Macbeth Essay

Sidney Gerst Period 1

In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the device of characterization to clarify how the perception of fate affects man’s actions and drives the action forward. He makes the characters of the play describe every aspect of the story by having them describe how they think and feel. This is most evident with the character Lady Macbeth. She represents how man’s perception of fate can be effected by man’s actions.

By Lady Macbeth’s actions in her first soliloquy she sees her fate change in her mind. At the moment she is the wife of the Thane of Glamis, but after the letter Macbeth sends her, she is known as the wife of the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth continues to tell her about what the three witches had told him about being king. This is when she begins to see her fate change in front of her. This was her thoughts about her situation that showed her perception of fate. She decided that what the witches said must be true and that her fate to be queen was eminent.

Once Lady Macbeth had forced to murder King Duncan, her actions begin to show how her perception of fate is altered. She feels more and more guilty about what has happened, but does not regret the deed due to the fact that she is queen. There is a false hope seen by the way she acts towards Macbeth and her subjects that her fate is going to be consent. This is false because her showing of guilt is foreshadowing to her suicide.

Her thoughts make her believe that she will be fine, and that her fate is sealed as queen. Though her reactions to her guilt make the reader believe otherwise. When she sits by the window all day with out human interaction, or when she begins to sleepwalk, the audience can see her fate change to what she least expects. The comments from the Gentlewoman and the Doctor tell that she has a real problem that she does not know about. Lo and behold, the guilt does catch up with her, and she does commit suicide.

Lady Macbeth’s perception of fate is seen through her actions and thoughts, and the comments of others. Throughout the story she believes that her fate is sealed as queen, but later realizes that her actions caused her too much strife as well as guilt, sealing her fate as death.