Lady Macbeth is a fiend or a tragic figure Essay

The definition of a fiend is ‘an evil spirit’ or ‘a very wicked or cruel person’. This word conjures up many images in my mind, very much like the definition of what a fiend is. Notions of a person with no conscience or mercy enter my mind. What enters your mind when this word is implemented could change your views entirely. The first time we meet Lady Macbeth is when she is reading aloud a letter received from Macbeth. As soon as she has finished reading the letter, her thoughts immediately turn to the murder of Duncan. There is no hesitation, she has decided that she will do everything she can to make sure Macbeth becomes king. â€Å"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promis’d†. Lady Macbeth knows her husband has the ambition needed to commit treason, but is concerned he hasn’t got the evil in him to correspond with this aspiration. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s minds immediately consider the possibility of taking the king’s life when they are informed of the witches prophecies. Macbeth says â€Å"my thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical†, which is implying that in his head, are visions of murder, but he does not yet know whether this will be carried out. Lady Macbeth, in contrast, believes whole-heartedly that this unlawful killing will take place. Lady Macbeth is power hungry, and she shows no deliberation over what might go amiss, or the consequences of her actions. Lady Macbeth’s considerations may well be all because she cares about Macbeth, and wants to provide him with what he lacks, ‘the illness’ that should accompany such ambition, so that he can fulfil his true potential. Lady Macbeth, immediately as she hears of Duncan’s arrival, calls on the supernatural force’s to remove all that makes her a woman, so she can perform the slaughter of the king. At this point I perceive Lady Macbeth as calling on the spirits to help her resort to evil, because she does not possess it naturally. However, some people’s views may differ to mine, and they could take the opinion that Lady Macbeth must not be a loving person to invite the spirits in, and question what kind of a woman would want her femininity eradicated, so that she could, in fact, become evil. She believes she can contend with the intrusion of unearthly spirits into her mind and soul, and the suppression of her femininity. The use of her language in this scene is dark and disturbing, ‘unsex me here’ and ‘take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.’ At this point Shakespeare wants to make connections with hell, ‘dunnest smoke of hell’, this is all very mysterious and threatening. It is very hard to feel sympathy for her here, even though she isn’t involving herself for her own gain, and what happens to her later is all as a consequence of her devotion to Macbeth, and the fact that she did everything she could to make him exercise his full potential. The fact that she wants him to fulfil his potential is revealed throughout the play, for example, when she asks him if he is ‘afeard to be’ what in fact he would like to be. Tragic figures usually have a flaw in their character. I think Lady Macbeth’s flaw is that she didn’t have the evil in her in the first place, therefore she had to call on the spirits. Calling on the spirits was a significant error of judgement, and the outcome of this was the ending of Lady Macbeth’s life. When Lady Macbeth first greets Macbeth, she greets him with the titles the witches prophecies presented him with. This could be Shakespeare’s way of demonstrating that Lady Macbeth is in the same league as the supernatural forces that predicted the campaign for supremacy that follows. There are also other relations that Shakespeare makes between Lady Macbeth and the supernatural, these happen throughout the play, but are more subtle. He is always using the language of Lady Macbeth and distributing dark language throughout it. For example, ‘devil’, ‘hell’, ‘murdering’ and ‘blood’. Once Macbeth has informed his ‘dearest love’ of Duncan’s arrival, she swiftly launches into her plan of action, â€Å"O never shall sun that morrow see!† Lady Macbeth seizes the moment and takes control of the situation. She advises Macbeth to â€Å"bear welcome† in his eye, and â€Å"look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under ‘t.