she wants through will power alone. For example when Macbeth is unsure of his willingness to go through with their plan to take the throne Lady Macbeth says "We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place and we'll not fail."(1.7. 69-71). This demonstrates the power of will she has over her husband. He is overcome by her willingness and does as she says. The plan is for Macbeth to gain more power which makes this scene a great example of her much greater resolution because she is much more willing than Macbeth. Another example of her hubris is when Macbeth comes back from killing with the daggers and will not return them and she says "Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures."(2.2. 69-70). Macbeth is unwilling to even face the dead bodies which may have gotten them caught. Without Lady Macbeth's strength the daggers remain with Macbeth and he is possibly found. Lady Macbeth is constantly characterized as a much stronger and willing character than her husband with a much greater Hubris making it her strength.

Lady Macbeth's worst trait is a product of her great amount of ambition which is her being relentless. She is shown as much stronger than the weak willed Macbeth but her lack of mercy shows the evil inside her in her hunt for the throne. In one of her darkest moments early in the book she states “I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out”(1.7.62-66). She describes the great lengths that she would go to in her mission for power. She would soon rather kill her own child than not see their plan through. Again she is depicted as heartless when she must wash Duncan's blood off her hands and she says “a little water clears us of this deed. How easy is it, then!”(2.2.86-87). Lady Macbeth thinks almost nothing of the crime they commited which is polar opposite to Macbeth who is overwhelmed with shame. Lady Macbeth is far too nonchalant about what she has just done which will lead to her killing whoever she sees fit through her cunning. Lady Macbeth's lack of empathy for life makes her a very dangerous character with the help of Macbeth that is willing to do all types of evil to see her husband as the king. 

Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind Macbeth's goal to steal the throne and through this we see both her strongest trait, being her great ambition , and her evil, being her relentlessness.