How Does Lady Macbeth Change Throughout The Play

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In William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, Shakespeare tells the unforgettable story of greed, agony, mistrust and betrayal. Macbeth's power hungry wife, Lady Macbeth, is not portrayed as a stereotypical woman. In fact, she considers herself more of a man than Macbeth. She is willing to do anything to advance her malevolent desires, rather than being a fragile, conforming woman. Lady Macbeth’s ambitious nature causes her to worry that Macbeth doesn’t have what it takes to seize the crown. The letter informs Lady Macbeth that her husband is the thane of Cawdor, and knows that he can become king if he gains more ambition, and eliminates any traits of nurturing kindness that Macbeth displays. In a later passage, Lady Macbeth says she is putting her femininity aside to be able to seize the crown by being involved with the murder of king Duncan. She…show more content…
Lady Macbeth returns them out of her true grit and determination, and washes the blood from Macbeth’s hands. From now on, Lady Macbeth seems to be a changed person. She is tormented with the anxiety of a killer. Soon, after the various killing preformed by her husband, Lady Macbeth is cursed with a guilty conscience and starts sleepwalking. Throughout the scene, we get a sense that she has obsessive-compulsive disorder, because she becomes extremely agitated by a spot. She is seen vigorously washing her hands when she sleepwalks as if she could never wash the blood off of her hands from Duncan’s murder. (Out, damned spot, out, I say! One. Two. Why then, ‘tis to do’t. Hell is murky. 5.1.37-38)Lady Macbeth sees an imaginary spot of blood that she can never wash off, and never clean her conscience from the burden of being a killer. She then finishes off her sleepwalking scene with a terrifying line about
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