12 works cited length: 2390 words 6.8 double spaced pages rating: red free the character of lady macbeth the character of lady macbeth is a complex one, there is much that can be said regarding the juxtaposition of ideas concerning her behavior. Within this essay i shall attempt to elaborate on her forceful, selfish and contradictory character. Samuel johnson within ‘the plays of shakespeare’ highlights how ambition of a protagonist leads to detestation on the part of the readers: or in other words an ambitious nature can be used as a tool by the playwright to produce a sense of loathing and dislike amongst the audience. The dangers presented by ambition are well described in shakespeare's time, it was necessary to warn credulity against vain and illusive predictions.

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Lady macbeth is merely detested and though the courage of macbeth preserves some esteem, yet every reader rejoices at his fall. Wilson describes the role of lady macbeth: ‘professor kittredge used to point out to his classes that lady macbeth, in urging macbeth to act, uses the three arguments that every wife, some time or other, uses to every husband: you promised me you'd do it! you'd do it if you loved me! if i were a man, i'd do it myself! but macbeth's mind is made up by her assurance that they may do it safely by fixing the guilt upon duncan's chamberlains. 95 ’ the tragedy of macbeth opens in a desert place with thunder and lightning and three witches who greet macbeth with hail to thee, thane of glamis, thane of cawdor, and thou shalt be king hereafter! when ross and angus arrive with news of duncan's reward he bade me, from him, call thee thane of cawdor , it is logical for macbeth to assume that all of the weird sisters' prophecies will come true.

Duncan's visit to inverness, a one night celebration of the victory, occasions quick plotting by the macbeths if it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well / it were done quickly , who are fully aware of the moral evil involved: but here, upon this bank and shoal of time, / we'ld jump the life to come, and this even handed justice / commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice / to our own lips. Macbeth is forced to recognize her total lack of maternal sensitivities: bring forth men children only / for thy undaunted mettle should compose / nothing but males. In act 2, scene 2, lady macbeth confesses to her husband that she could not perform the murder because had he not resembled / my father as he slept, i had done't. Immediately he is stricken with guilt as he exclaims, looking on his hands, to his wife, this is a sorry sight, and i had most need of blessing. At this point lady macbeth reveals the direction of the play with her response: these deeds must not be thought / after these ways so, it will make us mad. The crime continues to haunt macbeth: methought i heard a voice cry 'sleep no more! / macbeth does murder sleep and 'glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore cawdor / shall sleep no more macbeth shall sleep no more.

From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand. � ‘that is, in future he will try to attain the successful ruler's spontaneous rhythm of action. 91 ’ clark and wright in their ‘introduction to the complete works of william shakespeare’ interpret the character of lady macbeth: ‘ lady macbeth is of a finer and more delicate nature. Having fixed her eye upon the end the attainment for her husband of duncan's crown she accepts the inevitable means she nerves herself for the terrible night's work by artificial stimulants yet she cannot strike the sleeping king who resembles her father.

792 ’ in macbeth as the imitation of an action francis fergusson specifies the fears within lady macbeth: lady macbeth fears her husband's human nature, as well as her own female nature, and therefore she fears the light of reason and the common daylight world 108. Fanny kemble in lady macbeth depicts the character of macbeth's wife: ‘ lady macbeth, even in her sleep, has no qualms of conscience her remorse takes none of the tendered forms akin to repentance, nor the weaker ones allied to fear, from the pursuit of which the tortured soul, seeking where to hide itself, not seldom escapes into the boundless wilderness of madness. 116 17 ’ the next morning macduff exits the king's chamber with screams of disbelief and horror at the stabbing death of king duncan lady macbeth feigns illness: help me hence, ho! she is quite an actress. Even after macbeth's investiture at scone, the queen is lamenting the state of doubtful joy in which the royal couple is living. Both she and he are nightly afflicted by terrible dreams, and his mind is full of scorpions, so that the king thinks it better be with the dead.

In a park near the palace, banquo is set upon and killed with twenty trenched gashes on his head , but fleance escapes. At the banquet that evening, the ghost of banquo enters and sits in the king's place. Very imaginatively, the queen attempts to explain away his apparent illness by saying he has been thus troubled since his youth.