I think that Shakespeare intentionally introduces us to Lady Macbeth with her calling down the forces of evil because it makes us able to understand the kind of pressures that Macbeth had both trying to do the right thing and following the wishes of both his wife and the witches. Shakespeare’s presentation of Lady Macbeth under these circumstances sets the audiences view of her for the rest of the play and the only point where perhaps the audience changes their view of her is during the sleepwalking scene just before she commits suicide. During the time when Shakespeare wrote the play, he knew that his audience was very superstitious about things like witchcraft and evil. By making Lady Macbeth appear so evil so early in the play he was adding a bit of excitement and fear into the play because he did no have the use of special effects.
The next major scene we see Lady Macbeth in is when she and Macbeth hold the banquet after his coronation. This banquet takes place while Macbeth has secretly sent some murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. During the banquet they come to report that the deed has been done but Fleance escaped before they could kill him as well. This is not a major setback to Macbeth though. His wife did not know anything about this because he did not talk to her about his plans to kill Banquo. This already shows us that Lady Macbeth is already beginning to lose her control over Macbeth. We can see this by the way her orders Banquo’s death without her whereas she had to orchestrate Duncan’s murder. Even though the two have started to separate, Macbeth is still not able to survive without Lady Macbeth at his side. This is blatantly obvious when we see the ghost of Banquo sitting in Macbeth’s place at the table. When Macbeth starts to become scared by the presence of the ghost, Lady Macbeth jumps in for him telling the lords around the table not to worry about him because it is a medical condition which he is getting cured. Once again we see Lady Macbeth’s willingness to lie to anyone she needs to, to cover up the truth. “Sit worthy friends: my Lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth”. This is an example of the sort of lies that Lady Macbeth is prepared to tell in order to prevent Macbeth from losing face in public.
In this scene Shakespeare presents us many changes going on in the couple’s relationship. This is shown by the way Macbeth is losing his need for Lady Macbeth to support him any more. In the same way we see Laby Macbeth lose her control over him. Before she was telling him what to do, it is now him deciding what he wants to do himself. This is the first sign that Shakespeare gives us of what is happening and is going to happen to Lady Macbeth.
The final scene that Lady Macbeth acts in is the sleepwalking scene that takes place just before Macbeth’s final battle. In this scene we see Lady Macbeth after she has finally lost control of Macbeth. This scene is set while Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking around her castle. We see tht she is finally feeling the full force of her actions. She has made the transition from being the powerful queen filled with evil thoughts and deeds to a quivering mass of guilt. She is spotted by the doctor and the gentlewoman. They notice that she continually rubs her hands together as if trying to clean them of dirt that only she can see.
This demonstrates to us that she is so guilty about all the deaths she has caused that she see their blood on her hands and she cannot get it off. “Out damned spot: out I say”. This is a quote from Lady Macbeth when she is trying to get the “blood” off her hands. It also shows that she cannot even control the thoughts of her own mind let alone control Macbeth. The change in her character is not finally complete and the power has shifted from her to Macbeth who is now making important decisions for himself without consulting his wife. Without the power which made her strong, Lady Macbeth had now become even weaker than she was before she called evil to possess her.
Shakespeare presents us with this final change in Lady Macbeth’s character in a very obvious way. This is probably meant to be very clear to the audience that Lady Macbeth is now paying for her evil deeds by going insane. The imaginary blood on her hands is perhaps the clearest symbol of this. Shakespeare has presented many changes in Lady Macbeth’s character but the changes from the banquet scene to now is probably the easiest to see.
Prior to going to see the production of Macbeth in the Lyric Theatre, I had already finished the play and therefore had a good image of Lady Macbeth in my head. The Lyric actress portrayed the character of Lady Macbeth in the way that I had imagined reading the play. In the first scene she came across as an evil woman out for her and Macbeth’s own gain. Then during the banquet scene she seemed to be losing control of Macbeth and this was evident from her acting. In the final sleepwalking scene, she appeared in her element as she played the insane and guilty queen. It was very clear from her acting the changes that had taken place from the start of the play when we first saw her reading Macbeth's letter.
In conclusion throughout the play both Shakespeare and the actress at the Lyric showed clear changes that took place in Lady Macbeth’s character, ie from an all powerful and controlling woman to an insane, guilt-ridden queen on the verge of suicide.
