Is Lady Macbeth the Real Driving Force Behind the Murder of Duncan? Essay Example
Macbeth was written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. This great tragedy belongs to the period of Great Tragedies and Bitter Comedies, 1601-1607. This is a period of gloom and depression and it marks the full maturity of his powers. His dramatic power, his intellectual power and his power of expression are at their highest. In this period, he wrote his supreme masterpieces. His attention is, however, occupied exclusively with the darker side of human experience. The sins and weaknesses of man form the theme of his plays. From the beginning of the play, Macbeth appears as a good and loyal soldier, but his overriding ambition and the motivation of the three witches and mainly his wife lead him to lose love, friendship, respect and eventually he pays with his own life. In my opinion, Lady Macbeth is the real and main driving force behind the murder of Duncan and I can see that very clearly throughout the play. In Scene 5 of Act 1, " Macbeth: My dearest love, Duncan comes here tonight. Lady Macbeth: And when goes hence? Macbeth: Tomorrow, as he purposes. Lady Macbeth: O! never Shall sun that tomorrow see! Your face, my Thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time, bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't. He that's coming Must be provided for; and you shall put This night's great business into my dispatch; Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom." In this dialogue, Lady Macbeth tells her husband, Macbeth, that King Duncan will not be able to see and live the next day because she will devise a plan to kill him. She also asks Macbeth to look like the innocent flower, but to be like the snake that hides underneath the flower. In addition, she asks her husband to leave everything to her. In scene 7 of Act I, Macbeth in a soliloquy mentions that Duncan has been