Characteristics of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Essay

I am writing about the play called Macbeth. Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare based on the lines of a true story, about Macbeth changing his whole personality throughout the play. He has many obstacles on his way up, from being king. Lady Macbeth, started in the play, very brave cunning and immoral, and felt that Macbeth was too moral and good-willed. She forced him to do many things in order for him to gain the title in the throne. As she helped him however, she became very self-conscious and ended up killing herself through guilt. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth was brave and loyal to king Duncan, and Duncan thought greatly of him. Duncan quoted â€Å"Brave Macbeth- well he deserves that name† in; act 1 scene 2. He also quoted â€Å"The service and the loyalty I owe, / in doing it, pays itself†. In act 1 scene 3. In these quotations, it shows that Macbeth is known as brave- even others think he is. He does not expect to be paid; he only does things for loyalty. This shows that he is moral, and is polite to everyone and is popular and liked by pretty much everyone around him. However, Lady Macbeth feels he is too nice for his own good. Macbeth had strong moral values, and never agreed to murder someone in order to get himself a claim in the throne. Lady Macbeth quoted â€Å"do I fear thy nature, it is too full o’th’milk of human kindness†, in act 1 scene 5. This is showing that Macbeths own wife thinks he is too kind to do anything evil- the milk represents that he is natural and pure of heart, whereas Lady Macbeth is not, she is evil. At the end of the play, Macbeth seems brave, but too brave, almost insanely brave. Lady Macbeth does end up persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan, which turns Macbeth evil, and makes his own plans on killing other people, in order to make him self the highest and the place on the throne. Macbeth says â€Å"I have almost forgotten the taste of fears† in act 5 scene 5. This shows him to be over confident and does not fear anything. The witches’ predictions, which appeared at the beginning of the play, and gave, correct predictions every time, said that Macbeth cannot be killed by any man born of woman and when Burnham wood comes to his castle. This makes him feel that he cannot be defeated. His wife, Lady Macbeth, commits suicide as she became so full of guilt, but when he found out, he seemed that he doesn’t seem to care much about lady Macbeth as he says † She should have died hereafter†¦life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage† in act 5 scene 5. This seems to indicate that he does not care about anyone besides himself, and that he is selfish. He compares life to being in a theatre, he doesn’t think he is going to die, he’s like the actor, and thinks he knows exactly what is going to happen next. However, Macbeth is very wrong, as he comes face to face with reality, as Macduff and his army come to Macbeth’s castle, and Macbeth is told that Macduff is not born from woman, but he was a caesarean. Macbeth then becomes slightly worried. Macbeth still puts on a strong hard battle, but Macduff defeats him. Lady Macbeth At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth was a lot stronger and evil than Macbeth. She was more like the man of them both, and she always tried to make Macbeth stronger. She said to Macbeth â€Å"Unsex me here/ and fill me from the crown to the toe top full/ of direst cruelty†. Here, she I trying to say, make me more manly- she is asking to be filled with cruelty, so she can make Macbeth to have the title of the throne. She is trying to show that she will do anything bad in order to fill her ambitions. She is not maternal. Lady Macbeth was very good at being misleading, as she acted innocent in front of Duncan, but behind his back, she was plotting to get Macbeth to murder him. She says to Macbeth, â€Å"look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent uder’t†. She is saying to be like a deadly flower, looks innocent but will snap at any unpredictable and unexpected moment. The serpent represents evil and temptation; in which, Macbeth has to have. After Macbeth and herself finally murdered Duncan, she begins to feel very guilty and insecure. She had many nightmares of when she murdered Duncan. One night when she started sleep walking, in act 5 scene 1 she said † what will the hands ne’er be clean?†, she is still left with the stains of her actions. This shows her feminine side breaking through. She was being constantly reminded of when her hands were covered in blood; her dreams are showing her that she does not have a clean conscience. Lady Macbeth becomes very ill, and emotionally mental. She has many more nightmares, which shows a shadow of her old self. She quoted in one of her nightmares, â€Å"Old damned spot†¦Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeared†. She is here, cursing the blood; she now has anxiety over everything. She spoke in short sentences, showing her being not at all confident, creating a tense atmosphere. The use of repetition in questions to her husband when she slept talked showed her anxiety. Throughout the whole of this play, the two characters seemed to have almost switched placed. Macbeth grew courageous and confident after killing Duncan and felt he was undefeatable, while Lady Macbeth became disillusioned and emotionally mental, after her first murder encounter. Macbeth became too full of him self and felt he was â€Å"immortal†. The play created very tense and frightening atmospheres and had a strong storyline, which became clearer further on through the play.