Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Complex Main Characters

While, and after, reading Shakespeare's play Macbeth in class, I looked at the main characters in the story more in-depth and tried to find logic behind their actions.

For example, there is supporting evidence from the original text that Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, might have been living with mental illnesses. I believe Lady Macbeth was suffering from OCD and anxiety due to specific actions that could be seen as symptoms. The infamous scene of Lady Macbeth believing she could free herself from the guilt of assisting her husband murder the king by simply washing her hands is a major sign of OCD. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth may have also suffered from PTSD after following through with their plan to kill the king and living with vivid images in their minds.

With a fresh perspective, I realized that Shakespeare's characters were much more complex than one might think.