To What Extent Do You Feel Sympathy for Lady Macbeth?
To what extent do you feel sympathy for Lady Macbeth? Refer to at least two scenes from the play in your answer.
In the play “The Tragedy of Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare, we see a very complex character which is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth's character throughout the play changes as she experiences the misfortunes that are brought to Macbeth and herself. This essay will explore how we as an audience feel sympathy for Lady Macbeth throughout the play, and how this feeling changes as we watch Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth is first presented in the play when she receives a letter from her husband explaining that the weird sisters have prophesised his future as king. When she learns that King Duncan will be staying as their guest overnight in their castle at Inverness, she plans a regicide to secure Macbeth's place on the throne. However, Macbeth being "too full o' the milk of human kindness" to attempt such a thing, she plans out the murder and convinces Macbeth to follow through by belittling his manhood.
At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is conveyed to the audience as a supremely confident, dominant character. She is extremely determined to fulfil the fate of Macbeth prophesied by the Weird Sisters. This is shown by her soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5:
“The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.”
Ravens are a symbol of ill-omen, and associated with death. Lady Macbeth has already made up her mind to kill Duncan, and Shakespeare uses the raven to explain the dark determination of her thoughts. Also, Lady Macbeth calls the castle “her battlements”, almost as if she is the master of the castle instead of Macbeth. “...Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood...”
Already this early into the play, Lady Macbeth is calling to the demon spirits. She is very superstitious and the references to spirits may
In the play “The Tragedy of Macbeth” written by William Shakespeare, we see a very complex character which is Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth's character throughout the play changes as she experiences the misfortunes that are brought to Macbeth and herself. This essay will explore how we as an audience feel sympathy for Lady Macbeth throughout the play, and how this feeling changes as we watch Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth is first presented in the play when she receives a letter from her husband explaining that the weird sisters have prophesised his future as king. When she learns that King Duncan will be staying as their guest overnight in their castle at Inverness, she plans a regicide to secure Macbeth's place on the throne. However, Macbeth being "too full o' the milk of human kindness" to attempt such a thing, she plans out the murder and convinces Macbeth to follow through by belittling his manhood.
At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is conveyed to the audience as a supremely confident, dominant character. She is extremely determined to fulfil the fate of Macbeth prophesied by the Weird Sisters. This is shown by her soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5:
“The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.”
Ravens are a symbol of ill-omen, and associated with death. Lady Macbeth has already made up her mind to kill Duncan, and Shakespeare uses the raven to explain the dark determination of her thoughts. Also, Lady Macbeth calls the castle “her battlements”, almost as if she is the master of the castle instead of Macbeth. “...Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here And fill me from the crown to the toe topfull
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood...”
Already this early into the play, Lady Macbeth is calling to the demon spirits. She is very superstitious and the references to spirits may