How important is the influence of lady Macbeth on her husband in Shakespeare’s Macbeth
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is influenced by many strong female figures not only his wife but also the three weird sisters. Both women characters play a crucial part in the actions of Macbeth and are a result of his death in the end, because they have turned a brave man into savage villain. I believe that the weird sisters play a more important role in influencing Macbeth than Lady Macbeth because the predictions of the witches influence her.
Until Macbeth murders the king Lady Macbeth’s influence over her husband is very strong. After the murder Shakespeare’s character (Macbeth) does not tolerate his wife and her opinions as much as he used to. Finally at the end when Lady Macbeth dies, her husband does not need her any longer. Shakespeare first shows us that Macbeth pays a lot of attention to his wife’s opinion when she questions Macbeth’s masculinity and persuades him into committing the crime of regicide of King Duncan when Lady Macbeth says ‘When you durst do it then you were a man’ (line 48) and another example is ‘live a coward in thine own esteem’ (line 43, both act 1 scene 7). Directly after the murder Macbeth still relies on his wife because he was very reluctant to kill Duncan. He is feeling very guilty and a bit disorientated, where as she is not and this gives him reassurance, for example she says ‘my hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white’ (line 67, act 2, scene 2) and ‘a little water clears us of this deed, how easy is it then! (Line 70, act 2, scene 2). Evidence of Macbeth’s wilting need for Lady Macbeth’s influence shows when he kills Banquo without consulting her. When she finds out she gives advice ‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy’ (line 6, act 3, scene 2) to Macbeth but he does not listen to it. At this point the roles are changing from the beginning when Macbeth relied on his wife, but now Lady Macbeth is slowly starting to rely on her husband. I believe that Macbeth was not evil at heart but that Lady Macbeth turned him into a savage, evil, spiteful man. This illustrates that Lady Macbeth’s influence is important at the beginning but not at the end of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
