РефератыИностранный языкLaLady Macbeth Is The Real Driving Force

Lady Macbeth Is The Real Driving Force

Behind The Murder Of King Duncan? Essay, Research Paper


In this essay I am to discuss the statement ?Lady Macbeth is the real driving force behind the murder of King Duncan? and decide


whether I believe this viewpoint is correct or whether I believe that there


were other influences on the dagger hand of the Thane of Cawdor. To come to a


decision and accomplish my task, I will be looking at the events leading up to


the murder and the characters involved in the decision to murder Duncan. Also,


I will need to look at the historical and cultural aspects of the play like why


witches were included in the play and also the ways that the play was written


around the true story of King Macbeth of Scotland.We first encounter the character of Lady Macbeth in


Act 1 Scene 5 while she is reading the letter sent to her by Macbeth describing


his first encounter with the three witches. From then on she shows herself to


be ambitious and strong mentally yet weak in her actions (she found herself


unable to kill Duncan herself, and gave the excuse that he looked too much like


her father as he slept). As soon as she reads the letter, she decides that


Macbeth will be the next Scottish King and fulfil the witches prophecy no


matter the method. This proves that Lady Macbeth was a driving force behind Duncan?s murder, but the question remains -


was she the true driving force behind


the event? To answer this question, I need to look at all the influences involved, and to do this I first need to


ask,? ?What is it that started both


Macbeth and Lady Macbeth thinking of kingships and murder?? The answer is the


wyrd sisters of the blasted heath ? the three witches.The witches were used in the play for two main


reasons. First and foremost, they were used as a catalyst to start the chain of


events resulting in Duncan?s murder, the suicide of Lady Macbeth, and the fall


of Dunsinane to the revolutionary forces of MacDuff. Secondly, they were used


as a personification of evil for the audiences. This was a symbolic character


they could relate with, since the play was written especially for King James I


of England, who was also King James VI of Scotland and a staunch believer in


and hater of witchcraft. As the king believed that witches were evil and in


league with the devil, so too did the common people of England. Therefore, they


would quite readily believe that a witch could cast spells, see into the


future, tie wind into three knots, and become your mortal enemy if you refused


to give them food, among other things. The general view of the people was that


witches were the emissaries of the devil, and since at that time, religion


played a major part in the lives of people, these witches were seen as pure


evil. Witches were the most evil things on earth, and these three witches were


no exception to that rule. The witches, through three sentences helped the


imaginations of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to start forming ideas of murder.


These statements took the forms of prophecy ? ? ?All hail Macbeth! hail to


thee, Thane of Glamis!? ?All hail Macbeth! hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!? ?All


hail Macbeth! thou shalt be king hereafter.??. Without these predictions, the


seeds of grim imagination they planted in the minds of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth


would never have taken seed to result in the death of Duncan. There is a chance


that if it wasn?t for these three witches, the Macbeth?s would never have even


contemplated murder. None of the events involving the witches would have


happened though if they had been unable to convince Macbeth of the authenticity


of their statements. To do this they did things like addressing him by name,


although he had never met them before; also, they made him believe the


predictions through the first two statements. The witches? first statement,


??hail to thee, Thane of Glamis? convinced Macbeth that these ?weÏrd sisters? knew


him, and maybe had supernatural powers. The second statement, ??hail to thee,


Thane of Cawdor? convinced Macbeth that the witches could see into the future,


since he himself only found out he was Thane of Cawdor after the witches had


disappeared. These convinced Macbeth that ?they [the witches] have more in them


than mortal knowledge.? The final convincing event came at the witches? exit,


when they ?made themselves air?The witches may have planted the seeds in Macbeth?s


brain, but it was his own ambition that helped these seeds to grow into


thoughts of murder. Macbeth was the first character to think of murder. This is


indicated in his first soliloquy by phrases such as ?why do I yield to that


suggestion, whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart


knock at my ribs, against the use of nature?? and refer to these murderous


thoughts as ?horrible imaginings?. His use of the word ?yield? indicates that


Macbeth does not want to be thinking these treacherous thoughts. Despite his


aspirations and ambitions, he decides against murder, using the line ?if chance


will crown me king, why chance may crown me without a stir?. Macbeth has


decided to leave the future to chance, but his thoughts of murder by this time


have already weakened any resolve he had to stick by this decision. He is left


impressionable, and so to persuade him to do the very thing he decided against


would take less effort than it probably would usually. Macbeth?s deliberation about leaving things to


