lala
...s great office, that his virtues will plead like angels... (Act I, scene vii)” Macbeth’s characteristic of being loyal to his king, and his respect of not wanting to murder the very man who is having him as a guest in his house, is shown in this soliloquy. He believes that the only reason to actually kill the king would be his own ambition to become king himself. He walks away with the resolve not to harm Duncan, as his loyalty and good heart show through. This attitude does not last very long. Lady Macbeth immediately steps in and insults her husband’s manhood in order to get her will carried out. His weakness is exemplified when he succumbs to his wife’s wishes, and murders the king. As soon as Lady Macbeth hears of the witches’ prophesy that her husband will become king, her deceitful, and evil side is shown to the reader. Lady Macbeth uses her power effortlessly to persuade her weak husband to murder the king and to get it over with so that the prophesy would come true. She, unlike Macbeth, is very strong willed and is very aware of the actions she needs to take to get her way. When Macbeth has second thoughts about killing the king he has grown to be loyal to, Lady Macbeth intervenes in the situation, telling her husband that he his not “manly enough” if he can not kill Duncan. She calls upon evil spirits to take away her womanhood so that she will have even more strength mentally to convince her husband to go through with this act, and using an argument full of insults to Macbeth’s courage, and help from the supernatural, she succeeds in getting her husband to murder Duncan. “A little water clears us of this deed. (Act II, scene ii)” are all the words she needed to assure herself that it would rid her and Macbeth of any guilt that may have accompanied them with the murder. After Duncan’s murder, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth almost switch roles completely. Although Lady Macbeth’s strength and persistence motivates him at the beginning of the play, Macbeth continues independently murdering others. Instead of the weak hearted man prior to Duncan’s murder, Macbeth seems to lose his conscience about killing others such as Macduff’s innocent family. Like Lady Macbeth was motivated to kill by the prophesied success of her husband, Macbeth is now motivated by keeping this success. He believed that Macduff was a potential harm to him, and therefore, almost without a second thought, he killed off Macduff’s family to scare him. Before the murder of Duncan, it is extremely unlikely that he would have committed these acts on his own, or without any encouragement from his wife. While her husband is acting with deceit, Lady Macbeth’s role is changed during the occurrence at the banquet where Macbeth s...