Lady Macbeth: Victim of Ambition Essay

Submitted By peffany
Words: 902
Pages: 4
Open Document
Elias Gacem
Mr Misuraca
English
12­31­14 Lady Macbeth The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare has a lot of important characters and major roles in the play. Each character is unique in their own way because of enormous amount of characterization each individual contain. Almost every character in Macbeth are fully developed because of their complexity and importance. The most interesting and complex character of Macbeth would be the main character’s wife Lady Macbeth because without her decision making, there wouldn’t be the essential conflict within the play. “Lady Macbeth is a femme fatal. She has more ambition over her powerful husband. She even questions his manhood and makes Macbeth kill the king,”
According to Lee Jamieson’s Lady Macbeth character analysis, Lady Macbeth is one of
Shakespeare’s most infamous interesting female characters because of how she is the cause of the plot which is to kill the king of Scotland, Duncan. One of her famous soliloquy, “come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top­full of direst cruelty”. This quote states that she will take away her female qualities away and will turn into a powerful masculine figure in order to commit the murder of her own king. Macbeth has two sides of herself. She is manipulative and evil. She has as much ambition than her husband but refuses to take part in the murder. Therefore, Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to act on her behalf. Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind her husband’s actions. Lady Macbeth’s complexity in fact comes from her guilt expressed through her dream. This expression suggest that no one is able to leave guilt behind because once it has been committed, it is done.

Another interesting interesting and complex side of Lady Macbeth’s character is a further look into Shakespeare interpretation of feminism towards lady Macbeth. Lady
Macbeth’s dence of her feminine state are quotes such as the famous one “unsex me”, meaning that lady Macbeth wants to take on masculine qualities in order to commit the act of murder of the King. “Pluck my nipple from my child’s boneless gums, And dash the brains out, had I so sworn as you Have done to this” is another quote from Lady
Macbeth directly to Macbeth saying that Lady Macbeth is proving to Macbeth that she is ready to act and kill the King of Scotland and that she won’t regret anything. You can definitely see her masculine qualities take her over as she is not afraid to be a man and that even the death of her own child as interpreted in this quote, will not step in her way.
“Patriarchal society encourages Lady Macbeth to invest herself in the role of mother.
Lady Macbeth is seen as selfish and abnormal when she confesses that there is a situation in which she would dash her child’s brains out , a very unnatural statement according to patriarchy’s belief that women’s desire to have and protect children is a part of “their natural biological makeup” According to Marion A. Davis. Lady Macbeth is showing her arrogant selfish and cruel side by saying that he has the ability to dash her babies brains out. Marion defended that a mother's Natural instinct will be to save her child and protect it to death.
Lady Macbeth is full of guilt which makes her very interesting because everything
Show More

Related Documents: Lady Macbeth: Victim of Ambition Essay

Lady Macbeth Essay

Amy Rodriguez 2B William Shakespeare's Macbeth, is a Medieval story about a nobleman who had evil ambitions of becoming the King of Scotland. It is evident in the play that both Macbeth, the nobleman, and Lady Macbeth, his wife, suffer from the same tragic flaw: uncontrolled ambition.This uncontrolled ambition causes them to commit regicide. Although Lady Macbeth coerces Macbeth to murder King Duncan of Scotland, it is clear that she is, in fact, a victim to her ambition. She suffers greatly by losing her sanity…

Words 626 - Pages 3

Macbeth: Macbeth and Ambition Essay examples

13, March 2012 The King of Ambition Macbeth by William Shakespeare is a tragedy about a war hero Macbeth, who follows his ambition with evil and who is repaid with evil. In the play, it show us the different sides between good and evil; heroes and villains; loyalty and treachery; and ambition and morality. Macbeth is a victim of circumstance because the witches and Lady Macbeth have influenced him, but on the other hand he is ultimately responsible for the actions that led to his…

