Joanne Chen
Lecturer Chu Fen Chuang
30 April 2009
Macbeth : What is the relationship between
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?
If the main theme of Macbeth is ambition, whose
ambition is the driving force of the
play—Macbeth’s, Lady Macbeth’s, or both?
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Main Body
2.1 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth embody the main themes of the play.
Macbeth faces a battle between his ambition and his conscience.
Lady Macbeth, on the other hand is initially portrayed as much more
ambitious than Macbeth.
2.2 The importance of honor and loyalty.
2.3 the influence of fate and the power
2.4 Lady Macbeth and Her Power to Manipulate Macbeth’s True Feelings.
3. Conclusion
Reference
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Macbeth- Macbeth is a brave soldier and a powerful man, but he is not a virtuous
one. Ultimately, Macbeth proves him better suited to the battlefield than to political
intrigue, because he lacks the skills necessary to rule without being a tyrant. He is
unable to bear the psychological consequences of his atrocities. Lady
Macbeth - Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and
position. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits
suicide. It tells about the fall of the ambitious couple, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth is the tragic hero, a character who has a fatal (tragic) flaw within himself that
he cannot change. He is not a bad person; he is just too ambitious. Macbeth is an
interesting character to follow. As you read, you can see how he has changed. We first
meet Macbeth as a brave soldier and later find him as a murderer who kills everyone
who is in his way of the throne. Lady Macbeth is also a well-developed character. She
is conniving and ruthless, though she does seem to have some humane qualities.
The major themes of the play are ambition and its corrupting effects, the
importance of loyalty and honor, good versus evil and the power of fate. Shakespeare
presents these themes through the actions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and their
results: the corrupting effects of ambition by the slow and fatal downfall of both
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, the importance of loyalty and honor through the couple’s
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absolute lack of both and the disastrous results that this entails and the couple’s battle
between good and evil when they are trying to make important decisions. When
Macbeth is first confronted with the choice to gain more power by killing and lose his
honor and loyalty, or to be content with the power that he had, he is uncertain of what
he should do and faces a battle between his ambition and his conscience. Lady
Macbeth, on the other hand is initially portrayed as much more ambitious and
deceitful, quickly developing a plan for the murder of King Duncan so that she and
her husband can rise to the throne. While Lady Macbeth is more ambitious and
ruthless at the start of the play, she is less capable of withstanding the consequences
and guilt that plagues her after Macbeth repeated bloodshed. Through Macbeth and
Lady Macbeth, we see the corrupting power of ambition.
The importance of honor and loyalty is another prominent theme throughout the
play. Shakespeare often uses the characters and events in Macbeth to show us what
good and evil are. For example, he uses honor and loyalty as defining characteristics
of an admirable character, while illogical passion and unchecked ambition are shown
as characteristics of a disgraceful character. Loyalty and honor are important in any
functioning society, and when Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lose theirs, the kingdom is
thrown into turmoil.
The influence of fate and the power it has to shape people lives is a major theme in
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the play Macbeth. For example, both Macbeth and Banquo are initially doubtful of the
prophecy and believe that it is just the rambling of three mad women; however, within
a day of the witches voicing the prophecy, it begins to be fulfilled as Macbeth is made
the Thane of Cawdor. Shakespeare uses the prophecy to emphasize the power and
influence that the idea of fate has on people’s minds, and how such power can lead to
obsession and shape people’s lives. As much as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth believed
the prophecy was inevitable, Shakespeare implies it was only this belief that
guaranteed that the prophecy would be fulfilled. As soon as Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth heard the prophecy, their ambition began to grow, making it impossible for
them not to actively seek out the throne.
Lady Macbeth plays a major role in influencing her husband to take the path that he
does. Throughout the play we can see that she has a strong influence on him and is a
primary cause for increasing Macbeth’s ambition. She greatly helps him throughout
the play to get him through various problems. In the earlier acts of the play we can see
that Lady Macbeth’s words mean a lot to her husband, giving the impression that she
is definitely the dominant figure in the relationship. Lady Macbeth has a strong
influence on her husband and is a sole reason why Macbeth acts as he did. Although
Lady Macbeth may be a strong cause for Macbeth’s reign of tyranny, she still greatly
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helps him through uncomfortable situations. She supports and helps him throughout
his gradual decline. Because Macbeth is not completely certain of the success of the
devious plan, he is greatly assisted by his wife. Another example where she helps
Macbeth is the incident after he has killed Duncan. As Macbeth is uneasy and
awestruck she takes the daggers back into Duncan’s chamber for him and helps him
wash the blood off his hands. She is very useful in this situation as she helps pull him
together sensitively. Lady Macbeth is not the only influence on Macbeth. He is greatly
influenced by the witches as they combine with his already prominent ambition that
sets him forward to become King. Lady Macbeth can be seen to have simply
influenced him at the right time, as we can see from later parts in the play Macbeth
looses the need for his wife’s influence as he already has the instinct for evil and
domination. Her famous speeches and soliloquies show the extent of her influence on
him. Lady Macbeth begins the evil evolving Macbeth into an evil tyrant of cruelty. He
becomes an evil character without her help in the end in contrast to the beginning of
the play where he was the respected and honorable thane of Glamis. This strong
change in character can be said to be caused by Lady Macbeth’s influence on him,
therefore because of her influence Macbeth ends up being a sinful character in the
play.
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Lady Macbeth, however, urges her husband to kill the king. Since the king is
staying at their castle overnight, that must be when they kill him. She plans the whole
thing, making the king’s guards drunk. By using their daggers to kill the king and
putting the king’s blood on them, Lady Macbeth will frame the guards. It is now time
for Macbeth to stab the king. Though he has bad visions and feelings, Macbeth kills
the king. Afterwards, he is troubled. "I am afraid to think what I have done; look on it
again I dare not," he says. Lady Macbeth has begun sleepwalking because her
conscience weighs too heavily on herself. She tells about her crimes and the murder
of the king, unaware that her doctor and waiting woman are watching her. She later
dies, possibly from suicide. Though Macbeth is a brave general and a powerful lord,
his wife is far from subordinate to his will. Indeed, she often seems to control him,
either by crafty manipulation or by direct order. And it is Lady Macbeth’s deep-seated
ambition, rather than her husband’s, that ultimately propels the plot of the play by
goading Macbeth to murder Duncan. Macbeth does not need any help coming up with
the idea of murdering Duncan, but it seems unlikely that he would have committed
the murder without his wife’s powerful taunts and persuasions.
Reference: http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=28280
http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=33405
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http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=33552
http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/themes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Macbeth_(Shakespeare)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth
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