chance is called into question though in Act 1 Scene 4, in which Duncan


pronounces Malcolm his successor. ?The Prince of Cumberland: that is a step on


which I must fall down, or else o?erleap, for in my way it stands.? Macbeth


says in this quote ?or else o?erleap?, which suggests that he is again thinking


of alternative methods of achieving the kingship. These thoughts could have


come originally from his own ambition, or it could have come from the witches


making him more susceptible to these suggestions. This could be the case because


Macbeth?s first lines ? ?So fair and foul a day I have not seen? emulates the


witches line in Act 1 Scene 1, ?Fair is foul and foul is fair? The character of Macbeth is courageous and a good


general. He has a reputation for being one of the king?s elite soldiers. He


regularly receives praise from everyone, from the captain who acts as a


messenger and describes Macbeth as ?Brave Macbeth ? well he deserves that


name?, up to the Thane of Ross, describing him as ?most worthy Thane?. His


praise even comes from the King himself, calling him ?valiant cousin, worthy


gentleman?. He seems to all intents and purposes as the perfectly loyal


soldier, commanding the kings armies against their enemy, the Norwegians, and


winning. The perfect soldier he seems, yet he has three main downfalls: his


ambition, his imagination, and his love for his wife. These three things


combined made him susceptible to the pressure put on him by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth?s ambition gave him a part of his mind that,


although he was fighting the thought of murder, kept re-suggesting it. No


matter how much the idea repulsed him, this part of him still wanted to be sat


on the Stone of Scone, regardless of the cost to his own morality. His


imagination introduced the concept of murder in the first place, before he even


sent the letter to his wife. His love for his wife is the main downfall though,


since it is his wife who pushes him into the act. She did this by challenging


his masculinity, accusing him of cowardice and saying he has no determination


when Macbeth resolves not to go through with the deed. All the pressure, guilt, and mental and emotional


stress finally get to him just before the murder, making him hallucinate. He


sees a floating dagger leading him towards Duncan?s chamber. ?Is this a dagger I


see before me,? he says, allowing the audience t

o know he is hallucinating. He didn?t find the murder itself easy, since after


he entered, he began having auditory hallucinations. He thought he heard one of


the kings bodyguards say ? ?God bless us? and ?Amen? the other?, yet he found


himself unable to say ?Amen?. This was probably his subconscious mind telling


him that he was going against God; this is because at the time the play was


written, the people believed that the monarch was appointed by God, and so to


go against the monarch was not only to go against God, but disrupt the


cosmological order in the nation. Macbeth was so overcome with guilt after the murder


that he went into shock, unable to go back to the scene of the murder to return


the daggers which he, in a state of horror and repulsion at what he had done,


had forgotten to leave behind. He remarked ?Will all great Neptune?s oceans


wash this blood clean from my hands?? while he tries to wash away the royal


blood. He was racked with guilt about his actions. Looking at Macbeth in this


state, we realise he could never have murdered Duncan on his own, with only his


ambition driving him. Lady Macbeth must have played a part in the outcomes of


that evening.Lady Macbeth knew her husband very well. She


understood his strengths and weaknesses probably better than he did, and this


is why she had so little trouble persuading him to kill Duncan. She knew how to


use these strengths and weaknesses to her own advantage while suggesting murder


to Macbeth. One of Macbeth?s weaknesses would seem to be his pride in his


masculinity, and his inability to back down from a challenge or argument. You


can see how Lady Macbeth exploits this weakness with phrases like ?art thou


afeared to be the same in act and valour as thou art in desire?? and ?would


thou have that which thou esteem?st the ornament of life, and live a coward in


thine own esteem?? These two quotes ask Macbeth if he is afraid to do what he


set out to do, and asking him if he thinks he can achieve the crown without


doing anything to make it come about through his actions; ?like the poor cat


i?th?adage?. This refers to a proverb, or adage, where a cat wants to catch a


fish, but isn?t willing to get his feet wet. Therefore the fish got away from


the cat as the crown would get away from Macbeth.? You can see from Lady Macbeth?s actions that she is pushing