Words 868 - Pages 4

Macbeth: Macbeth and Macbeth Analytical Essay

Macbeth Analytical Essay Macbeth is portrayed in two different versions, in Polanski’s film version (1971) and in Shakespeare. In Shakespeare’s version Macbeth is depicted as a victim of his own actions, and in Polanski’s, Macbeth is characterized as a victim of fate. This is shown in Act Two, Scene Two and Act Three, Scene Six and Act Five, Scene Five. These scenes give a close analysis of Macbeth’s behaviour. Observing the juxtaposition in these two scenes with Polanski’s Macbeth with the influence…

Words 1086 - Pages 5

Essay On Ambition In Macbeth

In William Shakespeare’s 8th tragedy Macbeth, the idea about life that is explored is, having too much ambition with no guide to its proper use, can irreversible change how a person thinks, feels and acts in or about the world around them. The idea is strongly represented by how the character of Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth change throughout the play; first a soldier and then a thane, finally a murderer. While Lady Macbeth held herself as vigorous and zealous, and then fell into a psychotic…

Words 502 - Pages 3

Macbeth Ambition Research Paper

Ambition. The only and utter truth about success. Every single person has goals but what separates the amount of success from the poor and rich, the weak and the powerful is the amount of ambition a person has, and Macbeth had the best of ambition. After all, “Talented people hit targets no one else can hit. Ambitious people aim to hit targets no one else can see”-Ado S. Mukhtar. The definition of ambition is “An eagerness or motivation to do or achieve something such as gaining wealth or a business…

Words 865 - Pages 4

Macbeth and Witches Essay

his ambition, the influence of Lady Macbeth, or the prophecies from the three witches. Draw explicitly on quotations and plot development to support your ideas. Macbeth, a tragedy scripted by William Shakespeare in the 17th century, shows the effects a desire for power can have over a man. Macbeth, the title character of the play is often expressed as being the villain of the tragedy however through the study of the play it is evident that rather being an innately evil character Macbeth was…

Words 742 - Pages 3

Of Mice And Men Feminist Analysis

presented in Macbeth and Of Mice and Men and are it true to say that women are villains rather than victims Both Shakespeare and John Steinbeck wrote their books where male dominance was the norm. Both Lady Macbeth and Curley’s wife challenge this norm by manipulating men and in doing so they gain power over them in an attempt to become socially accepted as independent women in society. Both writers gave their characters powers which would be unusual in 1937 America and 1600 Scotland, Lady Macbeth uses…

Words 284 - Pages 2

How Does Shakespeare Present Ambition In Macbeth

about ambition in the play, Macbeth? Your analysis must focus on theatrical techniques: In Shakespeare’s famous play, “Macbeth”, ambition is presented as a dangerous quality, one in which both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fall victim to during the play. Ambition arises with the temptation of becoming King and Queen and evidently becomes Macbeths fatal flaw. The driving force of ambition ultimately results in the downfall, unhappiness and eventual death of the Macbeth’s. The presence of ambition is often…

Words 886 - Pages 4

Macbeth S Downfall Essay

Kyle Kennedy English Period 2 Macbeth Final Essay Lady Macbeth isn't the only person or factor in Macbeth’s downfall but she is a person that should take the most responsibility, she does play a large role in the downfall of Macbeth. She is Macbeth’s wife and essential to him and pushes him to do what he would not have been able to do on his own. Macbeth himself is highly ambitious and determined, but Lady Macbeth is even more. At first he refuses to kill Duncan but she persuades him and eventually gets him to do it…

Words 812 - Pages 4

Beowulf: Lady Macbeth Essay example

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is Shakespeare’s most evil feminine creation. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth has very manipulative powers that lead to a lot of harm the play. The harm is even felt among her husband before it is all over with. She is very selfish in the play as well because of her overwhelming wanting of power. Most of all she is evil through out the play which gets worse from the beginning to the end of her life. All that she has done to get what she wants it eventually gets…

Words 1039 - Pages 5