Lady Macbeth's Motives

She is willing to pull everyone down, even her husband, in order for her to become queen. She comes up with the idea of killing King Duncan. She asks her husband Macbeth to do the honor of killing Duncan but he hesitated at first. Lady Macbeth repeatedly questions his manhood.

Macbeth's wife Lady Macbeth influenced Macbeth to make many poor decisions like killing King Duncan. Macbeth's loyalty was unmatched when he was under King Duncan. But after Duncan's death, he immediately lost his loyalty. He killed the king he served under. Later on, Macbeth's decision making got worse and ultimately his impulsiveness was a huge downfall to him as he made such horrible decisions like wanting to kill Banquo.

In Act 1 scene 5, when she hears about the prophecy she decides that Duncan needs to die without considering the consequences. Her desire and ambition overcomes her sense of right and wrong as she calls to “spirits that tend to mortal thoughts” so that she would be able to loose her womanly characteristics and she requests them to “fill me with from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty”. She goes on to tell them, “come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall”; this indicates the extent to which her ambition is manipulating her, she is willing to give her breast milk to make poison. As the play goes on Macbeth learns of Lady Macbeth’s plans to act upon the prophecy but he starts having second thoughts for he is Duncan’s kinsman and host but Lady Macbeth swoops in to “save the day” for the Macbeths’ future and questions his manhood as she says “when you durst do it, then you were a man”.

However, he isn't the only one with character flaws. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth also shares for his lust for power, if not making his lust worse. It can be seen in the story that Lady Macbeth plants metaphorical seeds into Macbeth's head. An example of this being when Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are talking, and she almost hints towards him that Duncan will stand in his way in becoming King, forcing Macbeth to kill him. Although Lady Macbeth never told her husband to kill Duncan, she knew saying that would force him to take some sort of action.

Throughout the scene, Macbeth is subjected to mockery, guilt-tripping, and dishonor for hesitating to kill the king. She brilliantly structures her arguments to focus on her husband, portraying her cause to be in his best interest. This succeeds, for Lady Macbeth knows her husband is an egocentric and, in his eyes, a valiant man. In the end, Macbeth decides to go through with the plan, but becomes more passionate about it than before. Lady Macbeth manipulated him into solidly committing to it.

Readers of Macbeth can look at him from different perspectives; a troubled man who fell to the dark side, or an arrogant, power hungry man who got what he deserved at the end. Macbeth by William Shakespeare tells the story about a man who was so desperate for power that he was willing to do anything to keep it. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth is considered a war hero and along with his then friend, Banquo, is called upon by three witches who tell him he will be the next king. His wife, Lady Macbeth, is a power hungry figure who convinces him to kill King Duncan, to fulfill his prophecies.

Lady Macbeth utilize her demanding features to emotionally and sneakily manipulate Macbeth in murdering Duncan. She also lacks apathy and emotion for the unworthy death of Duncan. Lady Macbeth is a strong woman role in the play, she exhibits a manly personality in the Elizabethan time. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth roles has reverse in the beginning of the play. Their imbalanced relationships would only further cause the Macbeth’s to struggle in their relationship and have a lack of trust in each

Moreover, this realization leads Lady Macbeth to think about murdering King Duncan for her and Macbeth to gain power. In addition to Lady Macbeth’s cruel character, she reveals her desirous thoughts towards the crown. Lady Macbeth continues her speech and mentions her unquenching thirst to take Duncan’s power. “Make thick my blood. Stop the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace with the effect and it!”

She is malicious not only in words but also in her intent. Her sole object is to obtain power and wealth, with its attendant treasures. Lady Macbeth lacks humanity and regrets that she was not born as a man. She understands that power and violence are synonymous with manhood and bravery. Additionally, Lady Macbeth interests’ and ambition, override her love for even her husband, Macbeth.

She insults him and calls him a coward while also questioning his manhood which makes Macbeth come to a realization that not killing the king is the way of a coward and he is motivated to carry out the plan and murder the king because of Lady Macbeth’s insults and speech that she gives him. By successfully persuading Macbeth into murdering the king this shows that Lady Macbeth is controlling towards people and she can be a very manipulative person. It shows that she is the type of person that gets things done by manipulating other people to do her dirty work for her. Lady Macbeth can simply achieve her own goals by getting into anyone’s head and turning their own conscience against them in, which is essentially what she did to her husband. Macbeth would have never went through with killing King Duncan if Lady Macbeth had never persuaded him because he really does have a soft heart and is good and honorable.

This good side of Macbeth eventually deteriorates, however, as he fights for power and kingship by killing not only King Duncan, but many others. He ends up as a much hated king who is eventually killed. The character of Macbeth shifts from a favourable, loyal person to one that is destructive and consumed by power. This idea is analysed by Shakespeare by the way of his power in his marriage, how he involved himself with the witches, and how willing he was to do things. The first way that Macbeth’s change was shown in the play is how strong he was inside of his relationship with Lady Macbeth.

She is only focused on completing her goal of murdering King Duncan so her husband can usurp the throne. She realizes that her husband’s personality is rather meek, and that he would not go through with murdering King Duncan because of a quality that he has, his humanity, which she considers his greatest weakness. Deliberating with herself, she thinks of Macbeth and his potential in regard to what could come to pass: “Yet do I fear thy nature, / It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness / To catch the nearest way” (Shakespeare l.v.16-18).

Lady Macbeth tries to mask her guilt by covering up for her husband, but eventually comes to grips with her own instability. In Macbeth, Shakespeare asserts that power drives the title character and his wife to insanity, particularly after their conspiracy to kill Duncan. For starters, prior to killing Duncan, Macbeth imagines the likely consequences of his future actions and whether or not they signal his destiny. At the beginning

Macbeth is a brilliant solider and patriotic to King Duncan. The king refers to Macbeth as, “Valiant Cousin,” thus showing that the two have a very close relationship. Macbeth is faced with a moral crisis that he should kill King Duncan and take to the throne or leave him and carry on being the Thane of Cawdor. Lady Macbeth entices him to commit the murder because she is just as ambitious as her husband and she persuades him by questioning his manhood. She even calls upon the dark spirits to take away her soft womanliness.

The play Macbeth written by Shakespeare focuses on the rise and fall of the main character, Macbeth. Macbeth’s one critical decision was largely influenced by his wife, Lady Macbeth, and this influence is exemplified early on in the play. In Act I Scene vii, Macbeth seemingly decides against killing King Duncan; however, Lady Macbeth persuades him to go ahead with the deed through her compelling argument. Moreover, Lady Macbeth’s ability to influence her husband so greatly demonstrates the strength of their marriage. By appealing both emotionally and logically to her husband, Lady Macbeth very easily convinces him against his own conscience.