† This is something which Lady Macbeth frequently has to do, and later seems to come easily, for instance, when she speaks to Duncan. It doesn’t seem to come as easily to Macbeth, he finds it hard to stop his emotions displaying themselves through his actions and speech. Even though plotting to murder the king is very much a shared project, Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind the murder. Although, Lady Macbeth does not envisage there being any other murders. Here, I am unsure as to whether she wants to kill the king for Macbeth’s advantage, therefore being a selfless person and wanting to bring the best out of Macbeth. If not, did she do it all for her own benefit, so that she could have more control? Because, of course, she already has control over Macbeth, hence her reasons for being power hungry, once you have control, greediness sets in, and you yearn for more. She instructs Macbeth to â€Å"leave all the rest† to her, which again shows that she is dominant. The reason Lady Macbeth would be power hungry is because she has no power of her own, the only route to gaining authority for her is through her husband, Macbeth. Women in Shakespeare’s time didn’t have any individual power, they weren’t thought of as equals, and most didn’t learn how to read and write. Women had absolutely no rights. Therefore it makes sense for Lady Macbeth to want Macbeth to become king, as then she can gain supremacy too. She can make it seem to her husband, that she’s making an effort to help him develop his aspiration so that he can be better. When in fact, she is also driving him on for her own benefit. The â€Å"innocent flower† image is certainly portrayed in the way Lady Macbeth speaks to Duncan. They are very courteous towards each other, which is ironic, because of the horrendousness of what ensues. Lady Macbeth is at this point, a fiend in every way. She is planning to commit the grisly murder of the monarch of her country; yet, in greeting him she is well-mannered and gracious. If Duncan was addressing me as a â€Å"fair and noble hostess† and I was plotting his demise, this would make me feel a considerable amount of guilt. The fact that we see none of this influences me towards assuming the title â€Å"fiend† is one which is appropriate in this scene. Macbeth makes a decision, that going ahead with â€Å"th’ assassination† of the king would be a regretful deed. There are many reasons for his choice, he is afraid of going to hell and also Duncan is a wonderful king, people would miss him. Macbeth would like to be king, and wouldn’t mind murdering if there were no further consequences. Macbeth is not one to be easily deceived; he knows murder would entail many other things, for example, lies, deceit. He is not prepared to carry out his scheme. He admits he has no ‘spur’, and directly afterwards, enters Lady Macbeth, she is the spur that he is lacking, which is why Macbeth changes his mind, he now possesses the spur that he needed. Lady Macbeth makes him think he actually wants to be a murderer. She accuses him of not being a man, instead a â€Å"coward†, which to an individual which at one time was referred to as â€Å"brave†, â€Å"valiant† and â€Å"hardy†, could be deeply insulting. Macbeth could have dismissed what she said, if he had enough courage and control over himself. The fact he does not do this, shows Lady Macbeth as being in absolute control of him, and also an enormously influential part of Macbeth’s thinking, or it could show that Macbeth did want to go through with the murder after all, as he barely required much persuasion. She points out that Macbeth has already promised to undertake the elimination of Duncan, and that when he did this, neither time or place was appropriate, but he was going to find a way. Now though, time and place is appropriate, but he is afraid, therefore no longer a man. Lady Macbeth uses the brutal image of their lost baby to persuade Macbeth. This is an immensely important part of the play to me, as it may give a method to Lady Macbeth’s madness. Is the reason she has her sights set on murder to get justice for her dead child? Is she so consumed with burning rage, she believes another death will soothe her suffering? This makes me pity her greatly, she’s suffered so severely! However, my sympathy weakens as soon as she uses the image of the baby they were so obviously so passionate about as a tactic to manipulate Macbeth into performing a horrifying murder, of the worst kind. She knows this will weaken Macbeth’s resolve and paints a very graphic, violent picture of what she would have gone through with, if she had promised to do so. † I would, while it was smiling in my face, have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.† Lady Macbeth interrupts Macbeth a lot and is dismissive towards his opinions. This demonstrates how Lady Macbeth is a fiend, she does not want to listen to his points of view or arguments, she is determined the murder will go ahead. She divulges her very detailed and well thought out plan to Macbeth. A detailed plot is more likely to have impact, as it gives the impression nothing can go wrong. Lady Macbeth disregards the consequences, shows no mercy for her king and is in relentless pursuit of power and authority. When Lady Macbeth talks about what has made her become bold, this also proves the point that she has not got the full evil in herself, as the alcohol she’s consumed has stimulated her further to commit the crime. When Lady Macbeth couldn’t kill Duncan we see a glimpse of humanity, she did it because she genuinely felt she couldn’t bring herself to murder someone who so closely resembled her father. If this was the case, it proves that Lady Macbeth isn’t as cold and hard-hearted as she is primarily portrayed. We know this is her mind, as she speaks alone. Macbeth regrets the murder immediately; he