Lady Macbeth Characterization Essay

Nadia Escandon

English 11A

Mrs. Wood - 1st Block

February 22 2016

Lady Macbeth Character Development

    In The Tragedy of Macbeth William Shakespeare begins the play with a scene involving three witches. They seek out the main character, Macbeth, telling him their prediction that he will one day be king. Of course, none of this could happen without help from his wife, Lady Macbeth. She is insistent that without the proper adjustments, Macbeth could never be king. The two then go on to plan the steps they must follow to bring down King Duncan and his successors so that they may gain power and finally seize the crown. Although Lady Macbeth appeared to be strong and persistently immoral when carrying out the evil deeds necessary to become queen, she was actually the more honorable of the two as she eventually felt the weight of guilt on her shoulders while her corrupt husband rose to power.

    Lady Macbeth is far more ambitious and persistent to carry out their immoral tasks so as not to be suspected by anyone before they take the thrown. Her excitement to begin their murderous plans is expressed when being told that King Duncan would be staying at their castle. She exclaims, "Thou'rt mad to say it" (I: v, 29) when realizing that murdering the king will be far easier than they imagined. She is now more persistent than ever to make sure that their plans take place that night and without falter. She is confident, although, Macbeth is doubtful and hesitates about the plans, "If we should fail?” (I: vii, 59), but Lady Macbeth’s urgency to follow through persuades him otherwise: “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place and we'll not fail" (I: vii, 60-61). It is this persistence that actually gets the couple to where the witches predicted they would end up. After they murder the king Lady Macbeth keeps her eyes on what is important and scolds her husband for not thinking clearly and bringing hard evidence back from the scene. He carried with him the daggers used to murder Duncan and instead of feeling horrified at the sight of the murder weapons, Lady Macbeth instantly thinks to frame the king’s servants whom she had gotten drunk beforehand. This thoughtfulness of the plan was thanks to Lady Macbeth and her ambition to do a job and do it right.

When Macbeth and his wife carry out their first evil feat, Lady Macbeth maintains her strength and composure while her husband cannot even think of anything but the guilt of murdering the king. He addresses Lady Macbeth on this matter and says to her, “False face must hide what the false heart doth know” (Shakespeare I: vii, 82). With this, Macbeth encourages her to go on and pretend that everything is normal even now that they have made up their minds to kill the king. Lady Macbeth is strong and has no problem fooling anyone that everything is normal even after committing the crime. She even goes on to tell her husband that, “These deeds must not be thought after these ways. So, it will make us mad” (II: ii, 34-35), insisting that he must stop letting the situation get to him because she is able to do so without any trouble. It is clear that Lady Macbeth is very strong in keeping hidden the things she does not want others to discover and hopes that Macbeth will figure out how to do the same, telling him, “what's done, is done” (III: ii, 10-12) and to stop dwelling on the past. This is exactly what Lady Macbeth herself does to keep sane until Macbeth actually becomes king.

After days of putting up false masks, Lady Macbeth actually begins to feel the torment of their wrongdoings and slowly begins to fall apart. One night while sleepwalking it is revealed that Lady Macbeth too sees the blood on her hands just as Macbeth had right after the murder of the king, “Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—why, then ’tis time to do’t” (V: i, 30-34). In her sleeping state Lady Macbeth is frantically scrubbing her hands, unable to get the blood out. The secrets coming out of Lady Macbeth do not stop there, though; in her dreamlike state she also reveals to the two bystanders more details about the nights following Banquo’s death. As if she were talking to Macbeth the night it happened she says, “Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. Look not so pale.—I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on ’s grave” (V: i, 43-45). Lady Macbeth continues to go mad with the blood on her hands all while her husband is going mad with power consuming him. Up until now Lady Macbeth has been the one pushing for power, but now the tables have turned and Lady Macbeth is the virtuous one who can not bear the guilt any longer. Lady Macbeth dies offstage while the corrupt Macbeth is far from upset about this.

The Tragedy of Macbeth truly did turn out to have a tragic ending as Macbeth died a power-hungry king under false circumstances. Lady Macbeth died with madness after she so tirelessly fought for her and Macbeth to become king and queen. She was truly an ambitious and strong wife to do such things for her husband even when he proved to be much weaker. During the restless moments after the murders, she could be counted on to remain composed while there is no saying what Macbeth would have done if his wife was not covering for him. Despite this behavior, it was always Lady Macbeth who was the more righteous of the two. When they finally inherited the throne, Lady Macbeth saw that what they had done was wrong when Macbeth had finally gotten over it. From the start of the play most would believe that Lady Macbeth had greater evils within than her vulnerable husband. Although, in the end it is clear that Macbeth is the one who is truly evil because in the play, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (I: i, 12).