Beth Poem by imani halley

Imani Halley
Mrs. Yates
English 10 GT
April 7 2014
[Title]
Lady Macbeth is one that gives testament to the power of guilt through the reactions to the crimes she willingly involves herself in. Her dynamics as a character shed light on a greater theme in the play that women and men are mechanically built to function in different ways: more importantly matters concerning the heart and feelings. A fundamental question of the play is whether Shakespeare intentionally started the play as seemingly pro strong women then reverses the ending to make any womanly character appear weak. Does our gender predestine our course on life, and whatever trials it throws at us (Sadowski 2001) ? In comparison to her husband’s actions and Lady Macbeths inability to control the guilt she feels towards the end of the play does Shakespeare ultimately give way to a question that is being asked way after his time? The character of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one that gives testament to the power of guilt through her reactions to the crimes she willingly involves herself in, her rejection of any feminine traits and attempted adoption of those masculine ones ultimately leads to her downfall undeniably giving power to Shakespeare’s theme that a women is naturally designed to have feelings.
Lady Macbeth’s power of words delve into some of the most fundamental beings of a women (Gerwig 1929) . Instead of embracing her femininity she goes on to bash it, and use it as a tool to manipulate not only her husband but the audience in believing in her ability to seem invincible to the virtues of being a women, a mother, and even a person. She goes on to call on spirits asking them to 'unsex” her. She is vividly asking to be stripped of what she holds to be womanly weakness; feelings. And to be filled with masculine resolve; cruelty, deceit, violence, and detachment to others and what they feel. She imagines herself as an empty vessel being refilled “from the crown to the toe” (Shakespeare 2) with the attributes she holds true to be that of a man. “The milk of human kindness” (Shakespeare 20) represents what she does not have in comparison with her husband and other women. In one of her most explicit soliloquies she asks the spirits to stop her “passage to remorse” (Shakespeare #?) . In context to Lady Macbeth she feels the ability to reproduce or bear children is one that makes you compassionate which to her is synonymous with weakness. If her “passage” to childbirth is blocked her writ to compassion is as well (Gerwig 1929) . In another line of her soliloquy Lady Macbeth says “make thick my blood” (Shakespeare #?) what she means by this is if cut deep physically or emotionally her ability to react in a non-masculine way will be stopped for her blood is thick it has no ability to run through her veins or through her. But it can also be used to describe a women’s menstruation if her blood is thickened she is no longer able to menstruate, and bear children (Maginn 1856) . Lady Macbeth uses her strong power of words to profess to herself and the audience that through and through she is a man, and more a man then any she knows. This is ironic for all the power of language and diction could not cancel out her conflicting guilt which manifested itself in hallucinations and nightmares.
At the moments Lady Macbeth seems most savage we must keep in mind her motive for her doing. In the soliloquy following her reading of the letter she analyzes her husband to the last trace of character. She knows he desires the throne more then anything else; if unaided he will fail to reach this desire for he has the “milk of human kindness” in his heart. Instead of making the typical sacrifice of wife to husband which is that of her body to the man she loves, she makes the greater sacrifice her soul to him (Ancon 2005) . Though she wants the kingdom it is not in any sense for herself, but for her husband. What this scene goes on to suggest is that Lady Macbeth did not intentionally lament her womanly attributes, but instead went out of her way to show the love she had for husband. She set her heart supremely upon fulfilling Macbeth’s desires, thinking she has counted the cost, was a woman like thought which describes how she foolishly sees nothing between her desire and its fulfillment (Maginn 1856) .
The scene in which Lady Macbeth is described as sleep walking we see both the depth and helplessness of her despair. This is another tool of Shakespeare’s to show she is never so far removed from the nature of femininity that she is cast beyond our sympathies (Mcgrail 2001) . The audience feels what she is feeling because we understand the driving force behind her action; giving the throne to her beloved husband. The guilt that eats up at Lady Macbeth in her slumber is a repercussion she accepts openly because that is the cost which she is willing to pay for her husband. Lady Macbeth attempts to wash the hands that will never be clean. This is just another example of Shakespeare presenting her with an equal sense of compassion. In the opening scenes of the play she describes how she could bash the brains of her child if she said she would do so. This juxtaposes itself for if you have the ability to kill your own child why can’t you handle the guilt that comes with a murder you did not even commit? The guilt she is burdened with is not a personification of a womanly attribute she neglected to count in when her plan was plotted at the beginning of play. But instead a womanly attribute which comes along with the burdens of life and love (Kimborough 1983) . A woman like Lady Macbeth had always been one from beginning to the last, still linked with her sex and her humanity.
Shakespeare never presents Lady Macbeth as evil without a consciousness of the opposite trait she naturally holds; feelings (Bowman 1888) . In a mind constituted like that of Lady Macbeth she is never utterly hardened by the habit if crime. For the nature of crime brought about a burden of guilt accompanied with despair, and followed by death. Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth’s death as a way to caste the final stone that lays the foundation of what he held a woman to be. A women who intentionally neglects the sensibilities of the soul in pursuit of materialistic standards no matter what the situation be will ultimately fall to their demise. The character of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one that gives testament to the power of guilt through her reactions to the crimes she willingly involves herself in, her rejection of any feminine traits and attempted adoption of those masculine ones ultimately leads to her downfall undeniably giving power to Shakespeare’s theme that a women is naturally designed to have feelings.