is distraught that he could not say ‘amen’. ‘I am afraid to think what I have done’. He cannot go back and face what he’s done; he’s so racked with guilt. Lady Macbeth on the other hand has to be strong, Macbeth has brought the murder weapons back, Lady Macbeth has to return them, and does it with no mercy for the king, she has not thought of the consequences yet, but this will come later. Lady Macbeth tries to downplay the murder that has so recently been committed, ‘consider it not so deeply. I think inside she is considering it, and this point is proved by her actions later on in the play, where she recounts the murder, replaying the conversations between her and her husband. ‘A little water clears us of this deed’ is crucial, and again shows that Lady Macbeth thinks her mind can be freed from what they’ve just done by washing their hands. She reiterates this so many times in her actions later on in the play, which shows that even though she was acting as though it wasn’t relevant, and didn’t affect her, in actual fact, the truth is that it did have an emotional impact. ‘These deeds must not be thought after these ways; so it will make us mad’, which is extremely ironic in view of the insanity that later follows. Lady Macbeth is the iron fist and icon of authority for Macbeth, but as he ceases to confide in Lady Macbeth, she loses control more and more. The first time we see evidence of this is when she has to be carried out, after Macbeth has murdered the guards; this is the first time we sense they are growing apart. There are many reasons she could have fainted, she could be shocked, as Macbeth has acted without her. Originally, Lady Macbeth had to use all of her influential powers, including brutal analogies of their deceased baby to persuade Macbeth to commit murder. Now however, he commits murder without even discussing it with Lady Macbeth, and it was worryingly easy for him. She thought that the murder of Duncan would be the end of killing, and she was not prepared for another instance of death, and she thought they were in it together. This is where we begin to commiserate with Lady Macbeth. A tragic character does acquire sympathy from the audience, a fiendish villain does not. Therefore Shakespeare’s intending the audience to perceive her as a tragedy. ‘Noughts had, all’s spent, where our desire is got without content: tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy’. Lady Macbeth is feeling remorseful, they have not gained anything, but lost everything, they are living in an insecure pleasure. She is doubting that what they’ve done was the right thing to do, but reveals none of this to her husband. Instead she asks him why he is keeping things from her, ‘why do you keep alone’, and why he is contemplating thoughts which she says should have died with Duncan. This is the beginning of the separation of the two characters, who were previously so united in their marriage. Macbeth doesn’t tell his wife that he plans to kill Banquo, even though she asks ‘what’s to be done?’ ‘Be innocent of the knowledge dearest chuck’, gives an insight into the way that Macbeth thinks of his wife, he believes her to be untarnished, and is stil l considering her feelings. The defining scene in the separation of Macbeth and his ‘fiend-like queen’ is the banquet scene. Lady Macbeth is behaving as the gracious, well mannered hostess, giving a respectable speech to her fellow nobles. This again portrays the ‘innocent flower’ image, but I am not sure that her ‘serpent’ exists now at all. I say this because she has no intentions of killing anyone, therefore she has the right to be polite and play the role of the humble host. However, she is keeping up the pretence that Macbeth is acting normally, and that his ‘fit is momentary’. She encourages her guests to ignore Macbeth, but I imagine that she is finding it hard enough to do for herself. She again insults him, ‘quite unmann’d in folly?’ She is trying to control him in the way she did before the murder, but it’s not having the same effect. This time it is different because she can’t understand what her husband is seeing, as she isn’t going through it with him. She nonetheless covers for him when his ‘fit’ returns. This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth is devoted to her husband incessantly. It doesn’t matter for her whether he returns this devotion or not. Macbeth is the reason she stays strong, therefore when he begins to desert her, she doesn’t have a reason anymore, so this could be a cause for her ‘infected mind’ later on in the play. She is beginning to lose understanding of Macbeth, and tells him he lacks ‘the season of all natures, sleep.’ This is a very significant line, as it is again ironic because the next time we see Lady Macbeth, she’s the one that is having trouble sleeping. This is not the first time Shakespeare has made Lady Macbeth foresee the future, without realising. I think he may be continuing to do this so that it is connecting Lady Macbeth with the supernatural. Lady Macbeth has invited the supernatural in, so this could also be Shakespeare’s way of emp hasizing this fact. When Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk, this is a true insight into her mind. We are finally seeing her true colours, and the gradual disintegration of her mind, mentality and soul is brought to a head. Her command is that she has light by her all the time, realistically, is this the demand of a fiend? Lady Macbeth finally realises the consequences of her behaviour, and is racked with guilt. I think this scene is all about revealing the true character of Lady Macbeth, and exposing the vulnerability of this individual, who at one time showed such strength, or did she? In Polanski’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is shown naked, which reveals her defencelessness perfectly. She’s looking for a way to free herself of the guilt she’s been carrying for so long. Somehow though, I think she knows this can never be achieved, ‘will these hands ne’er be clean?’ Some people could argue that Lady Macbeth is looking for redemption, which I whole-heartedly believe, however, they would probably also make the point that her misconduct has been too much to expect salvation. I don’t think that she’s asking for too much to be able to try and redeem herself though, a truly evil person surely wouldn’t want to escape guilt, as there would be none. The thought of evil, which Lady Macbeth once sought after and accepted, is now haunting her in her troublesome sleep. It proves she expected murder to end after they had killed Duncan, ‘the Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now?’ She shows remorse, and tries to cleanse her hands of the corrupted stains of murder, but she knows that ‘all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ Some could maintain that Lady Macbeth deserves to be destroyed by evil, as she encouraged the spirits to enter her. Lady Macbeth’s conscience appears in private, whereas Macbeth’s emerges at a public banquet. This expresses the roles of men and women in Shakespeare’s day. Lady Macbeth returns to the times when her and Macbeth were closest, planning the murder together, and recounts conversations had. She is desperately trying to cling on to the person who she is so devoted to, but who has now abandoned her in his relentless pursuit for dominance. This factor points to her being a tragic figure, as we see her becoming increasingly isolated, and feel a heightening sense of pity for her. This scene marks the realisation of Lady Macbeth’s unavoidable descent to madness. I think death is welcomed by Lady Macbeth, as she knows she can never escape this swirl of grief and incessant guilt. In conclusion, Lady Macbeth’s character gradually degenerates through a false portrayal of unyielding strength, a shifting involvement with supernatural powers and gradual separation from her former life. Lady Macbeth invited evil into her life, which resulted in her being overpowered by the ‘spirits.’ There are two arguments as to whether Lady Macbeth is a fiend or a tragic figure. In my opinion, Lady Macbeth can sometimes appear as a fiend, but the overall view I have of her is as of a tragic figure, who in the end is so guilt-ridden that she takes her own life. She dominated the murder of Duncan, regarded her husband as someone she could manipulate, then when he isolated her, lost all sense of being and ended her life. She was selfish in the way that she wanted the murder to go ahead so that she could gain power, and calls on evil to support her, as she doesn’t contain it within herself. Some people might then argue that if she invited them in, she certainly deserves the dissolution of her mentality. I don’t think Lady Macbeth was aware of what the evil spirits would do to her. However, even if she was aware, would she still have called on them? I think not, but some could claim that she is so heartless she would have. Lady Macbeth never worries about the consequences until afterwards. Then it is too late for her to stop what she started. Lady Macbeth maintains human emotion throughout the whole play, for example, where she cannot kill the king because of his resemblance to her father. She is selfless in the way that everything she did, taking the daggers back, hatching the plan etc, was for Macbeth. She was totally devoted to him, even though he deserts her, when she needs him most. It is no coincidence that as soon as we sense the Macbeth’s growing apart, Lady Macbeth’s madness sets in. All in all, I don’t think Lady Macbeth deserves what she gets. Macbeth committed further crimes, yet he only showed initial guilt, but once he is past that, he becomes an unstoppable brute. She is a loyal, devoted character who is so isolated that she sees no way out. There is so much pressure, the murders of Banquo and Lady Macduff’s family return to haunt her conscience, even though she played no part in them. She is even feeling guilt for her husband’s murders, surely not a fiend-like quality? All of the pressure mounts up and she sees no means of regaining her life, and therefore decides to end her existence. She didn’t do it because she was weak, she did it because she was guilty and repentant.