Preview

Macbeth Essay

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1673 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Macbeth Essay
Rebecca Barra
English 11U
M. Kevin Léveillé
November 19th 2012
Macbeth Essay: A relationship or not? A relationship can properly be defined as “The way in which two or more concepts, objects or people are connected or the state of being connected.” A relationship between two people can sometimes evolve into the opposite of what it was when it had originally sparked between two people. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the relationship between the husband and wife of the story starts off strong, but through a series of unfortunate events it evolves into nothing. The two characters are parallel to each other, always working side by side but never working together. In the early stages of the play Macbeth is the feminine role of the relationship whereas Lady Macbeth is much more masculine. But as the play comes to a close the roles have switched, Macbeth is finally taking on his role of the male and Lady Macbeth takes her place as the female. The murder of King Duncan is the trigger to the relationship’s evolution; we see how they each are before the murder, during the murder and after the murder. The once strong relationship between Macbeth and his wife has now turned into nothing. Throughout the time period of the play, we get to see the evolution of the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. When first being introduced to Macbeth’s character he is kind hearted, which causes his relationship with his wife to be very different from how most relationships are foreseen in this time. During the Elizabethan era Woman did not have a lot of say or input into relationships with their husbands, as they are seen as below men. Macbeth refuses to follow this trend by having a very different relationship with his wife. When Macbeth receives his first predictions from the witches the first thing he does is sends a letter to his wife to inform her on what is going on and what is foreseen for his future. “First Witch: All hair, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!/

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    At the beginning of the play MacBeth is respected, a good husband, and a loyal subject to the king. Lady MacBeth causes him to commit an evil deed and kills the king. He then becomes paranoid. He believes killing Banquo and MacDuff’s family shows his idea of him being manly. His degeneration or loss of function caused problems in his marriage. At first they have respect for each other. After killing Duncan, his wife becomes less and less important to him. He then leaves her out of the plan to kill Banquo and MacDuff’s family. MacBeth lets witches take the place of his wife, and he allows his evil nature to take control of him. He then turned into a totally evil inhumane person with his actions.…

    • 139 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth, the play written by William Shakespeare in 1606, shows us the relationship that exists between the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and how it creates most of the actions, reactions, moods, feelings and attitudes. Both love each other and that deserves any sacrifice. At the beginning of the play, they are very close and this is shown when he calls her, "my dearest partner of greatness." He clearly demonstrates being open with his wife. Afterwards, they seem more and more distant, each into his/her private world.…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In ‘Macbeth’ we first know of the matrimonial relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth when Macbeth is talking to Duncan and accepts to be the harbinger and writes a letter to inform his wife of the King’s visit to Macbeth’s castle, Inverness. Macbeth then writes a letter to Lady Macbeth, to whom he refers her as his ‘dearest partner of greatness’. Macbeth also calls his wife ‘dearest chuck.’ This shows that Macbeth loves his wife and thinks of her as a good person. This is ironic as later on in the scene, we find out that Lady Macbeth is not a good lady nut she is evil and wants to become more evil.…

    • 1938 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Essay

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Macbeth was a tragic hero who made a Faustian pact with the devil due to his pride and ambition which led to his destruction.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Essay

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “It is neither the wickedness of the witches nor the urging of Lady Macbeth that finally ruins Macbeth. His basic weakness leads him astray.”…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay i will be analyzing how the relationship between the main character Macbeth and his wife Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s famous play ‘Macbeth’ deteriorates throughout the play. At the beginning of the play we see a strong chain holding both partners together, they are both equal partners which was very unusual at the time, notwithstanding their relationship deteriorates so much. I will focus on their love, the turning point and downfall of their relationship.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Act 1 Analysis

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In act 1 scene 7, Lady Macbeth taunts Macbeth into murdering Duncan: ‘was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?’ line 35-36. Lady Macbeth seems to have control over Macbeth. They are still wife and husband but Lady Macbeth is in charge. Later on, in Act 5 scene 5, after hearing the news of his wife’s death, he replies ‘ she should have died hereafter’ line 18. This line suggests that he isn’t very saddened about her death possibly meaning that their relationship was…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lady Macbeth Quotes

