Explore the Ways in which Shakespeare Creates Dislike and Sympathy for Lady Macbeth in Act 1 and Act 5

     Lady Macbeth progresses throughout the play from a seemingly savage and heartless creature to a very delicate and fragile woman. In the beginning of the play, she is very ambitious and hungry for power. She pushes Macbeth to kill Duncan in order to fulfill the witches’ prophecy. In Act I, Scene 6, she asks the gods to make her emotionally strong like a man in order to help her husband go through with the murder plot. She says, “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!” Also, she does everything in her power to convince Macbeth that he would be wrong not to kill Duncan. In Act I,

Macbeth is a tragedy written by Shakespeare roughly between the years 1603 and 1606. It was a play written following the death of Queen Elizabeth. The king at the time - James I of England/King James VI of Scotland was known to be a big supporter of theatre, witchcraft and demonology. Shakespeare and his associates soon into their career became known as the King’s men. The Kings ancestry was traced back to Banquo, a character from the play.

She is, and forever will be one of the most dominant female figures in literature. She depicts intensity, moxie, ambition, and ruthlessness throughout the start of the play. Lady Macbeth is the epitome of what King James I feared in women. King James feared women like Lady Macbeth because her power came from within herself. She understood that she could achieve anything with or without anyone by her side. He feared women who threatened the natural order, showed aggressive tendencies, and were capable of being independent (Smith). Shakespeare used Lady Macbeth as a subtle imitation for the historical women King James persecuted (Moir). The Weird Sisters used methods like image-magic on the world around them to injure. While others in Shakespeare’s England were executed for witchcraft that never engaged in any practices associated with witchcraft or magic at all (Smith). Lady Macbeth did not need magic to persuade Macbeth to kill the king, she did that all herself. Her power hungry self goes on to say, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/ What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature;/ It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Thou wouldst be great,/ Art not without ambition, but without/ The illness should attend it.” (Shakespeare 1.5 15-20). In the quote above she is explaining how even though her husband does not have the guts to kill Duncan, he will be able to because he has her. Shakespeare understood that the women of the Jacobean era were harassed because of their strength and tenacity, and uses Lady Macbeth’s actions at the beginning of the play to represent

The struggle for power is encountered through the interactions between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. When initially introduced to the character of Lady Macbeth, she reads a letter addressed to her from Macbeth in which he states his plans to kill King Duncan and assume the throne. Lady Macbeth responds with a speech signifying her agreeance and calls for the strength to carry on with the plan: “Come, you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ And fill me from the crown to the top-full/ of direst cruelty” (1.5.47-50). Here, she is denouncing her femininity to take on a more masculine role and to be filled with nothing but motivation for the cruel crime. Shakespeare uses this scene to foreshadow the event in which the crime will be committed. While Macbeth begins to have second thoughts and uneasiness towards the situation, Lady Macbeth tells him: “What beast was ’t,/ then, / That made you break this enterprise to me?/ When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man” (1.7.53-58). Lady Macbeth is emasculating her husband her by questioning his ability to be a man and how he hesitates to make the move towards power while she is confident in her decision. Shakespeare makes a choice to have a woman be the one to urge the death of Duncan to show the reversal of gender roles and to expose Lady Macbeth’s character. The playwright

In act 1 scene 7 Lady Macbeth hurt his ego and pressure him to do the most evil. After all she did to him she again insult him and says “if you weren’t a man, then what kind of animal are you.” The quote from act 1 scene 7 shows how Lady Macbeth is driving Macbeth crazy just to get the power. She is pressuring him to the extend where he can not think anything else, but to proof that he is man enough to fulfill his wife’s dream. Macbeth is thinking of taking someone’s life under the influence of his wife which is greedy for the power.

