Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Essay

Macbeth is a story consisting of very complex, intricate and unique characters. Two of which are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been constantly debated as to who among the two of them has a stronger character. In my opinion Macbeth has a stronger character. This I will justify as I go along with my argument. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as mentioned above have several similarities and differences between them. The most common similarity they share is that they both a fickle minded and they can both be easily manipulated into doing/committing evil acts such as murdering a king just because 3 witched predicted that they would be king queen. Next, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have a very commanding and authoritative personality which helps solidify the statements that either of them makes. In other words they are able to use their commanding personality to create trust and make people believe them. Lastly, they are both very loyal and charming hosts. They both impress their guests very well and are able to gather lots of praises and applaud for them no matter where they go. Lady Macbeth on the other hand has a few strong characteristics as well. She is able to manipulate Macbeths mind into doing her will easily. Next, she is very ambitions which makes her very determined to get whatever she wants. But all these so called strong characteristics in Lady Macbeth are more towards the negative side. So I think that it is not appropriate to call her as having a stronger character than Macbeth. Next I will explain why Macbeth is in my opinion the stronger character. There are many qualities that can be associated to people with strong characters but in my argument I have decided to highlight only a few major characteristics which are follows. Being courageous and honorable, thinking before acting, feeling remorseful for the bad acts he commits and lastly having courage to face the consequences of all his actions. Courage and bravery are 2 qualities which are synonymous with people of strong personalities. I believe that this is a very important quality to be reckoned with when identifying people with strong qualities because it in a way glorifies the character and gives more meaning to the word â€Å"strong†. So a good example to show this would be in the following extract from the story. For brave Macbeth–well he deserves that name– Disdaining fortune, with his brandish’d steel†¦ (Act 1 scene 1 conversation between sergeant and Duncan) We can clearly interpret from this quote that the sergeant refers to Macbeth as being a very valiant and strong warrior, he also says that Macbeth moves through the battle field fearlessly slaying all in his way. Another quality of Macbeth which makes his character stronger is his nature to think of the consequences of his actions. In the story Macbeth thinks of what would be the consequences he would have to face if he killed Duncan to become king. He finds out that firstly it is wrong to commit murder and also he finds out that if he kills Duncan he will have to live with a guilty conscience for the rest of his days. I believe that this quality is just as important as the above 2 because it shows that a â€Å"strong† character is able to think one step ahead before committing his actions, meaning that he knows whether what he is doing is right or wrong. We can see Macbeth showing this quality through the following lines. Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill. Why hath it given me earnest of success, Commencing in a truth? We see in thorough this quote that Macbeth is truly questioning as to whether or not the witches are right and whether or not he should believe them. Which helps solidify the point that he thinks before he acts. Another strong characteristic that Macbeth possesses is that he feels guilty for the bad actions that he commits which in our context is the killing of King Duncan and several other people. But I believe that this can also be seen as an act to courage in a way, because it takes extraordinary courage to commit murder and that too killing the King himself. Another way to view this is a positive act is that fact that Lady Macbeth forced Macbeth into committing this acting by challenging his manly hood, and it was because he wanted to keep his honour that he was forced to commit such a horrid act. On the other hand Lady Macbeth’s sole aim was to reap the benefits of this act. So I believe that Macbeth’s ability to show that he feels guilty for his actions and is willing to take an action to rectify those actions makes him a stronger character. So in conclusion I would like to state that Macbeth has a much stronger character than that of Lady Macbeth and that all the qualities that I have stated above make Macbeth a much stronger character than Lady Macbeth in all rights.