William Shakespeare’s works do not just draw the attention of the readers to his wonderful and mentally overwhelming poetry but also stir their minds and emotions about his incomparable presentation of characters who have immortalized not only his plays but above all, his name. His characters elicit hate, guilt and tears from the readers. They explicitly define vengeance and remorse and two of these characters are Lady Macbeth of “Macbeth” and King Henry IV of the play with the same title. Lady Macbeth is a wife of Macbeth whose being is filled with desire of becoming the next King of Scotland after he was prophesized to become one by the witches. However, the prophecy may remain as it is unless the death of Duncan, the present King takes place. Hence, Macbeth writes his wife a letter for the purpose of letting her know the prophecy and the King’s upcoming visit to their palace. As Lady Macbeth calls on the supernatural beings to overcome her with ruthlessness so that killing Duncan will be done and that her husband’s ambition of becoming king of Scotland will materialize her greed for wealth and power becomes visible. Lady Macbeth exhibits her ability to manipulate others as she initiates everything about the preparation for Duncan’s death. Macbeth is observed to be his wife’s follower. She seems to believe that lying is appropriate so long as the situation calls for it. She feigns graciousness as she acknowledges King Duncan upon his arrival. She cunningly plans the placing of the bloody daggers upon the hands of the drunk servants so as to make them appear as murderers of the king. When Macbeth was about to be interrogated of the King’s murder by Macduff , Lady Macbeth subtly faints to call everyone’s attention. Consequently, the apparent interrogation is forgotten. These acts exemplify Lady Macbeth’s exemplary courage and intelligence. Here, Shakespeare’s desire of exhibiting women’s exceptional wit is reflected just like what Portia demonstrates in “Merchant of Venice”. Lady Macbeth’s character in the play goes beyond what is expected of a woman during the author’s time and despite the fact that she is shown as someone wicked Lady Macbeth overcomes her husband’s character in a sense that Macbeth’s becoming the King of Scotland is the result of the lady’s craftiness. The wife’s wickedness does not end there as she connives with her husband in his wrongdoings. Banquo would be father to kings, the witches’ second prophecy. This brings Macbeth distress. He does not want to be replaced neither his sons to not be inheritors of the kingdom so he orchestrates his best friend’s death and this is where Macbeth’s guilt begins. He starts to see Banquo’s ghost and begins to act erratically. It is in this scene that Lady Macbeth’s ability to comfort her husband and strength in character are observed just like what she illustrated on the night after Duncan’s death. Nonetheless, her husband develops suspicions on people, friends and foes alike. Hence, he commands for their death until kings of the neighboring kingdoms become alarmed of his deeds. Knowing these, Lady Macbeth never shows resistance to what her husband has been doing. The killings, on the other hand, motivate Macduff to seek the help of an unknown lord for the purpose of overthrowing Macbeth who instantly learns about the former’s plan. Macbeth makes an outright order of killing Macduff’s family. Accordingly, sleep and peace abandon Macbeth. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth’s waiting-gentlewoman starts to observe the former’s sporadic behavior. She is seen sleepwalking and washing her hands repeatedly as she delivers the dialogs which reveal the truth behind Duncan’s and Banquo’s deaths. Remorse is manifested as she tries to wash her hands with an Arabian perfume which she supposes would make them fragrant. This puzzles the waiting-gentlewoman so she seeks the physician’s help for it. Observing the lady’s predicament, the physician himself prescribes that Lady Macbeth needs a spiritual adviser rather than a doctor of medicine. Her hallucinations of blood and series of dialogs in Act V, scene I make her appear insane before her waiting-gentlewoman and the physician. This act demonstrated by Lady Macbeth ruins her image of a strong woman. And as she commits suicide before the play concludes, the lady’s wickedness and influence on her husband end. Macbeth becomes more apprehensive as he is informed of the neighboring kingdoms’ plan against him. He feels hopeless and begins to manifest fear. Despite that, he settles on defending himself all alone. He loses his head together with the crown yet never reflects guilt as the play ends. His greed for wealth and power overcomes his conscience despite the fact that as their plan on Duncan’s death was realized he already exhibited signs of guilt. Here, Shakespeare shows that evil begets evil and that guilt cannot be denied.
