FREE ESSAY ON MACBETH AND LADY MACBETH

MACBETH AND LADY MACBETH

Thesis Page
We realize that having the power to make conscience descions results in a responsibility
for our descions. Their responsibility may manifest as guilt or happiness.
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Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's Consciousness
Humans have free will, and this free will give us the right to choose between good and
evil. In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth and his wife plot the murder of King
Duncan, so that they can become rulers over Scotland. We realize that having the power to
make conscience descions results in a responsibility for our descions. These
responsibilities may manifest as guilt or happiness.
Macbeth is at first a man with a clear conscience until he is corrupted by his wife. Lady
Macbeth is hungry for power so she presses Macbeth to kill Duncan as quickly as possible.
The visions Macbeth sees before entering Duncan's chamber dwell entirely on the
circumstances of horror and fear. Macbeth knows concisously that killing Duncan is wrong.
Yet he also knows that to be king he has to kill Duncan. After the murders we realize
that Macbeth has guilt, and pity for the murder that he just committed because he replies
to Lady Macbeth To know my deed, 'twere best not know myself.(II.ii.72)
Macbeths' tragedy can be paralleled to those tragedies of the present day. Just as
Macbeth goes from fear, to guilt, and to finally his conscience destroying him. It also
holds true for the murderer Susan Smith. Both murderers know conscientiously that the
murders that they commit are wrong, they both feel guilt, and there both destroyed by the
descions that they made.
Macbeths' conscience has the power to destroy his conscience
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when he commits the murder. As Joseph suggests When the murder of Duncan is committed
from an immediate Consciousness of the Fact, his Ambition is ingulph'd at that Instant,
by the Horror of the Deed...(42). Macbeth's disordered senses deceive him and his
debilitated spirits fail him. He listens when nothing stirs and he mistakes the sounds he
does hear. He is so confused, and can not distinguish when the knocking proceeds.
Whence is that knocking?
How is't with me when every noise 
appalls me?
What hands are here?
Ha!
They pluck out mine eyes!
Will all great Neptune's ocean
wash this blood
Clean from my hand...?(II.ii.56-60)
After he commits the terrible deed, he shows Lady Macbeth his hands covered with blood.
Lady Macbeth fears nothing at this point. She is eager that the deed Macbeth committed is
fulfilled. She feels that the blood on Macbeth's hands can be cleared by the purity of
water. . ..a little water clears us of this deed...(II.ii.64). Lady Macbeth comforts
Macbeth. Her planning and plotting work accordingly as she assumed it would. She tells
Macbeth that soon they will be the King and Queen of Scotland.
Macbeths' evil conscience takes over him in such a great extent that he plans for the
murder of Banquo, Fleance, and Macduffs' family. Even thought these murders are not
committed 
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by the hands of Macbeth. They are committed at the hands of Macbeth. Macbeth hires two
murderers to commit these acts of violence. After the murder of Banquo and Macduff's
family Macbeth then returns to the three weird sisters. These three witches give him
three new prophecies. 1.) ... Beware Macduff(IV.i.71)! 2.) ... the pow'r of man for none
of woman born shall harm Macbeth(IV.i.81-82). 3.) ...Macbeth shall never vanquished until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall comes against him(IV.i.92-94). Bradley
asserts that
While the influences of the witches'
prophecies on Macbeth if very great, it is
quite clearly shown to be an influence and nothing
more.(172)
What leads in the downfall of the hero is really his half conscience guilt, of the three
withces. Macbeth listens to the prophecies, thinking nothing will happen to him or his
wife. He feels that he will remain safely the King of Scotland, but he must murder to
retain power and the Thanes do not remain loyal, nor can his own wife live with things as
they are.
Lady Macbeth becomes mad and crazy. She fantasizes in her sleep of having blood on her
hands. This derived from her earlier certainty that she and her husband needed no more
than a little water to clear them of this deed. As Joseph said She had found that they
have been involved in ever-increasing murder, 4
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accompanied by hatred and distrust, her conscience has asserted itself, terrifying her
with physical images(219-220) Lady Macbeth lacks the ultimate hardness of a heart
necessary to survive the torture of her conscience, so she commits suicide.
Macbeths' next mission is to kill Macduff. If he kills Macduff he will then remain safely
the king of Scotland. Macbeths' prophecies soon end up in total disaster. He finds out 
that Macduff was not born by a woman. Macduff's mother had a cesarian section. Yet, he
does not fear for his life. Then he sees Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinae Hill come
against his. His second prophecy fails him. Thus, Macbeth fights Macduff, but Macbeth is
defeated. Macduff chops the head of Macbeth, and places it on top of his sword as a sign
of victory. Scotland then crowns Malcom King of Scotland.
We as human beings, have freedom of speech and freedom of choice we have the choice of
picking form right and wrong. We also realize that extreme guilty has the power to
disturb the conscience enough to destroy a person. Macbeth and Susan Smith, both have the
power to commit murders, but both are defeated at the end by society's need for right.
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Works Cited
Abridged from Lecture IX, Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley.
Reprinted by permissions of St. Martins Pres. Inc.,
Macmillian and Co., Ltd. and Macmillian London and 
Basingstoke.
Bradley discusses several topics on Macbeth, in which he discusses such things as the
withces, Macbeth the character. Bradely also talks about destiny and how Macbeth lead his
own tumbbling wall to death. That no responsiblity was to be given on his death but he
himself. Bradley also compares and contrast Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Joseph, Bertram. A Shakespeare Workbook. New York: Theatre
Arts Books, 1980. 219-220.
In this book Bertram Joseph discusses several topics on Shakespeare. Particular work
interests were on belief of what was true and what was not. Concerning Macbeth, and the
three witches. Joseph explains what the main downfall of the hero was and that he was not
really a killer but a person who had been fooled.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Eds. Sylvan
Barnet, et al. New York: New American Library, 1963.
Excellent novel written by William Shakespeare, of a love story about power and controll.
His writting is well ahead of his time. Analogies, and other examples he uses to show
emotion which seems only new to us.