Character Analysis Of Lady Macbeth Essay Example

Macbeth is a short tragical play written by Shakespeare which portray the life of Lady Macbeth, who was consumed by her ambition for power. The first appearance of Lady Macbeth as she entered reading a letter showed her determined personality as she uttered:’Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised.” (1.5. 16-17). She speaks these words after reading the letter from her husband, informing her of the prophesy that he will become a future king. Her statement means that the prophecy should be fulfilled at all cost possible. It was her fiery ambition to be the queen that shaped her character in Shakespeares play. Lady Macbeth’s characters that stand out in the play are in her being an overly ambitious, stubbornly determined and frighteningly cruel female character.
For one, Lady Macbeth saw herself as more ambitious and manly than her husband. While Macbeth was known for being a brave general army and has killed many enemies, his loyalty to the king was beyond compare. Her doubts about her husband’s will and determination to be king made her ask the spirits to give her a more masculine characteristics: “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty” (1.5.38-41). The overly ambitious personality of Lady Macbeth is further portrayed in this statement, because she is willing to be stripped of feminity so as to be able to carry the evil plan by herself. Moreover, when Macbeth tried to make his point about the possible failure of their plan, Lady Macbeth retorted: “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking place, and we’ll not fail.” (1.7,59-61). This showed the enormous determination of Lady Macbeth, a will that is much powerful than her husband’s indecision to kill the king.
Despite her husband’s fear that the murderous plot may not go as planned, the wife impugned him instead. She urged him more by taunting and demeaning his manhood to the extent that she has to challenge Macbeth by telling him to take her example: “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent underneath” (1.5.70-71). Lady Macbeth’s comparison of herself to a flower and a serpent showed that despite being a woman who was expected to be feminine and soft-hearted, she is also capable to think and act cruelly.
Another portrayal of her cruel character was when it was shown that she has already planned for the murder of the king even before her husband’s consent. She thought that it was the witches that prophesied for Macbeth’s kingship, but it was up to her to make it happen. To keep her husband assured, she explained the plan she has already thought of, “ his two chamberlains will I with wine and wassail so convince” (1.7.63). She explained that the plan would be to cast all the blame to the guards, and no one will suspect them of the murder. In this particular scene, her ambition has already consumed her morality, such that the cruelty and wickedness that resides in her pushed her to think of all the evil acts possible to get his husband to the throne.
After successfully killing the king, she has to help her husband to keep his innocence: “Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil”(2.2.116-117). Macbeth was confused as to what to do with the dagger, so it was Lady Macbeth, who thought of bringing it back to the crime scene to make it appear that it was the guards who killed the king. Lady Macbeth’s character throughout the play is shockingly cold and cruel, lacking of the compassion, kindness and feminity of a lady. Most of the feelings exhibited by Lady Macbeth’s character were a woman who was all too obsessed by her greed and ambition.