Macbeth: Macbeth Is More Guilty By His Actions Than Lady Macbeth Is By Hers Essay, Research Paper

Macbeth: Macbeth Is More Guilty By His Actions Than Lady Macbeth Is By Hers

By Martin Hupa

Macbeth is a very exciting story containing all kinds of plots and murders. The

characters that are killing and are planning murders are all very deceiving and

treacherous. Two of the most dangerous criminals in this play are Lady Macbeth

and her husband. Together they commit the most dreadful murder by killing the

King; Duncan. This is why it is difficult to determine which one of these two is

more guilty, because they each do their own part in committing the crime. Lady

Macbeth would prepare the plan and then encourage Macbeth to go through with it.

Macbeth did the actual murdering, he was also the first person who thought

about killing Duncan. Furthermore he did some killing on his own. Lady Macbeth

did not have any involvement in these cases. Based on these facts, Macbeth

would be found more guilty than Lady Macbeth.

The very first murder in this story was committed on Duncan. This crime was

planned by both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The actual murder was done by Macbeth,

making him more guilty of the crime. Lady Macbeth just talked about committing

the crime, but she never actually went through with it nor would she ever, and

that is all that counts. Talking about committing the incident is very

different from actually doing it. Lady Macbeth did a little more than just talk

about it though. She also urged Macbeth into doing it and that is what makes her

part of this crime, but she is not as guilty as Macbeth. He really didn’t have

to listen to what his wife said. Macbeth had a mind of his own and he could

make his own decision. The other murders that Macbeth was involved in were not

committed by him, but were ordered by him. The people who did the killing had no

choice, they had to do it, because they worked for Macbeth. Macbeth knew this

and was a bit more guilty in these murders then lady Macbeth was when she urged

him.

The idea of killing Duncan first came from Macbeth. Macbeth listened to the

witches prophecies that said he would become King. Macbeth did not want to wait

any longer and he thought the only way to become King was to kill the present

King; Duncan. Macbeth later told Lady Macbeth about this and she just wanted to

help him and do whatever she could for him, so that he would be happy and be

King. She was also excited about becoming a Queen so she pushed Macbeth forward

and did not let him back down from doing what he said he’d do. Macbeth had a

good chance of becoming King if Duncan was out of the picture, so Lady Macbeth

helped stage a plan so that Macbeth could kill him without being caught. Lady

Macbeth wanted to do this for herself as well but she was mostly doing this for

Macbeth because she loved him so much. Macbeth is a regular murderer throughout

the play and is involved in a lot more murders then Lady Macbeth is. She was

only involved in the murder of the King while Macbeth was killing people

throughout the whole story. He killed lots of men fighting for the King, and

later on he killed the King. After killing the King he ordered some of his men

to murder Banquo and Fleance, Fleance got away though. Later on through the

story when Macduff went to join Malcolm, Macbeth had Macduff’s family killed.

Macbeth was a man that murdered far more people then his wife did. So he was a

more guilty person then she was. Through the story Macbeth got obsessed with

killing others and he wanted to kill more, while Lady Macbeth became so self

conscience that she went crazy and killed herself. Throughout the course of the

story it is tough to decide who is a more guilty person, but if you look at it

through the eye’s of today’s law you will see that Macbeth is more guilty of

murder. This is because he had killed a lot people before he killed the King,

and when he did kill the King by himself Lady Macbeth had nothing to do with it.

She only made a plan and told him to do it and that isn’t as bad as actually

committing the crime unless Macbeth was mentally ill. Macbeth was not considered

mentally ill though because he went on to become King where he made decisions on

his own and ordered even more people to be murdered, and Lady Macbeth had

nothing to do with those murders at all.

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