Macbeth, fiend?

A detailed Summary of Macbeth, fiend?

"This dead like butcher and his fiend like queen" is this a fair description of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth?

Malcolm made the remark "This dead like butcher and his fiend like queen," when he was crowned as the king of Scotland, after Macbeth's reign of terror. It becomes questionable upon the fairness of this justification, whether or not Macbeth was really a "butcher" and whether or not Lady Macbeth was a "fiend." In some ways, Macbeth would have fit the description of being a "butcher," after all, he had taken the lives of many people, some of them were even close associates of Macbeth. He assassinated Duncan, the king, in order to gain the throne, as he says, "I have done the deed"

He also murdered Banquo, who was his best friend, due to two different reasons. The first is the witches' prophecies, which predicted that Banquo's son is to become king, and secondly, there is a sense that Banquo has his suspicions on the assassinator of the king. Acting under the name of fear, he slaughtered Lady Macduff and her son, due to the prophecies made by the witches, "Beware the thane of Fife"

Macbeth only resolved himself into a far more stereotypical villain when he felt that he had gone to far, as he says, "I am in blood steppe

Many evidence suggests that she is a good actress, in a sense that she able to act as the consummate hostess, enticing the king into her castle. When she faints immediately after the murder of Duncan, the audience is left wondering whether this too, is a perfect act, or her feminine instinct coming out at last.

Lady Macbeth is portrayed as the woman, even to an extent the reason of Macbeth's downfall. Had she not encouraged Macbeth to assassinate the king for her ambition to be queen, maybe Macbeth wouldn't have met his downfall. She could also be portrayed as evil, after all she did accuse her husband of being a coward, encouraging him to "screw your courage to the sticking place" and perhaps, to an extent, insulting Macbeth's manhood, despite all the bravery that Macbeth had previously shown in the battle field, which made him to be described as a brave warrior.

And it was only due to the encouragement from Lady Macbeth, did Macbeth find the courage to commit the regicide. Even at the peak time of his tyrannical reign on the country, he was still worried about the late prophecies of the witches, and, perhaps, to an extent he acted under the prophecies of the witches, the murder of Lady Macduff is a strong evidence of Macbeth acting out of his fear that the prophecies of the witches were to come true.

It also becomes arguable whether her speech, "Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" Is due to her lacking of humanity, as mentioned above, or the fact that she was just a woman, who didn't have the power to do what she had done in the end. This piece of evidence is based upon the fact that she couldn't commit the murder herself, as she says "Had he (Duncan) not resembled my father as he slept, I had done 't" If she was really ambitious to become queen, and if she were really evil, she would have found the courage to do the deed, overcoming every possible barrier.

Lady Macbeth may be described as a fiend by Malcolm, and may have been a fiend to an extent, that she manipulated her husband into doing the things Macbeth has done, which may have been against Macbeth's will. She also accused her husband on being a coward, showing that she could fit the description as a fiend. However, she is not what we would call as purely evil, or lacking humanity, because she, is after all, a woman, whose instinct still remains with her, despite what she had done. She was also washed over by guilt, and became mentally deranged, even before Macbeth.

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Approximate Word count = 1715
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English