Lady Macbeth Essay

Lady Macbeth Essay Lady Macbeth Essay Macbeth Conscience is the feeling that doing certain actions is wrong. It is something we have with us from birth, something that is also taught, developed and shaped through parents, especially during childhood. As children, we are taught what is right and what is wrong, by being given reasons and examples through very simple things. For instance, when a child takes another child’s chocolate, parents will teach their child that one must not take others possessions just because one wants to. But it’s worth mentioning that if a child’s needs haven’t been met, they will try to fulfill them at another child’s expense. Conscience is the little voice we hear within us when we do something wrong. It might start very high in the beginning and keep repeating the same conviction of what we did wrong. But, if we keep ignoring it, the voice will become low, and disappear. It is a sign that one’s conscience falls. It is ignoring that feeling of guilt when doing wrong actions. Some people’s conscience falls and rises in an extreme way; Macbeth by William Shakespeare is the best example. Macbeth is an ambitious man. He is a powerful general in the king’s army, a war hero. Macbeth meets three witches, who tell him that he is â€Å"Thane of Glamis.† They predict that he will be â€Å"Thane of Cawdor† and that he shall be â€Å"King of Scotland.† Macbeth’s first conscience fall is shown when he thinks of killing King Duncan in order to have the crown. Macbeth questions the prediction: â€Å"This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs against the use of nature?† (1.3.23).These words of the witches cannot be bad, and cannot be good either. If they are bad, why do they promise me success? They said the truth; I am â€Å"Thane of Cawdor.† If it is good, why do I have this horrible image of a dead king? This thinking makes my hair stand on end, and my heart beats so fast. It knocks on my ribs against its usual beat. Macbeth has a conscience. Macbeth becomes angry when King Duncan gives his son Malcolm the title of â€Å"Prince of Cumberland† since Macbeth wants the crown. He wants to be the king after the king’s death. Macbeth’s conscience unravels when he says: â€Å"The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step on which I must fall down or else o’erleap, for in my way it lies. S tars, hide your fires; let not light see my black and deep desires. The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be which the eye fears, when it is done, to see† (1.4.29). This is a confession of his desires. He wants to kill the King to satisfy his ambition, but Malcolm is in his way. He must fall down on that step or jump over it (Malcolm), for it is in his way. Till now, no plan to kill Duncan is contrived! It is still in Macbeth’s own mind. He sends his wife a letter about the witches in which Macbeth writes, â€Å"This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou might’st not lose the dues of rejoicing, by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee. Lay it to thy heart, and Farewell.† (1.5.31). Between the lines of his letter we see how Macbeth offers his wife the title of a ‘Queen’. Therefore, she will help him to become a king. Lady Macbeth loves her husband. She wants him to be the king, to get the c rown which he deserves. In the same time, she knows he is too kind and he does not have the evil in him to kill the king. She is a mere woman and she knows he will not listen to her, but she will argue him. She has a lack of conscience when she calls on spirits â€Å"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the top-full of direst cruelty† (1.5.38–41). She begged the spirits to unsex her, undo her, and let all the symbols of womanhood disappear. She wants to be cruel to help her Lady Macbeth Essay Lady Macbeth Essay Also I get the picture that nothing will stop Lady Macbeth since she dreams of being Queen and she will achieve it. When Macbeth returns from battle she’s all over him, and telling him what she wants to do, telling us the audience that she’s in control over her Macbeth relationship. Once King Duncan arrives for his visit Lady Macbeth turns into the perfect hostess she’s polite courteous and completely different to how we saw her previous telling us she can change her personality easily. In these scenes Duncan calls her ‘fair and noble hostess’ where as the scene before Lady Macbeth has been plotting to kill Duncan. In Act 1 Scene 7 we get to see Lady Macbeth in control, determined and I wondered did the evil sprits really turn her? This particular scene I remember when I saw the video of Macbeth because it showed her bossy point demanding, evil al the things a women shouldn’t be. Lady Macbeth says in this scene to Macbeth ‘was the hope drunk’ exclaiming you made me a promise how dare you change your mine, ‘art thou afeard’ meaning you coward your afraid showing that she isn’t he’s weak. Also Lady Macbeth says something which leaves a question in my mind did she have a young child and it past a way or not? She says she’s given suck and she plucked her nipple from his boneless gums. Then she carries on persuading Macbeth until she gets what she wants mc to say he’ll kill King Duncan so she can get her dream. Lady Macbeth next appears in Act 2 Scene 3 when Macbeth enters with two ‘bloody daggers’ after killing King Duncan, suddenly for a second but I noticed it on the video she got sacred which was showed when she spoke in short sentences then suddenly Lady Macbeth is in charge again ‘give me the daggers’ imposing if your scared I’ll do it. Then in the video we see her bossing him around like he was a child. I found this scene particularly interesting to watch because it per traded each Lady Macbeth in to two ways in power and a scared and it was acted well so you could feel the tension there must have been between them at this moment. In Act 3 Scene 3 King Duncan’s body is discovered. We discover not only is Lady Macbeth evil and persuasive she’s a good liar and actress too. She shows as this with the surprise tone of him being found in ‘what our house?’ ‘Help me hence’ then follows by fainting, but I wonder was this on purpose or did she really faint which I’m not sure of and the video didn’t tell me that either. When we next see Lady Macbeth in Act 3 Scene 3 she has her dream she’s queen but she doesn’t seem happy. She seems distraught scared and anxious, but never less she covers for her husband when he has his visions of Banquo and uses her skills of a liar to cover the real reason of why Macbeth is saying Banquo is there but isn’t. The next scene we see Lady Macbeth in is the most dramatic and when I saw it on the video it looked weird, the tensions was and Lady Macbeth looked a mess. Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking she’s having a nightmare of the night king Duncan was killed. ‘Yes here’s a spot’ which is indicating to the blood on her hands from the daggers and she said this a few times more ‘the thane of fife had a wife. Where is she now?’ saying Macbeth killed the Macduffs, there gone. ‘Here the smell of blood still’ which shows in her eyes she will never be free of what she had done which in the video shows her scr ubbing and scrubbing her hands. Finally Lady Macbeth kills her self by jumping off her balcony showing how distraught she really was. In Act 5 Scene 9 Lady Macbeth is called a ‘fiend-like queen’ but is she really deep down I think Lady Macbeth was a kind gentle person but had a ambition and would do anything to make it happen a it had consciences because it cost her her life and made her unhappy for her last months alive and this was shown in the video by how she looked and the acts she put on. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on Lady Macbeth topics from our professional custom writing company which provides students with high-quality custom written papers at an affordable cost.