Lady Macbeth's Rise To Power

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How can a man with so much power turn into a weak hearted coward? Macbeth is a classic tragedy written by William Shakespeare, that mostly takes place in eleventh century Scotland. The play follows a husband and wife on their gruesome rise to power, dramatizing the damaging physical and psychological effects on those who seek to have such power. Throughout the play, the recurring image of blood is used as a symbol to demonstrate the constant feelings of guilt and fear felt by the characters, which ultimately leads to Lady Macbeth coming to term with King Duncan's death. Macbeth is stricken by a hallucination which predicts that he will kill King Duncan. Macbeth becomes haunted by this unforgivable sin which leads him to endless fear and…show more content…
She repeatedly questions his masculinity, yet, after returning the bloody daggers Macbeth had failed to leave with King Duncan, she ends up trying to remove the blood from her hands as well. Lady Macbeth finally begins to question her own motives and her rise to power. “Here’s the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! Oh! Oh!” (Act V Scene I, lines 46-47) In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth takes on the role of driving Macbeth to rise to his power. She does this by questioning his masculinity, forcing him to prove his masculinity time after time. As Macbeth grows from a weak, white hearted character, Lady Macbeth starts feeling the remorse and guilt, as she can not wash her hands from this guilt Macbeth has grown numb to. She shows a clear example of this saying “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.” (Act II Scene II, lines 82-83) and “A little water clears us of our deed.” (Act II Scene II, line 86) What she means by this is that her hands are covered in the same guilt, yet she does not feel bad. Yet, now she can not stand to have this blood stained on her hands, she has switched hearts with Macbeth, acquiring his weak, white heart. The remorse has gotten to her and she cannot ‘sweeten the smell of the guilt.’ She is drowned in immense guilt due to being haunted by this fear and

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