Lady Macbeth or Lady Macdeath!
Joanna Ramirez
Who Really is To Blame?
Without a doubt Lady Macbeth was not the best person in Macbeth's life. For, she pushed him into killing King Duncan, while he even wanted to back out himself. When Lady Macbeth heard about the witches and their prophecies, all she could think was about how she wanted Macbeth to "Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear. And chastise with the valor of my tongue, All that impedes thee from the golden round," (Act 1 Scene 5) Lady saw Macbeth as a man who could not uphold himself to do men work. She thought he was too nice of a man to do anything about getting the title of being king. She knew he wanted it, but would be too afraid to go after it. Macbeth would not step up on his own, to get closer to being king so she had to guide him with aggressiveness. As the day Macbeth was honored turned into night, Lady Macbeth thought, "he is about it. The doors are open....I have drugged their possests" (Act 2 Scene 2). Lady Macbeth knew that at that time, Macbeth should have already been killing the king. She had drugged the servant's drinks so much there was no way to tell whether they were alive or not. Lady knew that the time was perfect since there were no obstacles getting in the way of their horrific act. It is no secret Macbeth immediately regretted what he did to King Duncan, but to make it even worse all Lady Macbeth could say was "Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures....If he do bleed, I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal. For it must seem their guilt" (Act 2 Scene 2). Macbeth came to her to seek help with his unforgivable action and all she could do was attack him with words. Attacking him by telling him he was a coward, how she could do it herself, and how she could easily make it look like the servants did it, while Macbeth was just struggling with his own emotions. Macbeth did not want to kill King Duncan, but as the love of his life was putting him down for not standing up and being a man, he had to show it to her and himself that he was capable of ungodly acts, and he was capable of not being a nice person.
Foreshadowing
While Macbeth did not really think he was going to be king, until the other prophecies coming true, which the witches predicted. The witches would come and go saying things unclear, so he did not want to believe them, up until things started changing, and the witches came back with Apparitions. The first apparition told, "Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff. Beware the thane of Fife" (Act 4 Scene 1). The apparition was not going to come out and tell Macbeth that Macduff was going to kill him, but instead Macbeth was warned, hoping he would listen. Macbeth had been fearing Macduff, so with the witches and apparition advice, he felt a little better. Macbeth did not think about it too much because he assumed that he could not be hurt by a womans creation.
Imagery
The night of the killing was a chaotic night for everyone, in a way. Though many people had no idea what was going on, the people inside the house still managed to feel uneasy. After waking, Lennox his experience to words and said, "Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say, Lamentings heard i' th' air, strange screams of death , And prophesying with accents terrible of dire combustion and confused events New hatched with woeful time. The obscure bird clamored the livelong night. Some say the earth was feverous and did snake" (Act 2 Scene 3). Lennox was describing how his night felt. In his room he could hear not only the wind, but people and owls. In a way they all tied together with the actions of the night. The wind was obviously controlled by no one, but the people screams would lead to the multiple deaths that happened that night.
Analogy
With Lady Macbeth always putting Macbeth down, he constantly felt some sort of pressure on him. She manipulated Macbeth to do things for him, having him think it was so he could grow as a person. One night during one of their talks Lady Macbeth said that Macbeth was to, "live like a coward...like the poor cat i' th' adage?" (Act 1 Scene 7). She was saying Macbeth would be like an old cat, scared to take chances because they're too afraid of the outcome, or circumstances. Macbeth felt like he was worthless after Lady Macbeth said this, so he had to do what he had to do in order to have her think of him as the powerful, manly-man she wanted him to be.
Macbeth, Change for Bad
Macbeth was a loyal, brave warrior. Up until he learned about how his life was going to change. Macbeth thought it was all going to be for the better, but taking in what the witches said, there would always be a consequence to come with all the good that came as well. He could not have been happier about it til Lady Macbeth made him feel like he would never live up to the other Kings. Macbeth was going to be king, but he was not planning to take a life to make it happen. As Lady wanted Macbeth to become more powerful and do things for his own, he always thought about it twice and would say, "We'd jump the to life to come. But in these cases we still have judgement here, that we but teach bloody instructions...return to plague th' inventor" (Act 1 Scene 7). He knew the act Lady was driving for was unforgivable. Lady Macbeth wanted him to take control of things, but Macbeth was not up for it at the start. Macbeth was a good guy, in my opinion, and should have just waited to see how things wold work out on their own. There would have no harm done to anyone, and he would see if the witches prophecies were true in a healthy way. Macbeth ends up doing what Lady Macbeth suggested since the beginning to show her what a man he could be. Just for her, and for their future. When he met up with his lady, he clearly stated, "I'll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on't again I dare not" (Act 2 Scene 2). Macbeth could not believe what he did. He regretted it, and he did not want to live with the guilt that formed the moment it was done. There was no stopping anything now, the murder was done and Macbeth would have to live with it. It was his fault he let his wife persuade him to do it. He would just have to deal with it for the rest of his life. Though he seemed like a coward, he did not keep any of his emotions about the murder inside while around Lady Macbeth. Macbeth later grew out of those feelings. He was so close to being king all because he stopped being a nice, half-man that would never be able to be a real king, like Lady Macbeth said, and took a stand for his goals. As more good came Macbeth thought, "From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand....To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done" (Act 4 Scene 1). Since killing King Duncan had a better outcome than expected, Macbeth had a new mindset to things. He was not going to second guess himself. He was going to start to do things for him and only him. No matter what the consequence would be, he could not live to be nice to everyone, and not get what he wanted. Macbeth went from a loyal warrior to a backstabbing "Hero." People would say he was a hero because he stepped up for King Duncan, in the towns' time of need, but he all he was, was an over-ambitious selfish person by the end of the book.
Eye for an Eye (1996) Official Trailer # 1 - Sally Field
Macbeth For An Eye?
In the movie, Eye For An Eye, Karen McCann, is resembling Lady Macbeth. In the movie, Karen's Daughter is killed and she wants to get revenge with the guy who killed her. She takes things into her own hands because no one will, and she wants to even kill the man herself. Though Lady Macbeth does not want to get revenge on anyone, and no one close to her gets killed, she ends up taking things into her own hands. While Macbeth is calmly thinking about the prophecies, Lady Macbeth is planning a murder. In the movie, Karen is doing everything on her own with the police and with the criminal, while her husband just wants her to calm down with what she is doing.