Macbeth struggle for power misc

The struggle for power and control in Shakespear’s Macbeth is evident from the beginning as Macbeth strives to be crowned by chance and Lady Macbeth prefers a slightly quicker more violent approach. Macbeth begins the play with no power but with a small amount of the control, hence Lady Macbeth had the power and most of the control. As they silently battle for control over their household and their future Macbeth kills in order for them to advance in social standing. It was Lady Macbeth’s desire for control over her husband that set him on his course of destruction and murder.

Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as a ruthless, overpowering woman who dominates her husband and his actions. Lady Macbeth makes Macbeth's do what she determines to be best for him by lowering his self-esteem so that he must do what she requests in order for him to gain his self-respect back. She says such things as, “When you durst do it, then you [will be] a man” (1.7.49). It is Lady Macbeth who comes up with the plan to kill Duncan, because she knows that Macbeth would never commit such an act on his own without her pushing him to because Macbeth’s nature “is too full o’ the milk of human kindness / To cat

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She intends to keep him under her control by making decisions for him and not allowing him to think for himself. The first evidence of this is when Macbeth kills Duncan’s groomsmen without Lady Macbeth’s permission or consent. After all if she had sworn, as Macbeth has to killing Duncan, she would, “While [her baby] was smiling in [her] face, / Have pluck’d [her] nipple from his boneless gums, / And dash’d [it’s] brains out” (1.

When Macbeth becomes indecisive about her plan to kill Duncan, she labels him a coward when she says, “Art thou afeard / To be the same in thine own act and valour / As thou art in desire” (1. He goes on with his plans to kill Banquo and later decides to kill Macduff's family in the following lines;

The very firstlings of my heart shall be

The firstlings of my hand. In fact, Lady Macbeth urges him to forget what has happened in the past and move on. 66,67) and "Leave all the rest to me"(1. After his first murder Macbeth begins to feel a sense of empowerment in his own life and he starts to take charge of his own actions.

Approximate Word count = 853
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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