Lady MacBeth is another female (perhaps an additional considerable point as the four people who seem to have a great deal of influence in MacBeth’s decisions are all women) who, I believe, has a tremendous effect on, at least, MacBeth’s earlier actions. Lady MacBeth makes her first appearance in Act 1 Scene 5 where she is reading a letter from MacBeth. The letter tells of MacBeth’s encounter with the witches and details all the things that the witches have prophesised. He also tells how, after this meeting with the witches, came two of the King’s footmen who hailed him ‘Thane of Cawdor’. After reading this letter Lady MacBeth voiced the opinion that MacBeth would receive all that the witches stated he would but that he was,
“Too full of the milk of human kindness…”
I.e. too weak and kind hearted to attempt to get it by himself. When MacBeth arrives home the husband and wife begin to discuss the possible murder of King Duncan. MacBeth shows that he is not really willing to go ahead with it and Lady MacBeth begins to chastise him, shame him, make him feel guilty and finally plead with him before building up a plan ensuring that they will not be suspected of the murder. It is only after she goes through the details of the plot that he eventually agrees to kill Duncan. At this point in the performance it seems as if it is Lady MacBeth who ‘wears the trousers’ in their household. When she wants something e.g. the throne she gets it, no matter what she has to do to reach her goals. When the time comes to commit the murder MacBeth doesn’t really do anything except the actual stabbing. When MacBeth returns to his chamber in shock it is Lady MacBeth who returns to the scene of the crime and plants the knives, framing the two sleeping guards who were supposed to be taking care of King Duncan. After placing the daggers she returns to MacBeth, both of them wash the blood off their hands and climb into bed.
Soon after the murder of Duncan, MacBeth also kills Banquo, a notable point of this section of the play is that Lady MacBeth had nothing whatsoever to do with this next murder and MacBeth who, at first was so scared and nervous, committed this murder completely by himself. Although, when Banquo’s ghost arrives in the dining chamber while the MacBeth’s are hosting a banquet Lady MacBeth remains completely calm even though MacBeth is the only person who can see the ghost. Covering up her husband’s seemingly absurd actions Lady MacBeth tells her guests to,
“Sit, worthy friends. My Lord is often thus.”
After this scene it looks as if Lady MacBeth has disappeared from the play completely. Her next appearance shows her in a state of mind astonishingly different from the strong woman she was in the early scenes of the production. At this point in time she is frail and has begun sleepwalking, something, which at that time was thought to be connected with people who were mentally ill. During her sleepwalking she begins talking out loud, revealing details of the murders of King Duncan, Banquo and MacDuff’s wife and children. This transformation from strong to weak is striking as it shows how MacBeth and his wife have seemingly switched roles with the strongest minded out of the two now feeling guilty and vice-versa. Towards the end of the play Lady MacBeth becomes nothing more than a shadow of her former self, a woman trapped inside her own guilt who becomes so beleaguered by this self-reproach that she takes her own life.
Now to MacBeth himself, he is the leading character and the play’s title is his name. At the very beginning of the play MacBeth is one of the most favoured men in the King’s court. He is a much-celebrated soldier who is seen to be one of the best warriors in Scotland. As well as having the favour of the King himself,
“Conduct me to mine host. We love him highly,
And shall continue our graces towards him.”
He has recently been promoted from being Thane of Glamis to being Thane of Cawdor also. The latter being a highly prestigious title. But even after this and all the praise that was heaped onto him after his victories his thirst for power was not quenched. This hunger for control is first seen when as soon as the witches tell him what the future beholds he begins thinking wicked thoughts about murdering King Duncan, which he then tries to dispel from his mind. Then, after Lady MacBeth speaks to him and King Duncan is slaughtered it seems that MacBeth has developed a lust for murder. This is surprising, as early on in the presentation MacBeth seemed scared at the concept of stabbing King Duncan. After the assassination of Duncan MacBeth seems to find it easy to kill anybody else who is going to hinder his quest for supremacy e.g. Banquo, who was told that he would father a line of Kings. At the end of the play it even seems as though he has developed a passion for murdering innocent people. After a meeting with one of the witches’ apparitions who tells him,
“…None of woman born
Shall harm MacBeth.”
MacBeth believes himself to be indestructible, a man who no one can kill. At the end of the play MacBeth does die, but he does not give up. Even when he finds that there is no way he is going to survive his final battle he refuses to surrender, perhaps that is one of the reasons why people feel affection towards his character. But one can only wonder what could have been had he chosen a different path. If he had chosen not to listen to the words of those evil beings that had intercepted him on his journey home from war his whole life could have taken a different route. MacBeth says as much himself,
“My way of life
Is fallen into the sere, the yellow leaf,
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have.”
In this statement MacBeth reveals regrets he has due to the way in which he has lived his life, speaking of the friends he feels he could have had, the honour and love he could have had, had he chosen not to kill King Duncan.
In the finishing stages of the play MacBeth find himself in a situation that he cannot possibly win, putting all his trust into the witches and their predictions was a mistake that he later regrets. After listening to the things he was told during the second encounter he felt that the only things that could destroy him were impossible. One of the key things he was told was,
“MacBeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnham Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.”
He faced his enemies using this knowledge which did him no good as the bad things the witches predicted came true. Even when he finds that the witches ‘betrayed’ him he continues to fight bravely. I think that for this reason readers and watchers of the play feel a sense of pity for MacBeth, a man who had placed his everything into the hands of those who were to ultimately deceive him. A sad aspect is the fact that until the killing of Duncan, MacBeth had gross potential. He was a brave soldier who never tried to lay blame on others and took the burden of responsibility himself after committing wrongful deeds. I believe that the accountability for the killings lies between the MacBeths. All the witches did was plant an idea, it was MacBeth and his wife who carried out the evil deeds and committed the murders. I don’t think that either of them really deserves more blame then the other when considering the first murder but after that it was all down to MacBeth himself. In the two succeeding murders Lady MacBeth didn’t have an active role and therefore the blame for these crimes lies solely with MacBeth. I believe another small portion of the blame lies with Banquo because when he first suspected MacBeth of slaying King Duncan he didn’t say anything. Perhaps this was because of greed, remember Banquo had been assured that he would father a line of Kings. So, no one really knows where the blame for these tragedies lies but I believe it was the result of a series of different events centred on the witches, the MacBeths and their friend Banquo.
