Act II: Tweets from Lady Macbeth

Click here for Live Tweeting from Lady Macbeth on Act 2

Act I Character Profile: Lady Macbeth

 

Lady Macbeth is husband to Macbeth. She is first introduced in the play when she receives the letter that Macbeth sends her about the predictions he heard from the witches. Immediately she begins plotting Duncan's murder and the audience knows that she is not a merciful character. In Act 1 Scene 5, she speaks as though she is speaking to some sort of dark force to give her the evil and remorselessness that she will require to murder Duncan. She even asks for these forces to take away her femininity as it will weaken her. "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty." (Shakespeare, 47-50) She is a ruthless and manipulative woman who knows what she wants and will not stop at anything to get there. She has masculinity beyond her years in the sense that she is fearless, violent and ambitious, and even goes so far to question her husband’s manhood and call him a coward when he is tentative about murdering Duncan. “And live a coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’ like the poor cat i’ th’ adage?” (Shakespeare, 47-49). She definitely wears the pants in her marriage, and is very manipulative toward her husband. She is also very intelligent, and she knows upon reading the letter that the only way to achieve the power of being king and queen that they both desire is to get rid of anyone standing in their way, even if it means committing a great deal of evil deeds.

Though she has an evil streak, I like that she is a strong woman character. It is not often that you find female characters, especially in old stories, that aren't afraid to stand up to powerful male characters like Lady Macbeth stands up to Macbeth. I predict that she will have a large influence on Macbeth's actions throughout the rest of the story.

Click here for a video of the play for Act I Scene 7

Photo: Barker, Joanna. "Lady Macbeth." Lady Macbeth with Macbeth. All the World's a Stage. 3 Apr 2011. 12 Dec 2013. http://shakespeareglobal.blogspot.ca/2011/04/womens-part-shakespeares-feminist.html>
 

Act I: Destiny, Fate and Influence

The witches have the biggest influence on the events of the play. The few words that they do say to people they encounter in the first act are taken very seriously by whomever listens to them (for example Macbeth and Banquo). They are supposed to have supernatural ability to predict the future, but if you think about it their ability could be questionable. Perhaps they made a lucky guess about Macbeth becoming Thane of Cawdor that day, "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!" (Shakespeare, 57) but this nonetheless makes Macbeth believe that what they said must be true. He now believes that the witches' prediction about him becoming king "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!" (Shakespeare, 58) is his destiny. He and Lady Macbeth think that the only way for his destiny to come true is if they take matters into their own hands and murder Duncan. But this begs the question: If it was his destiny, wouldn't fate make it come true on its own without the obligation to commit murder against innocent men?

Fate and destiny are tricky subjects. Once one knows their pre-determined destiny and believes in it, they will be influenced to commit certain actions to make certain that it becomes true. This is what happens to Macbeth in Act I, and predictably throughout the rest of the play. In the letter he writes to Lady Macbeth about his encounter with the Weird Sisters, he writes "This I have thought good to deliver thee....that though might'st not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee." (Shakespeare, 10-13). What he means by this is that now that he knows what his destiny is, he should not just sit back and wait for it to happen, he should take action to make sure that his fate becomes true. This is what leads to the conflicts he will face later in the play. Had Macbeth never known about his pre-determined destiny, he would not have reason to commit murder to anyone, yet he may have still become king if it really was his destiny. All of this is due to the influence that the witches' predictions had on him.

Photo: Théodore Chassériau. "Macbeth and Banquo meeting the witches on the heath." Macbeth and Banquo with the three witches. Wikipedia.  5 Apr 2006.  12 Dec 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MacbethAndBanquo-Witches.jpg>

Macbeth Act 1: Thoughts so far

Reading Act 1 of Macbeth took me longer than I had expected it to. I find reading Shakespeare to be quite difficult because though it's in English, it feels to me like reading another language. There are so many words that are used in Shakespeare's writing to mean one thing but that mean something completely different in the language we use today. It takes time and focus to understand what the characters are really supposed to be saying.

My thoughts on the play so far are as follows: I think Macbeth is power thirsty and is taking the witches' predictions much too seriously. Macbeth even acknowledges that Duncan is a fine king "Besides, this Duncan hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been so clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking off;" (Shakespeare, 16-20), and that maybe murdering him would be a mistake that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Lady Macbeth however is much worse than Macbeth. She herself never even heard the witches' predictions, yet she believes whole-heartedly and without question that Duncan must be murdered. Why she wants to have this power so badly, I'm not sure. After all, Macbeth just got promoted to Thane of Cawdor, so it's not like things are going badly for them. If Macbeth and Lady Macbeth go through with their plan to murder Duncan, sure, he will probably become king, but they would both have to forever after carry the weight of the murder they committed and hope that no one finds out that they are the criminals.

So far, I think the overall idea of play is slightly unrealistic, but I think it will make for a good story that will demonstrate the desire for power that we all possess and the crazy things that people will do to achieve it.