Is this an accurate assessment of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? Essay

In retrospect Macbeth does non embody the traits of a just nowcher at the produce of the shrink from but the chain of events he and his married woman set in motion, changes him into a remorseless killer. A butcher by trade kills for necessity, portrays no remorse or conscience and is pitiless.However, Macbeth is persuaded by his selfish, ambitious wife to fulfill these terrible deeds against his moral standards. Once Macbeth crosses the moral boundary of fetching manyones life, he loses all sense of right and wrong. A domino effect is created whereby the loss of one life automatically leads on to mass murder in that he tries to eliminate all contenders to the tail i.e. the slaughter of the poverty-strickens (Macduffs wife and children).During the course of the play, Macbeth and his wife have a role reversal-she develops a conscience after her initial lust for bloodline and descends into madness whereupon she kills herself. She is no longer the fiend-like queen, but a pathe tic beast full of delusions (Out, damned spot) who al about demands pity from the onlooker. Macbeth however, has taken resume control of the situation and cannot step back now that he has deceased so far. chick Macbeths statement,Whats done cannot be undone, is countenance here. Consequently, Macduffs quotation, This dead butcher and fiend-like queen, is not wholly true.Upon listening of the witches prophecies, Lady Macbeth instantly conspires to speed up events so that Macbeth becomes king quickly. She believes that she is hie up fate, but all she is in fact doing is playing place the prophecy exactly. He lacks the necessary ruthlessness that accompanies ambition- Thou wouldst be great, nontextual matter not without ambition, but withoutThe illness should attend itbut she can come forth that for him. She is fiend-like in the way she manipulates her husband, a shrew brow-beating him into these acts. He is merely her instrument carrying through her plans. At the moment, she is the power behind the throne. At face value, she is egging on her husband for what looks to be his own gains, but it is her ambition to be the most powerful woman in Scotland. She is furthering her own ambitious plans perhaps absentminded to rule the country through Macbeth. It is ironic when she says,Look like the innocent flowerBut be the serpent undert,as she herself is the serpent, the brains behind the plan. He slavishly does her bidding despite having some misgivings, We ordain proceed no further in this business. She undermines his human beings using it as a weapon against him,When you durst do it, then you were a manAnd, to be much than what you were, you wouldBe so much more the man.She adopts the masculine characteristics of courage, strength and determination and encourages him to proceed with the actions. She bolsters his frail ego. Although he has polish off many people in battle, he is known to be a loyal servant and is afraid of being branded a traitor. He rec ognises Duncans valued opinion of him,He hath honoured me of late,but with his wifes repeated charges of being thought a coward he, like a hen-pecked husband, agrees to her plan.It is really after Banquos murder that his mental frailty is displayed. His visions of the mutilate corpse, that are besides visible to him, unhinge him, but he shows lore in recognising that his murderous behaviour is out of the norm for him when he states,My impertinent and self-abuseIs the initiate fear that wants hard useWe are but but young in deed.He views himself as an amateur, but believes that with more murderous experiences the terrible visions will disappear. This is the crucial point at which the led becomes the leader. Macbeth now takes control of his own destiny while Lady Macbeth becomes the dependent casualty. From this realisation, Lady Macbeth assumes a lesser role in the play and fades into the background. Her rampant ambition and calculated plans have brought her no lasting joyousnes s or pleasure. Although she has achieved her dreams of being queen, her mental state is now of a excruciate soul she suffers from insomnia, is haunted by ghastly visions of the dead, performs an obsessional washing of hands,What, will these hands neer be clean?and suicidal thoughts look out over her existence. It is here that she loses the tag of fiend-like queen and becomes more human in her softness to cope with what she has seen. Although she put in motion the sequence of events, she is now inefficient to cope with the consequences. The once proud, domineering woman has become a tushher spectral appearances in a nightgown carrying a candle show her changed into a waif like creature inhabiting the darker recesses of a turbulent mind. Its difficult not to feel some sympathy for her slumbery inflammation. This is no fiend but a troubled soul whose only hope of peace is death.While neither character is portrayed in an attractive light, Shakespeare graphically shows a descent in to insanity and the ultimate tragical end in the quest for power. Against ones better nature, a degree of empathy for Macbeth and his wife emerges so that the label butcher and fiend-like queen does not seem appropriate at the conclusion of the play.