King Henry IV, on the other hand, is a kind of character who does not exhibit his real self. He is known to readers due to the descriptions given by his subordinates but nothing is directly said of him as the play progresses. His character becomes apparent as he delivers dialogs which enable him to compare himself to others. In short, it is his own words which reveal his real characteristics and his intentions as a person. There are points in the play that tells us how good he is yet his soliloquy imparts otherwise. He exhibits his meanness as he ruthlessly kills Richard II in the play with the same title and fights with the rebels at Shrewsbury together with his son in “King Henry IV” yet he exhibits godliness as he undertakes a crusade to Jerusalem and expresses thankfulness to God afterwards. And this characteristic of the King seems to be manifested by his son as the young man admits his association with the society’s bad elements and expresses his desire to change in the future. The king’s dominance surfaces in Act I as he extends punishment to people, the Earl of Northumberland and his son and the Earl of Worcester as he detects sense of irresponsibility on their part but he exhibits an act of benevolence as he speaks peacefully with the rebels’ leaders and forgives them for what they do and this act is exhibited again later as he frees Douglas who has almost killed him during a fight in Act V. As presented in the play, he does so to put an end to a bloody war, a stand which exemplifies his sincerity of uniting his men. However, treachery reigns for Worcester’s decision of keeping the king’s decision secret results to further anger of his allies towards the king and so the battle continues killing one of the king’s impersonators. As a father, King Henry demonstrates his love to his son as he confronts Hal of his wrongdoings and reminds him as to how his subjects may regard Hal due to the latter’s acts. And just like any fathers he illustrates appreciation of his son’s expression of respect and willingness to overcome the challenge as he proves his worth as the son of the king. The king values leadership and discipline and being the man respected by his subordinates he walks his talk and that is what exactly he wants his son to do. Being the king’s son, Hal must live up to his subjects’ expectations and that is clearly emphasized by his father. In Act V, Hal’s promise is affirmed as he continues to fight despite the fact that his father has been giving him order to leave the scene. Hal saves his father from the rebels’ fury and that strengthens the king’s trust in him. King Henry’s wisdom is proven in the play as he employs impersonators to fight on his behalf. Thus, he is not killed on the first encounter with the Percy rebels. This characteristic is, also, demonstrated by Hal when he counsels his father on the pardon which the king extends to the rebels. Despite his tender age, he sees what his father is not capable of seeing and his words materializes as Worcester lies to his allies and motivates them to go on with the rebellion.
As characters of Shakespeare’s works both Lady Macbeth and King Henry IV demonstrate intellect. Lady Macbeth does so as she orchestrates the murder of the king and rapidly thinks of the means as to how she would draw the men’s attention away from the seem to be anxious Macbeth when Macduff is trying to investigate the latter on the king’s death whereas King Henry shows his intelligence as he orders some men to act his part during the war and does everything to make himself appear worthy of the crown before the people. Both define courage and strength of character. Lady Macbeth exhibits her strength and courage as she returns the daggers to the room of the drunk servants after getting them from her husband who turns out to be shocked after committing the crime. It was still courage that she exhibits when she let their visitors go after observing her husband’s bizarre behavior during a celebration. King Henry’s courage is illustrated as he fights with King Richard II and the Percy. But unlike King Henry who exhibits diplomacy as he negotiates with the rebels Lady Macbeth never reflects such. There is no scene in “Macbeth” which displays the lady’s sense of goodness besides those scenes where she is observed to be comforting her husband. Lady Macbeth validates her incomparable love to her husband as she connives with him for the realization of his ambitions. By the time that she is informed of Macbeth’s plan she commits herself to a responsibility which later causes her despair. Her concern for her husband enables her to forget her obligation to others. Contrary to Lady Macbeth’s expression of love, King Henry gives his son pieces of advice on his misdeeds and tries to make the latter see the people’s preference of a leader and a king. He wants his son to do what people expect him to. When his son’s life is put to danger, he tells him to stay away from it. When his subordinates turn against him, he finds the means to reconcile with them to make them see his righteousness. He even frees the man who attempts to kill him. King Henry IV was crowned King because he killed a merciless king, Lady Macbeth’s husband became king due to greed. Shakespeare did not give any clue in “Macbeth” that King Duncan is a wicked king besides the fact that he commands for the killing of the traitor, Thane of Cawdor and gives the latter’s title to Macbeth as a prize for his being faithful and excellent soldier for the King of Scotland. In return, Macbeth kills the king and all the other people whom he thinks pose his kingship danger. These deeds deprive Macbeth and his wife peace of mind, brings Lady Macbeth to sleep walking and hallucinating which can be interpreted as signs of guilt. Lady Macbeth kills herself through committing suicide whereas his husband desperately fights for the sake of his crown. They deal with guilt negatively, thus, they end their life tragically. King Henry’s case is somewhat similar in a sense that he also experiences sleeplessness and is being haunted by the idea that all the negative occurrences in his life are brought about by what he did to King Richard II and that he is being punished by God for that. Nonetheless, the thought does not cause him further trouble for he seeks God’s forgiveness (if it can be put it that way) by means of undertaking a crusade to Jerusalem and he tries his best to win the people’s favor by doing good as much as possible in all instances. In Act I he projects the image of a worthy and efficient leader, in Act II he tries to settle dispute with those who attempts to overthrow him due to greed of power, in Act III he lets his son realize the importance of a royal image and doing good for that matter and in Act V he sets an enemy free of punishment. King Henry feels remorse but he steadfastly deals with it and so he overcomes it. Shakespeare makes Henry IV appear a typical king who is driven by the motivation of keeping the position by means of projecting a pleasing image in front of the people. A type of king who will sacrifice his real identity and his desires for the sake of getting the people’s favor, note that, the king’s real identity is revealed as he delivers his asides or soliloquies. Lady Macbeth as a woman character demonstrates typicality as she submits to her husband’s will but goes beyond what a woman should be during the time of Shakespeare in a sense that she manipulates her husband in Acts I and II. Macbeth due to nervousness cannot think right so he ends up yielding to Lady Macbeth’s wishes. In both plays Shakespeare did not only display Holinshed’s historical view of Scotland and of Kings and how they were regarded by their subjects but also the people’s way of life during his time, how women were treated by their husbands and others. Above all, the playwright made everyone see how conscience affects a person and his life as a whole. Guilt, as shown in both plays, if cannot be overcome by a person will be the one to subdue him and eventually lead the said person to committing an act which will bring him to failure or death.
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