Commentary on Macbeth Essay

Puppet on a string

When a dictator takes over the natural response from the people around him or the people who hear about it is the assumption that he is all to blame. But in reality theres more than meets the eye because to become so power hungry or cruel as Macbeth did theres always that motivation or person that pushes you in that direction in an effort to help better themselves. This is what happened to Macbeth for to establish that power hungry mind he had in the end of the story that idea of power first had to be instilled inside him like a seed slowly growing more and more each day yet as every seed grows it must be planted first. Just as Lady Macbeth planted the idea of power inside Macbeth giving him that small push needed to progressively become obsessed with nothing but power and doing no matter what it took to obtain more. Lady Macbeth was the main cause of the transformation of Macbeth from hero to villain in this story considering she was the one who told him to kill Duncan; she manipulated his every move, and before her Macbeth was both content and loyal.

Lady Macbeth begins the poisoning of Macbeths natural way with the quote Look like th innocent flower, but be the serpent under t. ( Ivi Lines 76-77) By this Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to be the man he has always been on the outside, the man others trust him to be yet alter his inside take away his kind heart and replace it with one much darker and become a serpent who does not care for the others around him yet lets his prey come in and be fooled by the gentle flower then pounces when they come close enough. These thoughts of betrayal were never in the mind of Macbeth who initially decided to do nothing to try and further his chances of king yet to just let chance crown him king if it were meant to be. Lady Macbeth as she explains to Macbeth how to alter his personality and be this devious person on the inside she is actually portraying the very words she says as to Macbeth she acts like she is on his side and there only looking out for his best interests yet on the inside she is devising a plan to get herself further ahead in the world knowing that even if it meant having to betray even her own husband who is like a pawn to her she would.

Lady Macbeth like a snake was able to crawl into Macbeths mind like the devious woman she was, and controlled his every move using him as a pawn in her game of chess until the very end where she regretablly lost at her own game. Every move that was made leading to Macbeths ultimate demise was planned out by Lady Macbeth who manipulated Macbeth into doing things that would make her prosper by making him believe these ideas were not only coming from himself yet that also these ideas were in his best interest. Going back to the whole lesson Shakespeare is trying to teach in his storys by not even giving Lady Macbeth a real name yet a name that assumes her to just be property of her husband and a silly female with the incapability of pulling off any acts of devious nature. Yet through the story Macbeth and proof that Lady Macbeth is responsible for Macbeths downfall Shakespeare shows how it is human nature to under estimate woman in our society and for that exact reason they are capable of manipulating us into doing what they want as Lady Macbeth does to her husband by making him want this power even though he himself did not want to move ahead and become king. But she however wanted to be queen and she being the ambitious one was able to make Macbeth believe that her wants were his and made him murder and canive others for succes instead of being his normal self and getting ahead in the world by being the perfect person he was loyal, brave, and kind. In the text Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth " From this time such i account thy love. Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire." (Ivii Lines 42-45) By this Lady Macbeth is beginning with her manipulative ways by telling Macbeth that he is a coward, a fearful child, and saying he does not love her because he wont do this for her but also that he's not a man because he wont do this for her. With this quote lady macbeth begins her scheming ways into controlling macbeth by relating him to child like features and cowardliness if he does not do what she wishes. Proving that it was not Macbeth who even thought for himself while changing from bad to good on his path to downfall it was Lady Macbeth behind the curtains the whole time controlling Macbeth as her pawn making all the moves and all the decisions for him or manipulating him into acting on decisions she did not make as in Banquo's case where macbeth decides to kill his friend but that was all do to the manipulation of his wife who altered his perception on reality and made him believe through her taunts and lies that being the man he was was a bad thing and to become a better man he must kill and betray in order to get ahead. Yet this confusion on reality only made him more insane do to the fact that if your trying to be something your not or listening to someone other then yourself on how to run you life you get mixed thoughts and emotions coming from all different direction making you not the same person anymore and giving power hungry people who still are clear on who they are the opportunity to take advantage of your vulnerability as she did to Macbeth by first making him weak and then pouncing. As the flower would make them weak and then the serpent underneath would pounce on its victims that works both physically as Macbeth portrays it by killing his friends yet also mentally as lady macbeth portrays it by not actually killing macbeth but doing something that is far worse in the long run and that is killing the man he once was and the man he was meant to be on the inside.

In the begining of the story Macbeth was very content with his position he was not rich yet he was not poor, he was not powerfull but he didnt have no power either, and he had his friends and wife who he was loyal to and loved. But at the first mention of thane of cawdor his wife jumped at the oppurtunity to keep them riseing. It was not Macbeths desicion for Macbeth battled against the decition to kill his commander and chief who he had nothing but loyaly and love for but his wife began with her caniving ways making him belive power was the only thing that mattered in this world and therefore began her transformation of the monster she created. Shakespeare portrays Macbeth as the perfect person, husband, and soldier in the beggining of the story in order to show the reader how Lady Macbeth changed him into the complete opposite of what he was before fogging his vision on reality and focusing on nothing but power. Leaving his once loved friends behind and turning them into his enemies, taking the perfect husband he was before and turning him into the insane man he died as, and taking his kind heart and turning it to nothing but anger and fear. In the story Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth " We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and i have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss not set aside so soon." (Ivii Lines 34-38) By this Macbeth is saying that he will not talk more about the assassination of his king that he has honored him by giving him the position of Thane of Cawdor which should be celebrated and something to be happy about not put aside as if it is nothing but a disappointment because it is not as high as king. This quote shows that Macbeth did not want to just pass by this great opportunity he was given and only see it as a small portion of getting ahead in his life yet he saw it as a way of already being ahead where anything more would not only be unnecessary but greedy. But it was Lady Macbeth who altered his thoughts of greed and power to a whole new level until it became the only thing he wanted in life where even being king wasn't enough yet it had to stay in his family for years to come even thought he new that that was impossible because the witches predicted against it. This is why it was Lady Macbeth who destroyed the man Macbeth was by making him feel as if power was the only real importance in life and changing his thoughts to hers completely and changing who he was from the beginning all the way to where he was murdered in the end .

So although Macbeth was the one to make the decisions for what he did he is not to blame for there is always that shadow in the background who controls men of power like a puppet as lady Macbeth did for Macbeth and in deception you cannot act as yourself because when someone else is controlling your every move you truly lose focus on reality and become something you never were before and the person to blame for this is not the puppet on the string yet the person controlling the strings.