Friday, October 25, 2019
Shakespeares Macbeth - The Two Sided Lady Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework
The Two Sided Lady Macbeth            One of the main characters in the Shakespearean play Macbeth, is the wife of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a very two sided character in this play. She consistently acts differently when she is with her husband than she does when she is not. There are various examples of this exhibitied in the play.            One of the most notable examples of this is contained in Act I Scene v when Lady Macbeth reads the letter written to her by Macbeth. Shortly after reading it, she makes the comment that she feels Macbeth is too kind to murder Duncan and that he will need her help, strength, and willpower to commit it. However, after she hears that Macbeth is returning home, she calls upon evil spirits and other demonic entities to give her some aid. She does this because she realizes that she doesn’t have the strength of will to persuade Macbeth into murdering Duncan after all. Then, when Macbeth arrived, just after she finished praying for help, she acts as if she has a heart of stone and that Macbeth is not a man if he is afraid of killing Duncan. This is a prime example of her deception towards him, and how she acts differently when she is alone than when she is around him.            Another example of her being two sided is the role she talks about playing in Duncan’s death, and the role that she actually does play in it. There are a few times in the play, mostly when she is attempting to persuade Macbeth into committing the murder, that she says he should just leave the murder to her. Throughout the play she gradually decreases her role in the murder until it becomes Macbeth’s job to kill Duncan, not hers. This is another very large trick on her part, but one that Macbeth also fails to see;  Whether it is because he chooses not to, or because he is too naive to realize it.            The last noteworthy example of her inconsistency occurs between Act I Scene vii and Act II Scene ii. In Act I Scene vii she severely scolds Macbeth for having second thoughts about committing the murder. She tries to get rid of his rational thoughts by saying that he must not really love her if he can change his mind on the murder, which she says he promised her he would do.
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