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the beginning of, Macbeth, the Macbeths cared for each other. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both were secure with their relationship and each other. They also trusted one another very much. “Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor! Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter! This ignorant present, and I feel now the future is the instant” (Lady Macbeth Act 1, Scene 5, Line 53-58). This quote is showing how excited Lady Macbeth was to see her husband and if she only cared for herself she would not be excited to see him. Towards the end of the play their caring for each other starts to unravel and crumble but any relationship put under the pressure of murder and scandal will start to fall apart and become more distant than it was before.…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a very strong relationship but this later deteriorates. Act 1 Scene 5 is a key scene which shows just how close Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were at the beginning of the play ;it shows their original relationship. Macbeth has written a letter to Lady Macbeth telling her of everything and in this letter states “my dearest partner” which shows that she helped him and they are in it together. . The following speech where Lady Macbeth doubts that he can get to the title of King "he is too full of the…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Essay

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Macbeth, there are constant battles throughout the plot that can be identified with the main conflict. These battles surround our protagonist Macbeth as his life turns upside-down in disorder. These battles started when he chose to act quickly on the prophecy that he would become king. After the gruesome murder of King Duncan, his destiny then lied with the choices he made then after. Little did he know that his actions would lead him, and the world around him to madness as the very balance of the universe was disordered. The Chain of Being was constantly being challenged resulting in chaos because of Macbeth’s lust for superior power as well as the struggle to restore balance back to the universe.…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, explores an abundant of encounters to the rigid gender representation demonstrated in the play. The play revolves around the questioning of femininity and masculinity, allowing us to explore how certain characters equivocate the definition of gender to please their favour and how each gender identities are created for persuasion of the natural order that corresponds to the traditional order - Lady Macbeth and Macbeth exploit and redefine gender ideology, an unbalance is created when Lady Macbeth is displayed as the dominant character of the relationship, during the Jacobean era it is believed that it is proper to remain in your respected gender role and not to over rule your husband otherwise there would be consequences.…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    she is showing a lack of faith in Macbeth who is carrying out the attempt;…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth S Crimes

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeths relationship is strong and see each other as partners of ‘greatness’. Though after reading the letter from her husband, she says “Yet do I fear thy nature, It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way” which shows that…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Was Lady Macbeth 'Evil'?

    • 2952 Words
    • 12 Pages

    The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is paramount to the understanding of a major theme of this play. At first it would appear to be an equal partnership. However, I believe Lady Macbeth was the dominant of the two character; she could have persuaded Macbeth to do anything if she so wished. And though she does not openly exercise her power over him in public, in private she often uses humiliation and emotional bribery to manipulate Macbeth to execute her will.…

    • 2952 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Role Reversal in Macbeth

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At the beginning of Macbeth, Macbeth writes a letter to his wife telling her of his encounter with the three witches. Lady Macbeth’s comments reveal one aspect of their relationship: “Yet I do fear thy nature. It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.” (1.5.25-27) Macbeth and Lady Macbeth clearly have an intimate relationship. Macbeth even calls his wife his “partner in greatness,” (1.5.11) meaning that not only is she special to Macbeth but they might have a shared ambition. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both have ambition which affects their relationship. Macbeth is ambitious, but only to the point where he struggles with the question of killing King Duncan. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand is truly ambitious and almost Machiavellian. She influences Macbeth and is the one who comes up with the plan to murder King Duncan and she even later wishes to be “unsexed” and would even have “plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out.” (1.7.57-58) There may not be an exact role reversal as Macbeth is still the one who murders King Duncan. However at the beginning at least, it does seem that Lady Macbeth is the one who is more willing to kill. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth do have a special relationship where one needs the other. However, their relationship might not be a loving one, as it is understood today.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics