Lady Macbeth: Woman With a

Lady Macbeth: Woman With a Mission The power of love takes a new and tragic turn in William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. Lady Macbeth uses the love of her husband to her advantage in the play in order that she may enjoy the fruits of the crown. She is stronger than her husband and is also more capable of turning to evil to get what she wants. Because she knows that Macbeth loves her, she knows that she can get him to do almost anything -- even commit murder.

Lady Macbeth drives Macbeth to commit his crimes through manipulations and love and she is essential to the play because she pushes Macbeth to do the things he does. One of the first scenes we see that demonstrates Lady Macbeth's strong character is when she reads Macbeth's letter. Her reaction to the letter also tells us much about her relationship with her husband.

After she reads his letter, she ralizes that he is too "full o' th' milk of human kindness" (Shakespeare I.v.16) and will probably need to be prodded to be assertive in his quest for the crown. She is fully aware that it is not in his nature to consider anything like murder, so it will be up to her to not only plant the seed but put the plan into action. She is completely wiling to do this because she does not want anything to get in her way.

It should be noted that she does not think her husband is a great man and would make a fantastic king; she is well aware of his ability to be king. What troubles her is his inability to do whatever it takes to get there. After reading the letter, it is as if Lady Macbeth shifts into gear to move forward and take thing into her own hands. She is a smart woman and, to make matters worse for her husband, she is extremely manipulative.

The letter convinces her to assert herself just in case Macbeth fumbles. This scene is powerful because Lady Macbeth is alone with her thoughts and on her own, she begins to devise a plan that puts her closer to the throne. She contemplates the murder of the king and even whispers a little prayer about unsexing herself if that is what it must take to reach the crown. This is significant as well, because it demonstrates that she is willing to change something about herself to reach the crown.

As mentioned before, she is smart and she knows that she has one thing that will allow her to manipulate her husband and that is his love. Regardless of what she thinks and does, she knows that he will love her and this is perhaps the most compelling piece of information of all and she uses it to her every advantage. Lady Macbeth's plan to reach the throne includes the manipulation of her husband.

She is well aware that he loves her, respects her opinion, and wastes no time using this information. The fact that she would manipulate her husband this way is a tragedy because Macbeth cannot see what she is doing to him. She attacks when he conveys a sense of uneasiness in regard to killing Duncan. She states: Art thou afeard To be the same in thine own act and valour As thou art in desire? Wouldst though have that Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life.

And live a coward in thine own esteem. (I.vii.39-43) This is a clear example of how she will do whatever she needs to do to reach the throne even if it means belittling her husband. She knows that he wants to be perceived as a strong man rather than a weakling that is afraid of anything. Later in the play she tells him, "But screw your courage to the sticking-place/And we'll not fail" (I.vii.64-5).

Here she attempts to convince him that the two of them are in this together, even though he will be the one responsible for the actual killing. This allows us to see how she is convincing him to act because he will be doing it for the two of them and they will enjoy the fruits of the kingdom together. It is important that he feel as.