Before Macbeth had visions of ghosts, now his wife, Lady
Macbeth, is having visions and is sleep walking. While sleeping she is doing
the action of washing and cleaning her hands from the blood of Duncan’s. She
says, “Yet here’s a spot. Out, damned spot; out, I say; One, two – why, then ’tis
time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need
we fear who knows it when none can call our power to account? Yet who would
have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (5.1 27-34). Even
the doctor says that Lady Macbeth is not sick but has visions and that she must
cure herself. “No so sick, my lord, As she is troubled with thick-coming
fancies That keep her from rest.” (5.3 39-41). Later on in Act 5.5, we hear
Lady Macbeth cry out and then that she has died. Macbeth say, “She would
certainly have died someday; she should have died at another, more peaceful
time”. He is saying that he knew she was going to die eventually, but he would
rather have her died when he wasn’t going to war with England. At first we see
Lady Macbeth’s thirst for power rise while her husband just sits back and
watch. However as the play progresses, Macbeth gets the thirst for hunger and
Lady Macbeth takes the back seat. The only thing that they have in common is
the visions that they get. Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, while Lady Macbeth
sees Duncan’s blood on her hands that she can’t seem to wash away. Throughout
this play, it doesn’t seem like Macbeth loves his wife or that Lady Macbeth
loves her husband. The only thing on their mind is power, but in the end it
turns out that everything they tried to earn has gone down the drain. Lady
Macbeth is killed because of her delusions and Macbeth is killed because he
went to war with England.
While Lady Macbeth is in the process of dying, Macbeth is
preparing for the war against England. When talking to the doctor about Lady
Macbeth’s condition, he just asks him to find some solution to cure her, but he
doesn’t go and tend to her needs and help her. However, Lady Macbeth wasn’t
helpful towards Macbeth either because when he was having his visions she just played
it off has a childhood problem so that their guest wouldn’t get suspicious and
wouldn’t stop supporting him. I believe that they both got what they deserved
when they were seeing things. If Macbeth didn’t take it into his own hands to
fulfill the prophecy, then he wouldn’t need to kill Duncan and then eventually
have himself killed.
4 comments:
I really liked your comment "At first we see Lady Macbeth’s thirst for power rise while her husband just sits back and watch. However as the play progresses, Macbeth gets the thirst for hunger and Lady Macbeth takes the back seat." I definitely agree. Lady Macbeth was the one to insist on the first of many murders/attempted murders. It did not take long for Macbeth to be influenced by her desire to gain more power. In the first act, I really thought the play would revolve around how relentless Lady Macbeth was and how loyal and caring Macbeth was. I was clearly wrong. However, I do think both of their nightmares and visions express that they are feeling very guilty about all the horrible things they have done.
I enjoyed reading your post, as I also found this role reversal between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth fascinating. It was rather unexpected when Lady Macbeth began to suffer with her guilt. This dramatically altered my opinion of her entire character. I like how you mentioned that you did not think Lady Macbeth and Macbeth actually loved each other. While reading, I tried in vain to find support for any signs of romantic love between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. I think the absence of this romance makes these characters all the more pitiful to the 21st century readership.
I found your post to be very interesting. I also noticed the lack of a relationship between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. It seemed as if the only time that they showed any amount of emotion was when either of them would discuss their want for power. I thought this was illustrated especially when looking at Macbeth’s reaction to his wife’s death. It does not seem as if he is very much affected by her death at all. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth only further emphasizes both of their obsessions for power and their disregard for others in the process.
One thing your post makes me think, Malissa, is about the different expectations we bring to the representation of a marriage in our world. We expect a husband and wife to be in love (at least most of the time!). The glue that brings Lady Macbeth and her husband together, as you point out, is power--but that might not be so different from other marriages (especially of people in the upper class) during Shakespeare's time. I wonder how it changes the play if we see their relationship in terms of love or sexual attraction.
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