Xavier Bodus

English 11a- Mrs. Wood

20 February 2016

Lady MacBeth Characterization Essay Rough Draft

Even though Macbeth acted out of his own free will: none can doubt Lady Macbeth is the real chink in his armor, ridiculing and bashing him until nothing was left except a mad-man, a shell of his former self. Lady Macbeth is the real antagonist of the story and should be exposed as such. (Note to self look for a filler sentence to connect these two sentences so it doesn’t sound rushed). Although Lady Macbeth wears the cloak of cunning and depraved cruelty to manipulate Macbeth into murder, it is infact, the emergence of her contrite nature that ultimately leads to her demise.

“Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here...make thick my blood.” (1:v, 38-41). Okay now what about that does not sound shady? I mean come on- “...unsex me here...make thick my blood” (1:v, 38-41).- obviously Lady Macbeth is up to no good! Lady Macbeth’s cunning is actually quite impressive. Not only is she a great liar, but she is also a superb actor. She is able to fly under the detection of the guards after the murder of King Duncan by acting completely oblivious to what has just occurred in her house by saying, “...Our royal master’s murder. Woe, Alas! What in our house?” (2:iii, 81-82), and then to top it all off she faints. Completely evading suspicion. Even when she and Macbeth are drowning in guilt and Macbeth starts falling apart, Lady Macbeth manages to keep a cool head. Macbeth notices this and says, “And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, when mine is blanched with flavor.” (3:iv, 15-116). He’s clearly falling apart while she is as cool as a whistle, or at least she’s faking it very well.

Depraved cruelty is the perfect description of Lady Macbeth in the beginning of the play. She is unequaled, going as far as to say, “How tender ‘tis love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out…” (1:vii, 55-59). Cold, callous, cruel, these are just some of the words I would use to describe this unjust action. However, this doesn’t even compare to what she says later. Just after forcing Macbeth to kill King Duncan, Macbeth is distraught: overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow and all Lady Macbeth has to say is, “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white...a little water clears us of this deed” (2:ii, 63-64, 66). She and Macbeth had just committed murder! Yet, she feels nothing. No remorse, no sadness, no guilt, she didn’t even bat an eye.

Despite all she has done in the past, Lady Macbeth is not stone. Her downfall comes during the night in the form of recurring nightmares. Her dreams unveil the real guilt that she suppresses during the day. She even feels guilt for killing McDuff’s family, even though she didn’t want to kill anymore, she says in the middle of a nightmare, “The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now? What, will these hands ne’er be clean?” (4:i, 37-38). She mentally cannot handle the guilt anymore. She soon dies after this from the guilt.

Lady Macbeth was cruel and cunning, but in the end she couldn’t cope with her guilt leading to her death.