‘Look like the innocent flower but be the serpent under ‘t ‘
It is very revealing that she uses ‘innocent’ because it shows that she is telling him to change into something that he isn’t. This also shows that the relationship is starting to deteriorate. It is also visible that they have reacted different to that situation which drives them further apart. It would appear that Macbeth is the innocent flower and Lady Macbeth is the serpent. This is a good representation of their personalities. During the course of the play we see that the serpent of Lady Macbeth eats up the innocent flower in Macbeth and plants the seed of a weed. When the weed sprouts it grows apart from the serpent and the serpent shrivels and dies from loneliness and guilt. It is ironic that
Lady Macbeth shows that she is the dominant character in organizing the murder of Duncan.
‘ you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch’
It is easy to see how Lady Macbeth feels about the deed that they are going to do. She refers to it as ‘great’ which shows its importance to her and how this affects the power in the relationship.
The relationship is very close at the start of the play and it is noticed by Duncan.
‘ His great love, sharp as his spur, hath holp him
To his home before.’
This tells us that their relationship show to the outside world is Macbeth’s ‘great love’ for Lady Macbeth. Duncan also uses the simile ‘sharp as his spur’ which tells us just how great his love must have been because he would have had a very sharp spear.
For the first time in the play we encounter Lady Macbeth and Macbeth having disagreements about what they are just about to do. Macbeth in his soliloquy thinks of many good reasons to no kill Duncan and because of those thoughts he tells lady Macbeth that they are not to proceed any further in this business. Despite this Lady Macbeth cunningly changes Macbeth’s mind by unleashing her deadly weapons on him.
The first technique that she uses in emotional blackmail:
‘ From this time
Such I account thy love.’
This is Lady Macbeth questioning Macbeth’s love for her. The term ‘account thy love’ means to know how much you love me so Lady Macbeth is forcing Macbeth to do the deed or otherwise she will know that he does not love her.
The second weapon that Lady Macbeth is a taunt of cowardice towards Macbeth:
‘ Art thou afreard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire?’
This is the most powerful technique out of the two because in this technique she is questioning his manhood and his ability to do his duty. ‘Art thou afreard’, this is very strong because Macbeth has just become Thane of Cawdor as well as being Thane of Glamis, so to say that he is a coward is out of the question. This shows how well each other knows each other because they know each others weaknesses and strengths.
Macbeths acknowledges her ‘undaunted mettle’ and praises it. However this fake power which has been given by the spirits and later on that reliance on the spirits will lead her into torment. Although Macbeth is hesitant he is overwhelmed by the unnatural power of Lady Macbeth and might feel under a bit of pressure to equal or even top that amount of power.
After Duncan’s murder Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have different views on the subject of guilt and having dirty hands.
Macbeth says:
“the multitudinous seas incarnadine’
This means that if Macbeth was to dip his hands into the ocean then the oceans would all turn red from the blood and guilt of the murder on Duncan whereas Lady Macbeth says the total opposite:
‘A little water clears us of the deed.’
The difference in the two approaches to the theme of guilt is enormous. Macbeth is talking about ‘multitudinous’ which means all of and Lady Macbeth uses the term ‘A little’ in response. There is another difference between the to their attitudes, Macbeth says ‘seas’ but Lady Macbeth says ‘water’. There is a lot of difference here because one sea is made up of millions of gallons of water and Macbeth is saying lots of seas. It is ironic that Lady Macbeth says that a little water will clean them of the deed now but later on in the play we she goes crazy and comes to the conclusion that her hands will never be clean.
As the play goes on their relationship deteriotes more and more. A good example of this is when Macbeth plans to kill Banquo and his son but does not tells his wife.
‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck’
This is a very good example of how their relationship has deteriorated because in the beginning of the play when Macbeth knew about the knowledge of him becoming King the first thing he did is tell his wife, but now his wife has to ask him and also he has not told he which shows that Macbeth doesn’t feel that they are equal in their relationship anymore. He also refers to her as ‘dearest chuck’ where as at the beginning of the play when he wrote the letter he refered to her as ‘dearest love’. When you call someone chuck you thing lowly of them.
Another example of the relation deteriorating is when the nurse says that Lady Macbeth requests a candle to be on all the time. This shows that Macbeth is that candle and has been blown out so now Lady Macbeth has to have a substitute.
In the play ‘Macbeth’ we see the destructive force on evil and how it can brake up even the strongest of relationships, ie Macbeths and Lady Macbeths.
