‘That thou mightest not lose the dues of rejoicing, by bein ignorant of what greatness is promised thee’
Macbeth thinks of others and not just him, showing how kind he is. Thus Lady Macbeth does know him as she describes him as:
‘Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the
Milk of human kindness.’
Basically, Lady Macbeth is saying her husband is weak, and although he has a lot of ambition in him he has not the courage to do anything, this shows the strain their marriage is under-going due to his lack of ‘motivation.’. Macbeth greets Lady Macbeth informally, whereas she addressed him formally. Calling him:
‘Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor!’
She uses this to emphasize his success. From this, it is evident that she doesn’t love him as much as Macbeth loves her. The use of the word ‘worthy’ shows that she is worshipping her husband, in way any normal wife should. Again he greets her:
’My dearest love.’
A difference in feelings is shown here, however Lady Macbeth cares for him, whereas Macbeth loves her. In this scene Lady Macbeth is in control.
‘Leave all the rest to me.’
This quote implies that Lady Macbeth is the most dominating of the couple, as she is trying to secure a future for her husband and herself. A woman being in control of a man would have been very unusual and suspicious back in the eleventh century. However. Now in the twenty-first century it is normal. Audiences of this play would be astounded and shocked to see Lady Macbeth in charge, and using witchcraft no less! To an eleventh century audience a controlling woman would have to be using witchcraft to rule her husband and plan a murder. First impressions of the wife would have to be that she is an evil, crazy and ambitious woman, who will do anything to achieve greatness, both for her and her husband.
In act 1 scene 7 Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan, she does this by telling Macbeth he is a coward, taunting him with;
‘Letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would’,
Like the poor cat i’ the adage?’
This makes Macbeth angry, as she has challenged his manhood. He tells her to stop but she does not, and once again she plays on his pride.
‘When you durst do it, then you were a man;’
Basically this means when you dare to kill, you will be a better man. She also tells him she would kill her own baby if he asked her to, because that is how much she loves him,
‘I would while it was smiling in my face, have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums, and dash’d the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this.’
This is quite disturbing and from this the audience’s first impression of her wouldn’t have changed much. This shows Lady Macbeth would do anything for her husband, including murder.
In the beginning of act 2 scenes 2 Lady, Macbeth reveals she is drunk, which has helped her become bold. Clearly showing that’s she herself was nervous of the murder. Although at the beginning Lady Macbeth is nervous, she becomes herself later on in the scene and takes charge. Macbeth carries out the murder but Lady Macbeth frames the bodyguards as Macbeth cannot carry on. Macbeth is most affected by the murder at the end of the scene as he mumbles to himself quite frequently.
In this scene (act 3 scene 2) Macbeth is now in control as he is now King. He plans the murder of Banquo and Fleance, but Lady Macbeth tells him not to. He scolds her, before he would never have done this but the sudden serge of authority and power in his life changed him. He also regards her differently, as before he thought of her as his partner of greatness, but now he calls her ‘chuck’. Macbeth’s behaviour has changed from cowardly babbling to powerful planning. Lady Macbeth’s character has changed from a powerful woman to a cautious, content woman.
In act 3 scene 4 Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo at the dinner table. When he reacts to it and shouts at it, his companions think he’s crazy, but Lady Macbeth jumps in to defend him. Saying it has been a problem since his childhood and they should ignore it, clearly showing that Lady Macbeth loves him and wants to protect him from humiliation. Although she is protecting him, she scolds him for being so jumpy and mad and tells him that his madness has made him forget he’s a man.
‘What! Quite unmann’d in folly?’
In this scene she obviously doesn’t understand his temporary madness and talks to him like one of her children instead of her husband. Thus showing the pressure their marriage is under.
In act 5 scene 1 Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking, Shakespeare uses this devise instead of a soliloquy because she is not aware she is doing it, she is not aware of what she is saying. She is speaking what she really feels on the inside. From the sleepwalking you can tell Lady Macbeth has a troubled mind. When she speaks, she says what Macbeth said in act 2 scenes 2, except it is from her, and she is scared and she can see and smell the blood on her hands. When she is in a trance she reveals her regret of killing Duncan and that she can undo it.
‘What’s done cannot be undone.’
While this is happening to his wife Macbeth is away fighting, showing that Lady Macbeth does not have her husband to support her through this difficult time.
In act 5 scenes 5, Lady Macbeth dies. And judging by his reaction Macbeth had stopped loving her a long time ago.
‘She should have died hereafter.’
In the end, the murders and deceit killed their marriage and it was inevitable it would happen, as in the beginning Macbeth loved Lady Macbeth but the feeling was not mutual. Towards the end Lady Macbeth loved Macbeth more but he was to busy ruling his kingdom. So throughout the play the marriage changed because Macbeth and Lady Macbeth wanted different things and their relationship suffered because of it. As the play went on, Macbeth became fearless and Lady Macbeth became more and more insecure. Therefore there slow, but sure separation indeed going to happen.
