In our society, as a general rule, the man is the head of the family. However, in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth appears as the head-turning neck. William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers in history, but he didn't gain recognition until the 19th century. He wrote numerous plays, sonnets, plays and narrative pieces. It was in the 16th century that he wrote the tragedy of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth, wife of the protagonist Macbeth, is one of Shakespeare's most famous and evil female characters. At the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ruthless, ambitious, cruel and manipulative; however, by the end of the play, she becomes mad and helpless. The transformation of these characteristics makes Lady Macbeth a very dynamic character. In Lady Macbeth's mind, ambition is represented as the dominant motive, an intense and dominating passion, which is gratified at the expense of all just and generous principle and all feminine feeling. (Moulton 516). Lady Macbeth learns, by letter, of the prophecy made by the Three Witches from her husband. She considers this knowledge to be true. Macbeth will one day be king of Scotland, but she fears he is too kind and compassionate to kill King Duncan. Then, she delivers this famous speech to the gods: “Come, you spirits who occupy yourselves with mortal thoughts, desex me here, and fill me, from head to toe, with the most terrible cruelty! Thicken my blood, block the access and passage to remorse; let no dishonest visitation of nature shake my evil design, nor maintain peace between the effect and it! Come to my wife's breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murderous ministers, wherever, in your blind substances, you await the misdeeds of nature! Come, thick night, and drape the...... middle of paper...... The change in character from the beginning to the end of the play shows that Lady Macbeth was a dynamic character. There might even be a moral to this piece. Too much ambition can lead to ultimate demise. Works Cited ““The Art of Cruelty”” The New York Times Book Review, July 31, 2011. Web. November 27, 2011. Bloom, Harold. Macbeth. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2005. Print. Kemp, Theresa D. Women in the Age of Shakespeare. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2009. Print.Mackay, Frank F. The Art of Acting. New York: FF Mackay, 1913. Print. Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors to the Early Twentieth Century: Volume 1. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1966. Print. Shakespeare, William and Kenneth Muir. The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare: Macbeth. London, 1951. Print.