ts and King Duncan, whom she intends to kill, even refer to her as their honourd hostess, in Act I, scene six. Her husband is also fooled by her charade and is unable to see her evil intent as she cons him into killing the king. Lady Macbeth keeps this facade until the end of the play when her trapped feelings finally drive her mad. Another thing these two characters have in common is that in the end their deceit leads to their destruction. Claudiuss past of murder, lies, and betrayal are all revealed in the end of the play by Hamlet. Ironically, Hamlet then kills the King with the very sword and poison cup that were meant to kill himself. Lady Macbeths life is also brought to a horrible end as a direct result of the immense guilt that she battles inside herself. She begins to have fits of madness such as in Act V, scene one when she babbles to herself, Whats done cannot be undone. This realization drives her crazy and eventually kills her.Although these two characters are deceitful, corrupt, and evil, these traits are sometimes exhibited in different ways and for different reasons. Both Claudius and Lady Macbeth wanted the crown, but they wanted it for different reasons. Lady Macbeth wanted her husband to have the crown for purely selfish reasons. She wanted to have the honor and fame of being a Queen. In act I, scene five she says, And chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round. Here she shows her selfishness as she hopes that she may be able to rid her husband of his scruples of conscience and gentleness of nature so that he may be able to kill the king. Claudius had another motive behind him killing his brother, he was deeply in love with the Queen, his brothers wife. Therefore, he killed not only for the crown itself, but for love too. Another difference in the ways that they exhibited there evil deceitfulness is in the way that they murdered the Kings. King Claudius handled the whole aff...