We see her as a suppressed female clawing to power through men. The most notable scene where Shakespeare conveys this is Act 1 Scene 5. He has Lady Macbeth say, “unsex me here”, demanding elimination of all womanly attributes. She also says, “take my milk for gall”. This demonstrates she does not want to be a nurturing, mother figure. Lady Macbeth thinks her femininity is useless and that she could accomplish more as a male. In the Elizabethan/Jacobean era, women were often subjugated – made to submit to and follow men, regarded as weak and in need of protection. Given no control, women were forced to stay home and bear children. Lady Macbeth yearns liberation from these stereotypes and ideal standards of her time. Her authority cravings lead her to tell Macbeth, “Leave all the rest to me” – seeking dominance. Her husband is essential to succeed so she can be interpreted as somewhat manipulating him into committing larger crimes – namely

The play Macbeth by Shakespeare is a great example of power affecting characters motives. The main characters that were affected by power are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Their want for power causes Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to murder, betray their friends and allies and want what they cannot have. Lady Macbeth is so power hungry that her perception of right and wrong is blurred.

   The dark aura surrounding Shakespeare's Macbeth is well deserved, as is the darkness shrouding its title character. Although Macbeth is certainly a villainous, evil man based solely on his actions, a fuller examination of his character's portrayal leads to a more sympathetic view of him. The play does not portray Macbeth simply as a cold-blooded murderer, but rather as a tortured soul attempting to deal with the atrocities surrounding him.

In her first opening scene Lady Macbeth's power goes into question when she calls upon “Spirits that tend on mortal thoughts” to deprive her of her feminine instinct to care so that she may commit an act she will later on regret. In act 1 scene 5 she states “ Come, you spirits that assist murderous thoughts, make me less like a woman and more like a man, and feel me from head to toe with deadly cruelty! Thicken my blood and clog my veins so that I feel no remorse, so that no human compassion can stop my evil plan or prevent me from accomplishing it! Come to my breast in turn my mother’s milk into poisonous acid…”. Calling upon these demons only to help her husband commit an act of betrayal It is very lucid to see why Lady Macbeth is willing to go through such drastic measures in order to be queen in have that power in which she is hungry

account thy love. Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and

In Medieval times women were viewed as innocent beings who must be controlled by the men in their family; however, in Shakespeare’s Macbeth a woman is the mastermind behind the start of several horrendous deeds. Lady Macbeth was a woman with determination. When it was prophesized that Macbeth would be king, Lady Macbeth wished that her husband would immediately be at her side so she “may pour [her] spirits in [his] ear” (1. 5. 25). Lady Macbeth wanted nothing less that Macbeth to be king. In order for Macbeth to ascend to the throne, it needed to be emptied of King Duncan. Macbeth was an ambitious man but he was not evil, he would not commit murder to gain the throne; therefore, Lady Macbeth took it upon herself to see her husband crowned king. By making Lady Macbeth the mastermind behind a murder, Shakespeare disputed the typical role of women which labeled them as innocent and harmless beings.

Known for his tragedy, intrigue, comedy, and romance, Shakespeare extends his boundary of prowess in the play Macbeth. The irony present in the play, the double-meaning of the characters’ actions, and the complexity of setting all contribute to a thrilling story of murder and looking beyond the superficial. Dramatic, situational, and verbal irony greatly contribute to the theme of things are not what they seem in Macbeth text and film. Shakespeare uses the contrast in irony to convey this in the character’s words, actions, and the audience’s awareness. The textual and film evidence fully supports the theme and displays the author’s affluent use of irony.

How the Relationship Between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Changes and Develops During the Course of the Play

Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband into doing all that she wants to do, that she cannot do herself. When Lady Macbeth consults with Macbeth the witches prophecies she insinuates and awakens an evil ambitious side in him. This is very strange to see as in the beginning of the play (Act 1) Macbeth is the complete opposite. Lady Macbeth does this in such a devious way that she questions her husband 's masculinity. For instance; "What beasts wasn 't then,/ that made you break this enterprise to me?/ When you durst do it,/ then you were a man,/ And to be more than what you were,/ you would be so much more the man." (1.7.53-58). This strikes Macbeth as the unthinkable because as a woman in the Elizabethan Times (1603) Lady

comes to an agreement with himself that he will not go out of his way