Women can be emerged as ambitious and vicious as men, yet social restraints refute them to pursue their ambitions individually. One of the most well-known and startling female characters in Shakespeare’s work is of Lady Macbeth. She has the traits of being grounded, progressively savage, and more aggression than her husband. Moreover, she is quite different from the rest of the female characters in a way that she is momentous for her desires, quality of will, and brutality. This essay shows how Lady Macbeth's strong desire for power as well as dominating others inflames her heart and results in her downfall. The lust for power leads to loss of humanity and self-destruction.
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'Lust for Power: The Silent Killer in Macbeth'
In lust for power, sometimes people have no faithfulness to any cause beyond their ambition; in fact, they are even willing to shed blood to achieve what they want. Lady Macbeth wants her husband to be king because she wants to be a ruler. She appears to recognize the fact completely and realizes that she should get the power only if she pushes Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. In contrast to Macbeth, who is kind, courageous and does not want to put someone to the sword. Lady Macbeth, that's why says, “Yet I do fear thy nature/ it is too full o' the milk of human kindness”. Once, she also wishes that if she were not a woman, she could do it without anyone else's help. She is also involved in supernatural forces for this purpose: “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”. Moreover, what is vibrant to Lady Macbeth's personality is the idea of this connection between sexual orientation and control. Likewise, her husband also says that she is a manly soul who inhabits a female body.
It is possible to exercise power against lawful authority, so lady Macbeth persuades her husband to murder Duncan to obtain kingship. “Thus thou must do/if thou have it, and that which rather thou dost fear to do /Than wishest should be undone”. But Macbeth is not willing to do so, she very cunningly challenges his manliness and meritoriously influences him to kill the ruler at night. “Look like the' innocent flower/But be the serpent under 't”. They execute their plan on chamberlains, first by making them drunk with the objective that they will pass out, and they will accuse them of this murder. Macbeth kills the king ferociously and then tells her wife about this deed. He seems fearful, but Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, remains strong and fearless by enduring perfectly calmness: “My hands are of your color, but I shame/ To wear a heart so white”. She is a character filled with cunningness and dissimulation, tells her husband to leave all the rest to her when he was so scared. She says, “Coward! Give me the daggers”. Power of lust made her so vicious and fearless. Finally, she accused workers of the murder by setting the bloody wicked knife on them. Early the next morning, with the arrival of a Scottish aristocrat, and Macduff, the Thane of Fife, Duncan's body has been found. Duncan's children Malcolm and Donalbain escapes too, fearing that they will also be put to death. Now Macbeth sees the fulfilment of witches' prophesy that he shall be king. Lady Macbeth, using her presence of mind as well as her wickedness, reaches the point where she can see her becoming the queen by shedding blood and killing humanity.
Now due to the venomous desire of lady Macbeth, the additional line of shedding blood also starts. Macbeth is so happy by assuming the position of royalty. Banquo declares this news to the people of Scotland. Moreover, he also recalls the witches' prophesy that his descendants would procure the position of authority; this makes him doubtful of Macbeth. Macbeth feels this and plans to kill him and his son, by hiring some men. He says to them, “He's my enemy too, and I hate him so much/ that every minute he's alive, it eats away at my heart”. These professional killers succeed in killing Banquo but unable to kill his son. Macbeth further orders his servants to seize Macduff's palace and most pitilessly, directs killers to butcher Macduff's wife and children as per his saying “Bad deeds force you to commit more bad deeds”. And this is how Lady Macbeth's thirst for power costs more bloodshed.
After Duncan's murder, we see another side of Lady Macbeth's role. She begins who she is rather than pretending to be someone she is not. Furthermore, she also identifies the error of their actions: “Tis safer to be that which we destroy/Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy”. They have killed Duncan, but the murder only made them wretched. Consequently, savagery and inhumanity lead to guilt, more bloodshed, and nothing else. And Lady Macbeth progresses toward great tormenting that gradually arises from the blame of the wrongdoings she and her husband have committed. Similarly, the heart which is previously filled with lust for power is now charged with guilt. Further, Lady Macbeth starts wailing over the killings of the king Duncan, Lady Macduff, and Banquo while attempting to remove non-existent bloodstains from her hands, discussing and admitting the terrible things, she forced her husband to do in front of the doctor and a lady. She says, “I still have the smell of blood on my hand, All the perfumes of Arabia couldn't make my little hand smell better. Oh, oh, oh!”. Moreover, the stride of events makes her mentally unhinged, a sheer shadow of her former commanding self. Consequently, this guilt takes her life; Lady Macbeth commits suicide.
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The bloodshed again starts and Macduff along with Prince Malcolm military attack Macbeth's power. Macbeth, instead of understanding the fact that he is damned, keeps on battling with the forces of Malcolm. Finally, Macduff slaughters and decapitates him. In addition to this, Macduff carries Macbeth's head, and Malcolm talks about how the order has been re-established in front of the people. Besides, he also decrees his generous expectations for the nation and says “we must bring to justice all the evil ministers of this dead butcher and his demon-like queen, who, rumor has it, committed suicide”. Lady Macbeth; the woman who was very determined and fearless in achieving her ambitions, became the victim of gut-wrenching guilt and accountable for her demise. Her lust for power results in the loss of humanity and self-destruction.
References:
- Analysis Essays. 'Lady Macbeth Character Analysis Essay Example for Students | Artscolumbia'. Artscolumbia, 2019, https://artscolumbia.org/essays/lady-macbeth-character-analysis-essay-78692/.
- Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Floating Press, 2008.
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