FREE ESSAY ON MACBETH BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

MACBETH BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

"Come, you spirits; That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here…" In Macbeth,
William Shakespeare writes this passage in order to tell us about the character of Lady
Macbeth. Using only this line, we can almost determine Lady Macbeth's personality and her
motives. Up to the point where this quote leaves off, we have not heard much of Lady
Macbeth. 
In the first line Lady Macbeth says, "Come, you spirits." Already we have a dark image of
her conjuring up evil spirits. She does not seem a bit intimidated by the spirits she is
calling. Her tone of voice suggests she is almost commanding the spirits to help her
carry out her plan. Shakespeare meant to put this phrase in the beginning of the
sentence. So that the reader sees Lady Macbeth as more of an evil character, which in her
own way conjures evil spirits.
In the first part of the second line Lady Macbeth says, "That tend on mortal thought." It
means that she wants the evil spirits that wait on thoughts of murder or death to come to
her. This phrase foreshadows the many deaths that happen by the end of the play. By now,
we can see Lady Macbeth's nature. Her thoughts are all dark images, and her mind is set
on the murder of the King. 
Finally, in the most significant part of the sentence Lady Macbeth says, "unsex me here."
She wants the spirits to come and take away her soft, feminine characteristics. She feels
that her husband is too nice to get the greatness he is promised, and the only way he can
succeed is if she helps him. 
In the first half of the play, Lady Macbeth is the brain behind the operation. She not
only provides the actual plan, but encourages her husband as well. During the period the
play was written, women were considered to be submissive. However, in her case, she is so
influential that Macbeth is persuaded by her. To help convince Macbeth not to call the
murder off, Lady Macbeth questions his manhood. She says, "When you durst do it, then you
were a man; And to be more than what you were, you would ; Be so much more the man." Lady
Macbeth knows the weak point of her husband, and plays with his mind to get what she
wants. 
In conclusion, I think this was one of the most important soliloquies in the story
because it gave us so much insight into Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.