The Evident Desire for Power

The Evident Desire for Power

  • Submitted By: mformal
  • Date Submitted: 03/11/2009 8:38 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 666
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 323

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the two main characters Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have distinct personalities however both have an evident desire for power. Either one would go to extremes to pursue their happiness even possibly endangering the lives of others. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are a married couple whom one would perceive as a traditional family. The roles, expectations, and stereotypes of gender affects the manor in which these two characters are portrayed throughout the tragedy.
Lady Macbeth portrays an ambitious woman who withholds a great desire for power while trying to fill the role of a conventional wife. Over the course of the first few acts Lady Macbeth wants to live a certain way and assist her husband in any way possible to acquire the title of king. The lifestyle in which Lady Macbeth would live once Macbeth becomes king many would consider to be the stereotype of a lady’s life; taking on the role of the “house wife” however at the same time having servants, cooks, living in a large palace, and lacking day to day worries. Lady Macbeth however is not portrayed as the traditional lady yet is portrayed as a woman so eager for power she ultimately wants to withhold the courage of a man. This is evident in Act 1, scene v, lines 39-42, “Come, you spirits hat tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers.” Lady Macbeth speaks these words as she is awaiting Duncan prior to his murder. This speech clearly shows the audience that she is the true support behind Macbeth and her desire for power is strong enough to drive him to even taking away the lives of others. The over all expectation of a male role in a family is one being the...

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