Saturday, August 23, 2014

What could be a thesis statement about Lady Macbeth's character changing over time?

Lady Macbeth is ruthless and power-hungry, but by the end of the play, her guilty conscience has ruined her mind and made her feel that her life is not worth living.  


She told her husband, immediately after Duncan's murder, that they should not dwell on what they had done or else it would "make [them] mad"; clearly she did not take her own advice because she has essentially gone mad, imagining that she cannot wash Duncan's blood off her hands.  Further, she had said then that "a little water clears us of this deed," and it was Macbeth who feared that there was so much blood on his hands that it would turn the ocean red.  By the end, however, it is Lady Macbeth who feels that not even "all the perfumes of Arabia" could get the scent of blood off her hands.  


Moreover, Macbeth was initially afraid that he would never be able to sleep peacefully because he murdered Duncan while he was sleeping.  However, it seems that it is Lady Macbeth whose sleep is fitful as a result of her guilt.  She seems to feel guilty for creating a monster: she only wanted Macbeth to kill Duncan; then Macbeth arranged for the murder of Banquo and attempted murder of Fleance without consulting her, and now she cries, "The Thane of Fife had a wife.  Where is she now?"  Her husband ordered the murder of this poor woman and her children all because he was angry at her husband.  This doesn't seem to sit well with Lady Macbeth.  Finally, we never see the Macbeths together after the banquet scene and the only other time she appears on stage is during the sleepwalking scene, and this seems to confirm the distance that has grown between she and her husband and their priorities.  Her eventual suicide confirms how guilt-ridden she is.

No comments:

Post a Comment

What are hearing tests?

Indications and Procedures Hearing tests are done to establish the presence, type, and sever...