macbeth :: essays research papers

Developing (or dynamic) character. A character who during the course of a story undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of his/her personality or outlook. Static character. A character who is the same sort of person at the end of a story as s/he was at the beginning. Lady Macbeth "They met me in the day of success: and I have learned by the perfectest report, they have more in them than mortal knowledge" (1.5.1-3). Lady Macbeth is reading the letter in which Macbeth tells of his meeting with the witches. After she has read the letter, Lady Macbeth is determined that she will make the witches' prophecy come true. She prepares herself to work her husband into a murderous state of mind. She also gets hereself into a murderous state of mind, crying out, "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty!" (1.5.40-43) When Macbeth arrives, she advises him to put on an innocent face in front of the King and to leave the rest to her. [Scene Summary] See, see, our honour'd hostess!" (1.6.10). Thus King Duncan greets Lady Macbeth at the gates of Macbeth's castle. In a display of consummate hypocrisy, Lady Macbeth gives a warm welcome to the man she is planning to murder. [Scene Summary] While King Duncan is having supper in Macbeth's castle, Macbeth steps out to think about the plan to kill the King. When Lady Macbeth finds Macbeth, she exclaims, "He has almost supp'd: why have you left the chamber?" (1.7.29). Then, in order to keep Macbeth committed to the murder plan, she verbally assaults his courage and manhood. This is the scene in which she brags that if she had made a vow to do a murder, she would follow through. Even if it were her own baby, she "would, while it was smiling in my face, / Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums, / And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you / Have done to this" (1.7.56-59). In a few minutes, Macbeth sees things her way. [Scene Summary] Banquo tells Macbeth that the King has been very pleased with the hospitality shown to him, and that "This diamond he greets your wife withal, / By the name of most kind hostess" (2.1.15-16).