How Is Lady Macbeth A Complex Character

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William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, written in just five acts, is the shortest of his tragedies written. The hero suffers from many conflicts within himself that will have tremendous impact on how the play will unravel. Although we will not see Macbeth until the third scene of Act 1, we will find that his character is put together with many different character traits. They are very complex and range from bravery, ambition, logic, and compassion, but as the play progresses he will deteriorate and become filled with self doubt and irrational thoughts with the help and manipulation of his wife, Lady Macbeth. We will see very early on that she is a strong, rational, and calculating woman, and even more determined to see her husband set aside his …show more content…
At one time she was the strong woman who told her husband "A little water clears us of this deed" to a fragile woman who suffered from sleep walking and would constantly wash her hands thinking she could wash away the blood. The Macbeths would continue to protect each other, each one eventually suffering in isolation from horrifying remorse (Gilbert 4). Lady Macbeth would eventually fall victim to her own guilt and take her own life. Macbeth was without emotion when he hears the news and says "she should have died hereafter" referencing she would have died someday anyway. Macduff is coming for him to revenge his family's death. At first Macbeth refuses to fight him thinking he is invincible according to the witches prophecy stating he will not lose to anyone born to a woman. What he doesn't realize is that Macduff does not fit that description. He has lost everything and realizes that his lack of logic and his greed for power has turned him into a person without a soul. He refuses to surrender and fights Macduff. As the story unfolds, Macbeth ends up being

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