In Act 2 Scene 2, Lady Macbeth's master plan to promote her husband to the throne finally comes to fruition. For the first time in the play, however, Lady Macbeth reveals a certain degree of weakness in her inability to actually kill Duncan with her own hands. Prior to this act, it would seem likely that Lady Macbeth will carry out the murder, however in scene 1 it is revealed that the ringing of a bell will be the signal for Macbeth himself to enter and kill the king. The first indication that Lady Macbeth may be more vulnerable than she seems is her frightened reaction to her husband's approach in scene 2. Her first impression is that the guards awoke before Macbeth could complete the act and she expresses fear that "the attempt not the deed" confused the Macbeths. Even more surprising is the reason why Lady Macbeth did not kill Duncan herself. She states: "If he had not looked like my father while he slept, I would not have done it." This is particularly unusual for a character who has thus far been portrayed as cold and heartless. Lady Macbeth apparently has some respect or even love for other people, and the fact that she compares Duncan to her father would seem to indicate that she does too. she still harbors a repressed affection for him. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Despite her momentary lack of confidence, Lady Macbeth still maintains her bold role but calculating as Macbeth's driving force throughout the rest of scene 2. In this way, it almost seems like he has his own conscience, but in reverse; a negative and evil side of his personality, but imbued with logical reasoning. She is steadfast in following the plan to the end, and when Macbeth refuses to bring the daggers back into the room to plant them on the guards, she calls him "ill of purpose." Her next lines are particularly chilling, as she refers to the "sleepers and the dead but as images" and confidently brings the daggers into the room herself. When he returns, he tells Macbeth that his "hands are of your colour", referring to the blood, and then remarks "but I am ashamed to wear such a white heart". As demonstrated in Act 1, Lady Macbeth knows that her husband fiercely defends her courage. Thus, she is a master of manipulation, capable of pulling Macbeth's strings with just a few simple words. Her view of murder is also much more practical than her husband's. Throughout the play, Macbeth constantly agonizes over the act, wondering what impact it will have on him on a spiritual and psychological level. Lady Macbeth, however, sees it simply as a passing event. This contrast is best depicted in the way the two characters deal with the bloodstains on their hands. Macbeth, shaken by a mysterious knock at the door, wonders: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood from my hand?" In the following lines Lady Macbeth ironically tells her husband that “a little water purifies us from this fact. How easy it is, then." It is clear, then, that Lady Macbeth does not address her husband's fears on the same level as her own thinking. While he is dealing with a mortal sin, she is simply concerned with the logistics of a quick and fleeting event. The most memorable "mental image" of this act is the illusory floating dagger that Macbeth "sees" towards the end of Scene 1. Macbeth's "vision" is interesting, because on the one hand it echoes the supernatural themes of Act 1 , while at the same time it is clear that this is not a ghostly event, but a "dagger of the mind", created by Macbeth himself. tormented imagination. It is illustrative of how deeply Macbeth remainsentangled in the plot to kill Duncan. Macbeth sees a dagger floating right in front of him, but when he reaches for it, his hand passes through it. Today this effect can be achieved on stage, but in Shakespeare's time it is probable that it did not exist physically in front of the actor playing Macbeth. The creation of the scene would rely mostly on his delivery of the lines and then reaching for nothing. In a way, this might have achieved the desired effect better than any special effect, as long as the actor was able to behave as if he actually saw something in front of him. After completing Duncan's murder, Macbeth begins to moralize on a level not seen in Act 1. During the early parts of the play, Macbeth is depicted as a fearless warrior who brutalizes his country's enemies without a second thought times. In Act 1, Macbeth seemed confident in his plans and firmly believed that his actions were the correct course of action. After Duncan's murder, however, Macbeth begins to question himself, and it seems that his previous boldness has given way to self-loathing and insecurity. The willpower that led him to kill Duncan vanishes as soon as the deed is done and, it seems, it was just a facade for a mind in turmoil. This is demonstrated by Macbeth's response to Lady Macbeth's request to return to the site of the murder to place daggers on the king's guards. Even though Macbeth has just killed his king in cold blood, he responds that he will "go no more [to the king's chambers]…I fear to think what I have done." Macbeth is a man consumed by guilt and Shakespeare uses his periods of madness to illustrate this point. In Act 2, scene 1, Macbeth's guilt is already starting to grow, even though the king is still alive. The floating dagger near the end of the scene and Macbeth's description of his "heat-oppressed brain" show that madness is already beginning to take hold of the once sensitive nobleman of Cawdor. Even after he actually kills King Duncan, he cannot complete the plot by planting the daggers on Duncan's guards. Instead, Lady Macbeth must personally put the finishing touches on the murder. His guilt becomes even more apparent in scene 3: Macbeth's dialogue, which up to this point had been grand and poetic, is reduced to short sentences when he talks about Duncan's murder. When questioned about the king, his answers are very short: "Good morning to both of you... not yet... I will take you to him". Lennox offers a complex description of the night's events and weather, but all Macbeth can say is "it was a hard night." As in scene two, when Macbeth claims that he cannot say "amen" in prayer, he appears to be speechless, paralyzed by guilt, and unable to fully express himself. Perhaps the most tragic effect of the events of Act 2 is the fact that life has now lost meaning for Macbeth. In scene 3 he states, “There is nothing serious about mortality: everything is just toys.” Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Because of Macbeth's moral dilemma, he ultimately comes across as more of a tragic hero than a villain. From the beginning of the play, it is clear that he was a noble and courageous man, but he had two major flaws: his fierce courage and his "vaulting ambition". Lady Macbeth clearly recognized these flaws early on and made the most of them, forcing Macbeth to choose between cowardice and murder. Ironically, he becomes even more of a coward for having succumbed so quickly to his wife's taunts, but in his quickness to defend himself he fails to realize this. It is also clear from Macbeth's hallucinations that..'