CHARACTER TRAITS! :D
1.DOMINANTJ
- Lady Macbeth is seen to have control over her husband. She seems to be dictating to him the plans for murdering King Duncan. When he is back, she tells him how to appear in front of King Duncan. She tells him that he should look like an innocent flower, but be like the snake that hides beneath the flower. She wants to handle all preparations for the night King Duncan is there as she says that that night will change every night and day for the rest of their lives. From this, we can see that lady Macbeth is a very domineering character. She is not a stereo-type woman from the Elizabethan ages. She is just the opposite. Usually, in a relationship, the veto power is the male. However, in this case, Lady Macbeth is seen to be taking the lead in the evil plans of murdering King Duncan. The fact that she wanted to handle all the preparations obviously shows that she is very dominant.
2 .Power hungry/ambitiousJ
- Just after she hears about the news, she starts thinking about how to seize the throne/gain power. She is even willing to go to the extent of calling upon the spirits to make her evil and unremorseful so that she will be able to kill the king without second thoughts. This clearly shows how power hungry she is. Lady Macbeth does not hesitate in committing the extremely committing extremely cruel acts so that she can gain power. To have called on evil spirits proves that she is ready to commit such ghastly acts just for power
Macbeth (hen pack husband) is a tool in the hands of his wife( a power hungry woman)
3. LOVING/DEVOTED WIFE J
“Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be / What thou art promised” In the soliloquy lady Macbeth she wants the crown because the husband wants the crown. She wants the crown for her husband sake than for her own. She is willing to come up and commit cruel acts for the sake of her husband, proving her love for him. By committing she is putting her life on the line
4. UNGRATEFUL+OPPORTUNISTIC J
- 1st pt: - The king bestowed on him the tile of the Thane of Cawdor. Instead of being grateful for the king’s kindness to her husband, she plotted to kill him. She did not take into consideration that the king had been generous to them, right after reading her husband’s letter, she plotted to kill the man who had given her husband another title. This proves that she had no regard for anything that the king was kind enough to give to them
- When the king came to stay with them, she saw this as an opportunity to seize the throne. (person who seize the opportunity when it comes; opportunistic )The king trusted them enough to come and stay with them, instead of appreciating this, lady Macbeth still wanted to murder him.
5. SuperstitiousJ
“Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem”/ “to have thee crown’d withal.”
- She instantly believes that what the witches said was true without even a moment of hesitation. Lady Macbeth shows her belief in the words of the witches by plotting the murder of the king despite the consequences if they were found out. Earlier in the play, Angus had mentioned that the Thane of Cawdor, who was a traitor, was stripped of his positions and executed. So if they were caught killing the king, they would probably face much worse punishments. So for the fact that she plots to do so show that she trusts that the witches’ words will come true and they would succeed in the plan.
6. DETERMINATION + RUTHLESSJ
“that I may pour my spirits into thine ear/and chastise with the valour of my tongue/ all that impedes thee from the golden round “
“make thick my blood”
She knows that her husband is too full of “milk of human kindness” and intends to persuade her husband until he follows her plan to kill the king. She also calls onto the evil spirits to make her cruel and remove her feminine emotions so that she will be able to kill the King. By calling on the evil spirits, she shows that she is willing to go to any lengths to be able to kill the King. She also says that she will try her best to make her husband change his mind. This implies that she is determined not to let anything stand on her was of seizing the throne for her husband.
7. FAST THINKER J
“this night’s great business into my dispatch;”
Her husband arrives only shortly after she gets the message that Duncan was staying at their house, yet, she managed to come up with a plan to kill Duncan. She tells her husband to leave everything to her which implies that she more or less has everything under control. This proves that she is a fast thinker because plotting a murder without getting caught requires a lot thinking but Lady Macbeth was able to come up with a brilliant plan in a short span of time.
Lady Macbeth Character
Act 1 sc 5
| Lady Macbeth is a loving wife |
| - “Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor” - she calls him by his titles the way one would address somebody in a higher post. This illustrates the respect she has for him and that she looks up upon him a “great” man. Macbeth was more than only a husband to her but somebody with worth and value as the word “worthy” is used. - Also she knows that by doing this, she is making her husband happy by boosting his ego - These show that she understands Macbeth greatly and always try to make him happy |
| Lady Macbeth is very determined |
| - In order to convince Macbeth to commit regicide, she intended to “pour her spirits in thine ears” and “chatise with the valour of my tongue” - conveys that she is prepared and willing to use all her powers of persuasion and her steely sense of purpose to get him to commit to the murder. - She is even going to chastise “all that impedes thee from the golden round”. - This shows her determination as she will ensure that nothing would deter Macbeth from achieving his goal and would remove all obstacles to the best of her ability. - Her appeal to the “murth’ring ministers” to “unsex me here” illustrates her determination as she will not allow even her own feminine and human feelings to interfere with the murder. - This shows that whenever Lady Macbeth sets out to do something, she makes sure that it is done to the best of her abilities, and never let anything stand in her way. |
| Lady Macbeth is opportunistic and ungrateful |
| - Once the messenger informs her that “the king comes here to-night”, she immediately made use of the opportunity to put her husband on the throne. - She said that “the raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan”. - The raven symbolises death and its cry is a harbinger of death. - What she says means that she wanted to have Duncan murdered during his stay. - She told Macbeth “o, never shall sun that morrow see!” which means she intended to kill Duncan and Duncan will not be awake to see tomorrow. - She did not hesitate or think for some time but instead decided on the plan immediately once hearing of Duncan staying over as she thought that it was the perfect opportunity to strike. - This shows that she is opportunistic as she makes use of any opportunity she has without hesitating. |
| Lady Macbeth is cunning and deceitful |
| - This is shown when she tells Macbeth that he must appear “like th’ innocent flower” but “be the serpent under’t”, suggesting to her husband to act like a welcoming host so that no one will suspect he is plotting murder. - Moreover, as Macbeth is looking troubled, she tells him to “look up clear” as she felt that “people will be able to read it like a book.” - Lady Macbeth was afraid that his troubled expression would arouse suspicion. - This displays the scheming character of lady Macbeth as she thinks of ways and techniques to deceive people mainly using one’s looks. - She tells to her husband to hide his true feelings and tries to act like a hypocrite. - Lady Macbeth is sharp enough to know that facial expression and body language can betray one’s thoughts to others. Thus, lady Macbeth is devious. |
| Lady Macbeth appears ruthless and evil |
| - The fact that Lady Macbeth thinks of murder to get the crown although kingship was “promised” Macbeth shows that she is very ruthless. - The punishment for killing a king is very great and Lady Macbeth decided on doing so without even thinking twice. - Lady Macbeth willingly associates herself with evil in invoking invokes evil spirits to “unsex her” and fill her with “direst cruelty”. - This means that she is appealing to the evil spirits to get rid of her feminine emotions so that it will not make her hesitate to kill Duncan. - She also invokes “thick night” to hide the murder so that her “keen knife sees not the wound it makes” and even heaven cannot prevent it. - However, she is doing this out of the great love for her husband and she obviously fear that she might not be able to carry out the murder with the help of the murder. Thus, lady Macbeth not completely ruthless and evil by nature. |
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment