Lady Macbeth’s character is a cauldron of negative and positive defining qualities. Her and Macbeths’ downfall is caused by their ambition for Macbeth to be powerful. The temptation of the witches leads them to carry out the act of greed driven murder, rather than them being foul. Lady Macbeth is portrayed as being intelligent, determined and ambitious. However, these positive qualities in her character only compliment her negative traits.
‘Unsex me here’
Her wish to be rid of her sex, reminds us that, to ask for this, she is not yet ready to commit murder. She asks the dark spirits for help.
‘Fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty’
She is too weak, she knows this, and she looks to the dark to make her stronger. Her refrain from carrying out the act herself, hints at her more loving side. Her love for her father weakens her.
‘Had he not resembled my father as he slept ‘
I had done’t’
However it could also be her coward’s side showing through. She manages to manipulate Macbeth by using their love, trust and loyalty as a tool against him.Her desire for power steams from her un-natural obsession with success. Her feeling of in-adequacy alongside powerful males, spawned her desire to be queen, a position of power, which would ensure her to be more respected than men, with the only male more powerful, being her loving husband, Macbeth. She uses a metaphorical baby to influence her husband’s decision,
‘And dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn
as you have done to this’
Whether she is true to her word or not, this is a wicked image to conjure up. The audience at present day and in the 17th century would find this horrific. As her lack of maternal instincts de-humanises her, making her easier to dislike .She uses the phrase ‘the brains out’. Shakespeare has done this to show her humanitarian side. She sees the baby as an object rather than human. ‘Its’ is not used as this is possessive. She is trying to refrain from linking the brains to the baby itself. This writing technique gives us a more detailed insight into her more respectable character. After the act has been carried out, she is more calm and logical than Macbeth.
‘A little water clears us of this deed’
Either physically or metaphorically, the idea that washing their hands will rid them of guilt, shows lack of remorse. This is yet another biblical reference. The idea of washing hands comes from Pontius Pilot, during the execution of Christ. This relates her to an anti-Christ, only encouraging us to view her badly. Lady Macbeth is similar in ways to the three witches. They are all responsible for persuading Macbeth to commit treason. Although, what the witches gain from doing so, fails to be noted. Whereas, Lady Macbeth will fulfil her ambitions of power and greatness will be achieved. After the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth’s character undergoes character development. He becomes power obsessed and paranoid. This leads to a change in Lady Macbeth. Macbeth begins to disassociate himself and his plans from her, perhaps an act of love, to protect her. In Act 3 Scene 2, Lady Macbeth is shown to be distant from her husband.
‘What’s to be done?’
‘Be innocent of the knowledge’
She no longer has any involvement in the murderous plots. Macbeth could be doing this to protect her, but he only distances her further.
Lady Macbeth becomes regretful,
‘You must leave this’
She is concerned with the change in Macbeth’s character. She feels vulnerable at her lack of knowledge in her husband’s affairs. This scene shows a turning point in Lady Macbeth’s character. She becomes aware of her detachment from her husband, this weakens her. The audience begins to feel empathy. She wants the killing to stop, yet it is now out of her control.
In Act 3 Scene 4 we see an example of Lady Macbeth’s quick thinking. At the banquet, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo. He begins to panic,
‘The fit is momentary’
Lady Macbeth shifts the blame onto illness, allowing the lords to not become suspicious of Macbeth’s strange behaviour.
In some productions the image of Banquo’s ghost is shown. However in the 1980’s a production had Banquo so covered in blood, the audience found it humorous. In my opinion it is better to have the image be seen by the audience. This makes us able to relate to Macbeth and connect with his frustration that he is the only one able to see the ghost. This encourages us to view him with pity. From this moment the changes in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become increasingly apparent.
We see little of Lady Macbeth in the middle of the play, as Macbeth begins to neglect her. In Act 5 Scene 1 her health begins to deteriorate. She is suffering from mental illness.
‘There in the patient
Must minister to himself’
The guilt has driven her mad. She is living in a nightmare. She begins to sleepwalk,
‘Will these hands ne’er be clean’
She begins to show remorse for her actions. The aspect of sleep occurs frequently throughout the play. King Duncan was killed during slumber, sleeping is used by Shakespeare to denote innocence.
‘Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep’
Lady Macbeth’s troubled sleep reflects her guilt. She talks about the murder, as sub – consciously she wishes all to be known, so the blame can be laid to rest. She also begins to fear the dark. She begins to rely on candlelight throughout the night.
‘Enter Lady Macbeth with Taper’
This implies that hope still remains in her. As light symbolises truth, hope and happiness, we know that these qualities have not been totally abandoned by her disrupted soul. Her neglect of these at the beginning of the play and her denial of them has lead to darkness’s triumph.
‘Come thick night’
She asked the dark to rid her of her humanity, a fatal mistake, which she now regrets. As Lady Macbeth weakens, Macbeth becomes stronger. He is fuelled with the desire to succeed, destroying everything in his way, including Lady Macbeth herself. At the beginning she is the stronger of the two, however through character development. By the end of the play she is weak and powerless. Her death symbolises her weakness. She dies cowardly, by suicide, whilst Macbeth’s death, is the ultimate display of pride. He dies in battle, a soldier, fearlessly. Throughout the play, whilst his wife deteriorates, he goes from strength to strength. In Act Scene we are introduced to a new character within the plot, Seton. In some productions this is pronounced as Satan, a metaphorical technique used by Shakespeare, or purely coincidental? As he is never acknowledge by another character, other than Macbeth, we are left to wonder whether his significance lies totally in Macbeth’s disillusioned mind or he connotes the evil that leads to the downfall of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. His role as armour bearer implies, not only physically but also emotionally, that Seton increases Macbeth’s mentality, in the final, fateful scenes that are to follow, the armour symbolising a shield of power and courage.
‘Macbeth’ shows similarities to a Greek tragedy. Shakespeare uses various characters, for example, the old man and the gentlewoman to carry out choric duties. They explain parts of the play which may have happened off stage. It also meets the criteria of a Greek tragedy; someone’s flaws, leads them to actions, which lead to their downfall, and a final fatal tragedy.
Macbeth has become numb from power,
‘She should have died here after’
The death of his wife fails to provoke much of a reaction from him.
At the end of the play Lady Macbeth is described by Malcolm as being a ‘fiend like queen’; this is an unjust comment. Throughout the play Lady Macbeth has shown two contrasting sides to her personality. Lady Macbeth shows obvious remorse for her actions by her strange behaviour, sleepwalking and suicide. This statement is made after Macbeth and Lady Macbeths’ deaths. Malcolm would hardly show leniency to a pair of treacherous murders shortly before he is to be crowned.
