Compare and Contrast: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Ambition, the world s driving force to achieve their goals. Ambition is a characteristic of human nature, which, if expressed in an evil manner, can turn the entire person evil. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are great examples of these types of people. In William Shakespeare s Macbeth, they are torn apart due to their excessive hunger for power.

Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a driving ambition that turns each of them into a spiral of guilt and evil. They are both very stubborn and set in their ways this is proven when Macbeth does not want to change his mind about killing Duncan. Their thriving ruthlessness combined is almost unstoppable, and it is their fuel to commit the terrible deeds that they do. Though they are similar in many ways, they also have many differences, which include the changing of power throughout the play.

The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is a very close but a rather strange one. There are a lot of things that Macbeth does not understand about Lady Macbeth, that she knows about him, for example, she knows his weakness of character and his strengths. At the beginning of the play Lady Macbeth is the stronger of the two. Although it was the witches who told Macbeth he will be king, it was Lady Macbeth who uses her art of persuasion, and knowledge of Macbeths weaknesses, to make him kill the king. Lady Macbeth uses persuasion, another factor that helps her over power Macbeth, from their first meeting and throughout the play. She also uses her knowledge she has of him, to add to the task of persuading him, she knows how to get him motivated. Due to Macbeth s lack of knowledge of his spouse, he is unable to prevent her.

Many factors like persuasion and ambition are a big part in the couple's relationship. Macbeth starts to take control when he slaughters the guards. Lady Macbeth was not ready for this and for a little while Macbeth is in control of the situation. From that point, he goes from strength to strength and plans the deaths of Banquo and Fleance. The only weakness shown there is that he had to get hit men to do it, he could not kill his best friend himself. Macbeth is in control and very powerful until the banquet scene. This is the last time in the play that Lady Macbeth is able to become the more powerful of the two. After the banquet scene Macbeth goes from strength to strength again, and having Macduff s family killed is a sign of this. When Macbeth consults the weird sisters for the last time, they trick him to make him think that he will not be overthrown by anyone.

The communication between the couple is very strong at the beginning but as the play progresses it alters and eventually breaks down. Well Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are a very odd couple, despite all their differences they still have many similarities which helps the relationship work out. If they went so ambitious towards power, they might have ended up with a happy ending.