English 2006
17 December 2002
The Naturally Evil Lady Macbeth
A villain is characterized as a fiendish or evil person. With her heart of stone and manipulative mind, Lady Macbeth is the true villain of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is naturally evil as opposed to Macbeth who changed dramatically after his supernatural encounters with the witches. Lady Macbeth revealed her evil side when she manipulated Macbeth and questioned his manhood in an attempt to persuade him to kill King Duncan. In comparison to Macbeth, she had an easy time coping with the transgressions that transpired throughout the beginning of the play, whereas Macbeth had many hallucinations due to his guilt.
Lady Macbeth is a heartless woman with naturally evil intentions, as opposed to
Macbeth, who experienced supernatural encounters that changed this once heroic,
admirable man. Lady Macbeth was very persuasive, as she demanded to get what she desired.
Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.
English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...
The sleepwalking Lady MacbethFollowing her conversation with Macbeth regarding the witch's prophecies, she only had one thing on her mind: killing Duncan, to obtain more power. Although Macbeth had negative feelings about committing the act of regicide, Lady Macbeth illustrated no shame towards her wrongdoings. She did not view killing Duncan as immoral, which for the first time showed, the evil which she possesses. She states that Macbeth is a merciful man and complains that, "[Macbeth] is to full o' th' milk of human kindness" (I, iv, 18). This shows that Lady Macbeth viewed him as a good-hearted citizen and it was her obligation to change his persona, into a crazy lunatic. It is evident that Macbeth was once an honourable man before his eccentric supernatural encounters which unlocked the doors to his insane, psychotic ways. However, it was Lady Macbeth who opened the doors for Macbeth's fury with her evil intentions that...