It is indeed quite evil of Macbeth to give even second thoughts to killing his king who he has served so faithfully, but it is also very evil of Lady Macbeth to suggest it, plot the main part of the plan and to then to assist Macbeth in doing it.
Later in the play Macbeth realises what he has done and starts to go crazy and hallucinate ‘Is this is a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? (He speaks to the dagger) Come let me clutch thee: - I have thee not, and I see thee still.’ This quote could be seen as a physical manifestation of his ambitions.
Macbeth realises the severity of his actions straight away: ‘Sleep no more Macbeth does murder sleep, -the innocent sleep; sleep that knits up the ravelled sleave of care, the death of each days life.’ This quote is Macbeth saying since he murdered sleep (Duncan was sleeping when Macbeth killed him) he will not be able to sleep for the rest of his life.
Macbeth hallucinates and is tortured by his wrongdoing while he wakes (speaking to the dagger and seeing Duncan’s ghost are two examples of this). However Lady Macbeth manages to escape the clutches of her conscious until she sleeps. This could be a sign of the evil inside her. Whereas Macbeth’s conscious taunts him all the time Lady Macbeth is so evil she is able to ignore it until she sleeps.
‘ I’ll go no more: I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on ’t again I dare not.’ This shows that Macbeth does not have the strong will power that Lady Macbeth has.
‘Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures; ‘t is the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil.’ Lady Macbeth here shows that Macbeth is not as strong minded as her and he fears the ‘painted devil (something which only appears real)’ and so she should be responsible for him.
‘What hands are here? Ha! They pluck out mine eyes.’ This is Macbeth wanting to pluck out his eyes so he cannot see the blood on them.
‘A little water clears us of this deed.’ Lady Macbeth believes that she can forget about what her and Macbeth have done with a little water.
A quote that shows Lady Macbeths heartlessness quite well is found in Act 1 Scene 7 ‘I have given suck, and know how tender ’t is to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I sworn as you have done to this.’
All Macbeth wants is to serve his king and for peace to reign: ‘Pr’ythee peace.’
The final quotation I will use to show the perseverance of Lady Macbeth to convince Macbeth that what he doing is right is in Act 1 Scene where Macbeth is having doubts about killing Duncan ‘He hath honoured me of late; and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people.’ Lady Macbeth challenges this by saying ‘Was the hope drunk, wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since, and wakes it now so green and pale at what it did so freely? From this time such I account thy love.’ Lady Macbeth is asking if Macbeth was so optimistic earlier simply because he was drunk? Have you now woken, as though from a hangover and feel sick (green and pale) about it all? From now on I will regard your love as drunken lechery too. So Lady Macbeth is saying that unless Macbeth does kill Duncan then Lady Macbeth will no longer love him. This makes her seem a lot more evil.
In conclusion I would say that Macbeth is not as evil as Lady Macbeth due to the fact that he cares about his own actions whereas she shows no regard for the consequences of seizing the moment. She was the person that told Macbeth to disregard the future and concentrate only on the moment (‘Screw our courage to the sticking place.’).
