Macbeth 4

A detailed Summary of Macbeth 4

In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Lady Macbeth is a woman driven by love and ambition. In the beginning, she appears to be very tough; yet, she weakens, as Macbeth grows fouler in his deeds. Lady Macbeth is able to spurn her husband on his evil pursuit of becoming king, but she cannot handle the human feelings of guilt are remorse that go along with this act.

It is because of Lady Macbeth's sly urgings that Macbeth acts on his evil desires and kills King Duncan. She becomes impatient when her husband cannot carry out the end of the murder plan. When Macbeth returns to his chamber after killing Duncan and Lady Macbeth learns that he did not carry out the end of the plan, the reader sees a moment of panic in Lady Macbeth. She quickly regains her composure, though, and decides that she must complete the plan herself. She says to Macbeth, "Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures." (II,ii,67-70) At this point in the novel, Lady Macbeth is portrayed as strong, determined, and maybe even heartless. However, with a more in depth look at the situation, it can also be said that she if full of love for her husband. One could say that Lady Macbeth was a devoted wife, and out of love, sh

e wanted to help Macbeth become the king. She shows care and compassion when Macbeth returns to the bedchamber after killing the king. He is stunned by the act that he has committed and Lady Macbeth, with the tenderness of a mother, calms her husband. Therefore, right from the start we see that Lady Macbeth has more than one face, and we learn in the play, which one will prevail.

Love and ambition can only drive a person so far. Love may be blind, but its actions cannot remain unexposed forever. There are forces greater than love that worked on Lady Macbeth. Guilt, virtue, morals, honesty, and regret countered her love and ambition. Though her love makes her strong, she is constantly being eaten at by all these other emotions. It is like letting a nest of termites loose on the stilts that support a beachouse. The stilts may appear strong, and may continue to appear so as they are being eaten. Then one day, there will no longer be enough support and the house will fall. Unless, some sees the problem and faces it, the house will continue to get weaker and weaker. Lady Macbeth could not do it, and she took the coward's way, right to the end.

Until Act V we see a strong woman, who, although she occasionally falters, seems to be coping alright with the normal feelings of guilt and remorse that would go along with her actions. However, we make a startling discovery in Act V. Lady Macbeth is torn by her feelings of guilt and this has caused her to sleep walk. She scolded Macbeth for almost giving away their secret, but unknowingly, she is putting it on display for all to see. Lady Macbeth took all of her feelings on the situation and buried them deep. She hides them from the world, and from herself. She tried to pretend that the feelings were not there, and her sleepwalking was a way of releasing these stored emotions. We see here that Lady Macbeth is weakening, she is feeling the strain of what she has done. We see evidence of her remorse in her

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Approximate Word count = 1341
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels