The audience know that Macbeth is deeply in love with Lady Macbeth as Macbeth titles the letter to his “dearest partner of greatness,” showing that he has respect and trust in her. In a way it is in reminiscent of what is going to happen in the future, as they both will have to be reliant on each other greatly if they both want to succeed in their ambition. Also, Lady Macbeth’s reaction to letter shows she knows her husband very well, perhaps because they both share the same instincts especially over the killing of Duncan.
Lady Macbeth reading the letter alone on stage adds to the drama for the audience. The audience feel as though they are part of the plan as they have been let into the secret and feel as though they have been given the personal information.
When Lady Macbeth has finished reading the letter she says, “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised.” Here the audience realize that Lady Macbeth is evil and fully believes in the supernatural powers of the witches. Lady Macbeth is almost like the fourth witch because she believes that foul is fair. Lady Macbeth thinks that ambition should be accompanied by illness. The audience also realize that it is Macbeth that is stopping Lady Macbeth from her evil ways. To her Macbeth’s tendency to speculate and think round problems is seen as a weakness. The hardness that he needs for the assassination must come from her. To do this she has to “chastise with the valour of my tongue.” This means she plans to nag him until he is ashamed of himself for being afraid to be bad. As she sees it is only fear that is keeping him from wearing the crown. This part of the scene is quite dramatic for the audience as they are trying to think how Lady Macbeth will entice him in to achieving their ambition.
When Lady Macbeth talks to herself after reading the letter she speaks in an intense enthusiasm. This makes it more dramatic for the audience because they realize something exhilarating is going to happen. The tension here increases as nothing straight away happens the longer the audience have to wait the more apprehension and anticipation there is.
When Lady Macbeth says “pour my spirits in thine ear,” the drama is immense and the audience are fascinated as she in speaking breathless and also has mentioned using ‘spirits’, which the audience know the word spirit is to do with supernatural powers. Lady Macbeth wants the spirits to take away her feminine side and dehumanise her. In this part of the scene she delivers the passage in a commanding tone. This emphasizes she is a strong and dominant character and will do her utmost to influence Macbeth’s view and when she has spoken to him he will be certain that any problems would be overcome.
When the messenger arrives the anxiety of both Lady Macbeth and the audience breaks. Lady Macbeth simply speaks to the messenger almost snapping at him. When the messenger comes in to say that the King is coming to stay in the castle Lady Macbeth’s first reaction is almost enough to give her away. The audience now know the exact plans of Lady Macbeth and wait anxiously as to what is going to happen and how Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are going to do this terrible accomplishment.
Lady Macbeth then starts speaking to herself. The audience realize that this is her way of encouraging and determining herself to take in the spirit of evil and go ahead with the terrible deed. “Unsex me here”, Lady Macbeth wants to loose all her womanliness. She wants to do this so she doesn’t feel guilty after the dreadful act has taken place. This makes it more dramatic for the audience because they realize that she cannot commit murder unless she is filled with evil spirits. Women in Shakespeare’s time were thought to be naturally more kind and gentle. This makes the scene more dramatic because the audience don’t expect a woman to be so dominant and so evil. The fact that on stage she would be looking straight at the audience would make the audience feels as though they are trapped in her evil spirited mind therefore making it more dramatic for the audience.
As Lady Macbeth is working herself up to a fever pitch of murderous intentions, Macbeth enters. She greets him as ”, and tells him that she feels "The future in the instant". In other words, she already feels like a Queen. Macbeth then says that Duncan is arriving that night, as though he's just telling her the news. However, Lady Macbeth already knows about Duncan's arrival and Macbeth probably knows that his wife knows because he's the one who sent the messenger. Given this, it seems likely that he's sounding her out, which he wants to know if she's thinking what he's thinking. This part of the scene is very dramatic for the audience probably because of the fast pace of the plot and the tone of Lady Macbeth’s voice. Her voice is very high pitched and makes the audience think something thrilling and breathtaking is going to happen.
When Macbeth says that Duncan will leave "to-morrow," she responds, “O, never shall sun that morrow see!” The sun will rise, but not on a tomorrow in which Duncan is alive.
The decision and the plan has been made quickly by Lady Macbeth and she can see Macbeth’s concern, which she knew was his weakness. This is a very effective way of creating drama for the audience because insecurity and instability creates more tension for the audience.
She tells him all he has to do is put on a pleasant face and “leave all rest to me.” This quote ends the scene with a tone of finality and the audience know for sure what the plan is and wait in suspense to see if it is successful
This has made up Macbeth’s mind for him. Lady Macbeth uses vivid imagery to persuade and influence him. “But be the serpent under’t.” this is particularly successful as they will have to be sly like a snake.
At the end of the scene the audience feel the power of Lady Macbeth’s determination and will power and also feel that they have been dramatically linked in the world of supernatural powers in some way.
