In Act one Scene seven Macbeth cannot decide whether to murder the king or not. He knows that killing Duncan is a 'horrid deed' to do in the eyes of man and in the eyes of God but his ambitions make him want to do it, however, in the end he decides against it. Lady Macbeth who is obviously desperate for her husband to be king then tries various ways to try and persuade him to murder Duncan. The first method of persuasion she uses is asking rhetorical questions like 'Was the hope drunk wherein you dressed yourself?' and 'Hath it slept since?' Hoping to make him feel bad and that he is indecisive for breaking a promise. Her next method of persuasion is making him feel like an un-manly coward by saying 'Art thou a feared to be the same in thine own act andvalour, as thou art in desire?' And 'When you durst do it you were a man'. She's asking him if he is afraid to do evil and be evil like he is in his dreams and that now he has decided against committing murder he is not a man anymore. I think that it would hurt Macbeth's pride to be called a coward and un-manly, especially by his wife and would maybe decide to kill the king to prove he was still a man.
I think throughout this scene Lady Macbeth is the dominant one of the two because she does nearly all of the talking without letting her husband to retaliate. She almost bullies him into listening to her - he has no choice but to listen to her point of view and feels there is no way after all she has said that he can go back on his word. I think Lady Macbeth used very good persuasion techniques but is quite devious and would stop at nothing to get her own way.
In Act two, after murdering Duncan, Macbeth says 'This is a sorry sight', but Lady Macbeth again shows her power over Macbeth. 'A foolish thing to say a sorry sight'. This shows how she is still cold hearted, as she thinks it is 'foolish' for a man to show remorse at a murder he committed. She orders him to not think 'so deeply', saying that thinking about the deed 'will make us mad' and 'unbend your noble strength'. Here we see a slightly weaker side to Lady Macbeth, she is herself feeling vulnerable to guilt, almost immediately after the murder. This is shown in 'will make us mad'. The 'us' shows that she is no longer only concerned for Macbeth, but is worried about her own mental state too, fretting that she may go mad with guilt. But soon after, Lady Macbeth regains her control, and begins to once more organise affairs, 'go get some water and wash this filthy witness from your hand'. This implies that Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to get dispose of himself, as she asks him to dispose of 'this filthy witness', suggesting that Macbeth rid himself of the part of him that was uncertain and stood watching the other side of him murder Duncan. Again this is another massive request from Lady Macbeth, but Macbeth seems to obey anyway, showing her power over him. Macbeth however is 'appalled by every noise' and 'Wake Duncan with thy knocking'. The fact that he is 'appalled by every noise' suggests Macbeth is a nervous wreck, and the fact that he wishes Duncan was alive suggests he is racked by guilt, showing how Lady Macbeth is very much still in control of the relationship. Macbeth stays weak now to the end of the scene commenting on his inability to say Amen 'I could not say Amen whenthey said God bless us' and 'I heard a voice cry "sleep no more Macbeth do murder sleep". His mind is torturing him; he thinks he'll never be able to sleep again. Lady Macbeth tries to convince him that what is done has been done and that there is no going back. This shows Lady Macbeth's care for her husband.
In Act three we see Lady Macbeth's weaknesses coming through. However despite the fact that both are feeling guilty, Lady Macbeth tries to remain strong in front of Macbeth arguing 'what's done is done'. There is however a hint of remorse in Lady Macbeth's voice, showing how she is losing her power over Macbeth, mainly because she is finding it hard to get over her guilt. But when Macbeth cries out 'O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife', this shows how despite Lady Macbeth's best efforts to make Macbeth forget his evil deeds, he cannot let go, and so Lady Macbeth's power over him continues to wane, as she is losing the ability to control him.
This appears to be a turning point of sorts, and Macbeth now begins to take the matter of murder into his own hands, as he says he is going to perform a 'deed of dreadful note. He seems to be in the driving seat, telling her she should be 'innocent' of the act, which echoes Lady Macbeth's 'innocent flower' quote earlier, showing how their roles have swapped and the relationship has flipped.
Soon later Macbeth plots to kill Banquo, without Lady Macbeth's knowledge. This implies that the couple's relationship has drifted and is no longer the loving and caring relationship that it used to be.
We can also compare Act one Scene seven with Act three Scene four. During a banquet when Banquo's ghost appears to Macbeth and sits at his place at the table, but Macbeth is unnerved by the ghost and talks to him out loud. Lady Macbeth covers for husband telling the Lords his hallucinations were due to a childhood illness 'My Lord is often thus, and hath been from his youth' she also tells them not to stare 'If you note him you shall offend him and extend his passion'. Once again she is desperately trying to cover for her husband. She takes him aside and scalds him about his behaviour 'Are you a man?' and 'Shame itself! Why do you make such faces'. She scolds him like she does in Act one Scene seven but this time he doesn't listen to her; her persuasion techniques don't work any more. Banquo's ghost appears again and this time Macbeth becomes violent so his wife gets rid of the guests very quickly 'Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once'. Macbeth tells his wife of his fear that there are more bad deeds to come and that tomorrow he is returning to see the witches. Lady Macbeth is still trying to make her husband forget what has happened and is still the strong one of the two who seems to be holding everything together just like she was earlier in the play. Macbeth feels on his own in this scene as he talks with a lot of I's in his speech 'I am in blood, I stepped in so far that I wade no more' whereas in act 1 scene 7 he spoke of them as a couple 'We will not fail', 'When we have marked' and 'We'd still have'.
In the end after Lady Macbeth's bizarre death Macbeth mourns, not over his wife's death but the way of life. In his speech he seemed to have forgotten about his wife's death but instead refers to what lies ahead. This shows that Macbeth is no longer a loving, caring husband, which he started out to be.
