After the murder has been committed Macbeth realises the full extent of what he has done. He is overcome with guilt and says that will never be able to sleep again through worrying about the deed “Macbeth does murder sleep” lady Macbeth however is strong and remains focused. She says “my hands are of your colour but I am shamed to wear a heart so white” this is saying that she does know she is guilty but she is coping. She suggest that Macbeth should be coping better than her as he is a brave warrior that slains people all the time and doesn’t think anything of it why should this effect him emotionally. She is testing Macbeth to see who is more powerful. This shows a big change in their relationship. They used to have a respectful marriage now she is doubting him as a warrior. This shows distrust, if you doubt someone or you don’t trust them then you cannot love them. This is ironic, as later Macbeth does not trust his wife, which in turn drove her to madness.
Macbeth remembers the witches prophesies that Banquo is to be the father of kings, this is a threat to Macbeth as a result he hires assassins to kill Banquo and his son Fleance, he does not consult his wife, this shows that the tables have turned and Macbeth is now ruthless and ambitious the fact that Macbeth does not trust his wife enough to tell her of the new murder puts a serious doubt in our mind about Macbeth and lady Macbeths relationship. Although in the defence of Macbeth he could be trying to protect Lady Macbeth from further involvement in this evil, this could show that he still loves her deeply.
In act three/scene four Lady Macbeth and Macbeth throw a banquet Macbeth, at this banquet there are all the lords of the Scotland, Macbeth starts to see the ghost of Banquo he tells the ghost “don’t shake those gory locks at me” Lady Macbeth takes control of the situation saying that Macbeth is prone to these fits. I think she does this because she still loves Macbeth and Macbeth still loves her. There is evidence of this in Macbeths last speech he states “we are young in murderous deeds” the fact that he uses the term we suggests that they are going to go through with this together as partners so she had a loving motive behind the cover-up for Macbeth, although this cover-up could have been interpreted as having a selfish motive because if Macbeth had confessed to the murders she would no longer be queen. This shows that she is thinking more about herself in the relationship.
In act five/scene one we see that lady Macbeth is sleepwalking, while doing so she is trying to rid the blood from her hands “out damn spot” the blood is not really there it is a reflection that she is guilty of the murders, she had a part to play, this shows she know feels guilty about the murder of Duncan. The language she uses is disjointed and fragmented this shows that she is confused, Shakespeare uses this language to reflected her troubled mind. Lady Macbeth has changed from a strong focused woman to a guilty confused one. When Macbeth hears of lady Macbeths death he is shocked, the death has come at exactly the wrong time there is about to be a rebellion and Macbeth needs to be focused and also needs the strength of his wife to help him through, although now he has nothing to live for how can he kill rebels when his wife is dead, he in a way took her life away by committing the murder, how can he now take the life of another. He now has no relationship this is the biggest change in there relationship.
The relationship changes a lot during the play Macbeth. It changes from a committed loving relationship to a disrespectful strained relationship. Shakespeare is trying to tell us that power and money does not make you happy especially if you have to commit evil to get and keep it and perhaps without love all the wealth in the world is useless.
