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Macbeth Character Profile: Lady Macbeth (Evil (Not evil by nature (Would…
Macbeth Character Profile: Lady Macbeth
Has an ambitious nature
Response to Macbeth's letter
Utterly driven and totally ruthless
Persuades Macbeth to murder Duncan after his decision to "
proceed no further in this business"
She appears to be without feeling or conscience
Fears Macbeth lacks ruthless streak necessary to become king "
Thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it"
Determined to remove every obstacle that stands between Macbeth and the crown to help him achieve his desires "
too full o' the milk of human kindness"
Macbeth's descriptions of his wife "
dearest partner of greatness"
Indicates his awareness of her ambitious nature
He thinks his wife should only "
bring forth men-children"
due to her typically masculine quality of ruthless ambition
Evil
Appeals to the forces of evil to "
unsex"
her and fill her full of "
direst cruelty"
Uses language of the witches making her appear no less evil than them
Wants to deny her womanly nature so such typically email qualities as gentleness and compassion do not prevent her from murder
Not evil by nature
Would not need to pray to be made cruel
Not entirely without humanity
she wants "
thick night"
to prevent her form seeing the wound that her "
keen knife"
makes
Patently the dominant partner in build up to murder of Duncan
Devises ad unimaginative plan to make scapegoats of Duncan's guards
Tells Macbeth "
Put this nigh 's great business into my dispatch"
showing her ruthless ambition
While Macbeth is full of doubt and hesitation before the murder of Duncan Lady macbeth acts as a foil
She remains coldly focused on the task in hand
Lacks any semblance of her husband's humanity or sensitivity
Unscrupulously uses every means at her disposal to persuade Macbeth who decides to "proceed no further in this business"*
Questions his courage "
Art thou afeard?"
Emotionally blackmails him using a truly nightmarish image describing how she'd sooner smash the head of the child she was feeding than break her word to him
Her intervention influences macbeth to carry out this "
terrible feat"
Not without humanity
Drinks alcohol to give her false courage "
That which hath mad them drunk made me bold"
Cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping king because of his resemblance to her own father "
Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it"
Strong Character
After Duncan's murder
Remains calm and composed in comparison to Macbeth who is close to a total mental and emotional collapse
Warns Macbeth that they must not think of what they done because "
it will make us mad"
which conveys her humanity
Has an unnatural casual observation that
"A little water clears us of this deed"
when Macbeth panics about the blood stains left on his hands
Conveys extraordinary strength in returning to Duncan's chamber wit the murder weapons
Banquet scene
Quick thinking of dismissing the lords before Macbeth hysterically incriminates himself
Becomes a peripheral figure
Realisation that the acquisition of the crown and her ambition brings her no contentment "
Nought's had, all's spent where our desire appears to be"
Portrays that she is not the monster she appears to be
Loses her sanity and is unable to live with the feelings of guilt
Takes her own life because she is not fundamentally evil
Represses her normal human feelings for the duration of the murder and its immediate aftermath, her mind is eventually overwhelmed
Unable to live with the "
rooted sorrow"
Haunted by the sight of blood on her hands "
.. all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand"
Contrast to her reaction to Macbeth's blood stained hands
Relives the horror and trauma of al the murders in her sleepwalking "
Yet who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?"