Macbeth
In this essay I’m going to explain how or why Shakespeare causes conflict between Lady Macbeth
and Macbeth. It is based on murder and deception and these are the key images and ideas that
Shakespeare repeats throughout the play.
Shakespeare creates conflict between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth through murders for more
power. At the start of the play Shakespeare portrays Lady Macbeth as a strong, powerful woman
“unsex me now.” Lady Macbeth was also a very ambitious woman she would do anything to get the
crown “Glamis thou art and Cawdor and shalt be what thou art promised.” This quote is the first
thing we hear her say which proves she is ambitious and she would do anything to help Macbeth get
the crown. Shakespeare is giving the audience an idea of Lady Macbeth as powerful and an
ambitious woman very unlike a Tudor woman of the time.
This shows Lady Macbeth is willing to do anything for the power and to help Macbeth. We know
she’s willing to anything because she’s prepared to give her soul away ad call on evil spirits to get
what she wants. Lady Macbeth says this as part of a monologue and therefore is speaking to the
audience. This would have been a shock for Tudor women because women were said to be weak not
powerful back then so it’s shocking because she’s strong and she wants power. Shakespeare
deliberately has Lady Macbeth speak directly to the audience because it makes the audience feel
involved and it makes them feel like their involved in their emotion.
At the start of the play Macbeth is described as a “noble” soldier that wouldn’t kill he was also a
loving and ambitious man. Shakespeare is creating the idea that people aren’t who they seem to be.
The breakdown in their relationship shows the impact of the conflict and how the power alters.
Shakespeare introduces madness to show the murder and guilt got to them.
Duncan describes Macbeth as “worthy”. This shows Shakespeare is setting Macbeth up as good man.
Shakespeare shows Macbeth being the perfect man because this starts with the image that Macbeth
is a perfect soldier but throughout the play Macbeth destroys that image because Shakespeare is
trying to get the point across that nothing and no one is what they seem.
Shakespeare develops the conflict in the play by making them have illusions and going mad.
Macbeth sees daggers and ghosts “is this a dagger see before me.” Shakespeare is using this to show
that the guilt is playing on his mind. “Our graves must send those that we bury book.” Shakespeare
uses this to show Macbeth is going mental and to that Macbeth feels guilty for killing his best friend
and Macbeth thinks the dead are coming back to life. Lady Macbeth stays strong for most of the play
but she starts to give up because in the beginning of the play she could persuade Macbeth to do
anything and she hasn’t got the power over him. She also doesn’t have the energy in her to argue or
to even get out of bed. Shakespeare also is using the same ideas with Lady Macbeth as Shakespeare
did with Macbeth because Lady Macbeth was also seeing things that wasn’t there. “Out damed
spot.” Shakespeare has used this to show she was going mental too and that the guilt finally got to
her. It also shows she feels really guilty and that she was the only one responsible.
Shakespeare uses a range of language devices to show conflict with in the play. One of the language
devices he used was a simile such as when Lady Macbeth says “look like the innocent flower but be
the serpent under it.” Shakespeare uses this device because it shows the theme of deception. This is
a powerful technique because it puts two opposite objects together which gives the audience an
image in their head of main characters being too faced. Further technique Shakespeare uses to show
these opposites is paradox. An example of this is when the witches say “fair is foul and foul is fair.”
The witches say this at the start of the play because it gives the audience a hint that it won’t be what
it seems because the witches are there to predict what is going to happen in the rest of the play.
Shakespeare uses these to cause conflict by creating the key theme that nothing will be as it seems.
Shakespeare uses metaphors to show the theme of madness. Macbeth says he has “scorpions in my
mind.” Shakespeare uses this to give the audience an image in their mind of how strong the madness
has become. Shakespeare reminds us that murder is the cause of conflict by repeating the images of
daggers and blood. Lady Macbeth says “out dammed spot.” She says this at the end of the play but it
links to murder at the start of the play and shows that the source of the conflict was murder.
Conflict is important in the play because it’s something new and if there wasn’t any conflict it
wouldn’t be interesting to the audience because when Shakespeare wrote the play men was said to
be more powerful but his play shows that women are as powerful as men. The letter from Macbeth
is different than the rest of the play to show it is importance. Most of the play is laid out like it’s a
poem but when Lady Macbeth reads the letter about the witches prophecies it written as prose to
show its importance in the play. This is so important to the conflict in the play because the letter is
getting there hopes up and it will turn into conflict because of the power. Another structural
technique that Shakespeare uses is to split a poem line across the two characters. He does this to
show the speed and the emotion of the argument. At final technique that Shakespeare uses to show
the structure of the conflict is rhyming couplets. At the end of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth argument
about whether to kill Duncan Shakespeare finishes with “away and make the time with fairest show
false face must hide what false heart doth know.” He uses this technique because it’s memorable
and it makes the audience feel like the argument is over.
Therefore Shakespeare create the conflict by the idea of murder such as blood and daggers. Also by
making characters opposite and showing that people are not what they seem. Conflict is important
because it’s not just about murder it’s about all the key themes which are murder, betrayal, guilt and
love. Conflict is the core of the play.