Macbeth towards murder, showing herself to be a driving force. Lady Macbeth is ambitious for her husband. She shows


this by showing no indication of doubt, suspicion, or hesitation in her


reaction to reading of the witches prophecy. She doesn?t just decide that her


husband should become king, but starts believing that he will be king


without any doubt that it will happen. Her one concern is Macbeth?s ability to


fulfil the prophecy, fearing he is 2too full of the milk of human kindness? to


be able to do what it takes to become king. However, she believes she can win


him over with the ?valour of my tongue?, which she eventually does,


re-suggesting murder to her husband, encouraging him, even pressuring him to do


it. Lady Macbeth, for all her faults does have her


feminine qualities. She is a loving wife, caring for the well being of her


husband, and only forcing his hand when she knows he can?t do it himself. She


is described as ?honoured hostess? in Act 1 Scene 7. She could however be doing


exactly as she had said in this scene ? ?look like th?innocent flower, but be


the serpent under?t?, and probably is. She has to force herself to be strong


and ruthless, perhaps too much. While Macbeth is having ?horrible imaginings?


of the future beyond the murder in his soliloquy at the beginning of Act 1


Scene 7, Lady Macbeth forbids herself this. She becomes entirely focused on the


murder, not even contemplating failure. Her absoluteness of purpose, her total


discipline, and her full control of the situation are immaculate. She succeeds


in morally paralysing Macbeth with her willpower. Eventually, her rigid


self-discipline plays a part in her later insanity. Macbeth eventually came to realise the precarious


nature of his position. Lady Macbeth hasn?t done this, for the rigid


self-discipline she has crafted will not allow her. This results in a build up


of gilt, which causes her eventual insanity. She forces herself to be strong and


cruel, but doesn?t accept that the ?sovereign sway of masterdom? she expected


has not materialised. Her character is very strong and, as I have said


before, excelling in self-discipline. Her mentality is stronger than her will


physically. She can persuade Macbeth to murder Duncan in his sleep, but she


cannot do it herself because he ?resembled my father as he slept?. In Act 1


Scene 7, she, while persuading Macbeth to commit the act, outlines her plan,


something which she alone devised. Through doing this, she proves that she has


been thinking about the murder, maybe non-stop, since the characters first


discussion in Act 1 Scene 5. She plans the whole thing out for Macbeth, just


leaving him to do it. She does all the thinking, but she didn?t play a part in


the actual murder, she didn?t help carry the deed out, she just planned it. In


her plan, she outlines ways of diverting the blame from them ? using the guards


daggers, then leaving them with the drugged guards covered with blood. She


tells Macbeth while he is trying to wash the blood from his hands ?a little


water clears us of this deed?. She seems to feel no immediate guilt after the


murder, no remorse, just satisfaction that her husband will be king- that is if


she can keep him from making everyone suspect them. Near the end of the play


however, her guilt catches up with her, and she starts sleepwalking, saying


things like ?who would have thought the old had so much blood in him?,


obviously talking of Duncan. She denies her conscience until she cannot anymore,


then apparently goes mad.One question remains ? Why did Shakespeare use Lady


Macbeth as a cause for the murder of Duncan? To answer this, we need to look at


the history of Scotland.? The real Macbeth was born around 1005, son of the


second daughter of the King, Malcolm II. His wife?s name was Gruoch. Her


brother and her first husband both died at the hands of Malcolm?s followers,


who were headed by the son of Malcolm?s first daughter, the man who became his


successor, King Duncan I of Scotland. Avenging his wife and disputing the


throne, Macbeth, Thane of Cromarty and Moray, brought Duncan?s rule to an


abrupt end: on 14 August 1040, Duncan was mortally wounded in a battle at


Pitgaveny after six years as King. Macbeth reigned for a further seventeen years


before he was killed in a skirmish at Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire. The vengeance of his wife?s brother and first


husband were the reason Macbeth killed Duncan, and it may have been his wife


who persuaded him to take vengeance. Therefore, we can assume that Shakespeare


originally had Lady Macbeth as the real driving force, but added the witches


for the benefit of King James I, and the ambition of Macbeth for the audience


and for the story.Looking at the evidence I have shown in this essay,


I can determine that Lady Macbeth was a major driving force behind the


assassination, but Macbeth?s ambition and the witches prophecies played an


important part in the final outcome. Without the witches? prophetic statements


the chain reaction ending in the death of Duncan may never have started.


Without Macbeth?s ambition, Lady Macbeth may not have been able to persuade


Macbeth to commit murder for a crown. Without Lady Macbeth?s ruthless


determination, Duncan would most probably not have been murdered. I can therefore


determine that Lady Macbeth was a Driving force behind the murder of Duncan,


but she was not the real driving force.

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