“Yet I do fear thy nature
It is too full o’th’milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way”.
She is obviously aware that her husband may be too hesitant to be involved in killing his King. She decides she must manipulate him into believing as she does. She knows she can do this by playing on his conceit and reputation as a brave man. She resolves to
“….. Pour my spirits in thine ear,
And chastise with the valour of my tongue”.
This indicates her confidence in her power to persuade him.
These manipulative and persistently persuasive powers are displayed when Macbeth says he is not going to go ahead with the murder. She calls him a coward and tells him that his love is worth nothing to her if he doesn’t proceed with the murder.
"From this time
Such I account thy love"
This means his love is as worthless as a broken promise. She goes on to compare his determination to her own and how she herself is capable of committing murder. Even if it involved her own baby, she would have
"…...plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dashed the brains out".
This is a particularly fiend-like and horrendous image for any woman to imagine.
Lady Macbeth thinks that Macbeth is backing out of what he promised.
"What was’t then,
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst to do it you were a man"
Again she is emphasising that he is only fulfilling his previous reputation for bravery and being “a man”, if he goes ahead with the plot. She explains the plot to him, making it seem easy and reassuring him that it will be successful,
"…..but screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we’ll not fail"
This suggests it is only his weakness that will let them down.
Lady Macbeth made the preparations for the murder and awaits her husbands return. She shows signs of weaknesses and nervousness. We know that she has drunk alcohol and this is used sometimes to steady one’s nerves.
"That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold.
……………..hath given me fire.”
These two points back up the argument of Lady Macbeth not being a fiend-like queen since a totally evil person would not be nervous but confident about a murder. We also know that Lady Macbeth herself could not commit the murder. Whereas really evil people only have a strong desire for something they want, Lady Macbeth when she saw Duncan asleep, resembling her father, therefore she felt she was unable to commit the murder.
“……………….had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.”
When Macbeth returns, he is obsessed with thoughts of damnation. Lady Macbeth reacts as though she is glad to see his return but she is still nervous. We see this as the dialogue is short sentences. When he talks about his fears, however, she pulls herself together and dismisses them. She says to him
"…..consider it not so deeply."
This is said to mean he is seeing too far into it and everything will be fine. Here she is being strong for her husband. She then realises that Macbeth has returned with the daggers and not left them with Duncan’s guards. She tells him
"…..go carry them and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood".
Macbeth responds by saying that he will not go back. He is unable to comprehend what he has done. She tells him he is weak-minded and "infirm of purpose". Again she takes control - "give me the daggers.” She tells him that only children are afraid of a picture of the devil.
“The sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures.
Tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil."
She also tells him not to be so cowardly to imagine his hands permanently stained with blood. When her hands are covered in blood after she has smeared the guards, she tells Macbeth briskly that
“A little water clears us of this deed.”
When Lady Macbeth becomes queen, she is unsatisfied. At the start she feels that nothing has been gained.
"Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content".
She has got everything she wanted but does not have peace of mind. If she was completely evil and she really did want to be queen she would have been content. When Macbeth enters we see her change from an unhappy, alone woman to a strong one. Always when Macbeth appears weak, Lady Macbeth seems to feel she must be strong which sometimes has an appearance of being selfish, greedy or fiend-like.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth held a banquet. A murderer comes to report the death of Banquo. Here, Macbeth has become a lot more confident and is now excluding Lady Macbeth from his plans. I do not think Lady Macbeth is weakening just yet though as later, Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo. His reaction startles the guests and his wife pulls him to one side where she sneers at his actions. She is strong for her husband even though she is unhappy with her situation. At this stage also, she is unaware of the murder of Banquo.
Cursed by her feelings of guilt, Lady Macbeth begins to sleepwalk and her lady-in-waiting calls a doctor. While Lady Macbeth sleeps she repeats some of the happenings of the night of Duncan’s murder. She seems to be constantly washing her hands and not being able to get the smell of blood from them.
“Out damned spot”;
and again,
“Here’s the smell of blood still; all the
Perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.”
There is irony in this as she is the one who had told Macbeth that “a little water” would clear them of their actions.
A person usually sleepwalks when they are troubled. At this point, it appears that Lady Macbeth has finally cracked because of the strain of secrecy and being strong for Macbeth as well as herself. This proves she is not fiend-like because she knows what she has done is wrong. By this time also she must know, or suspect that Banquo and Lady Macduff, and her innocent children, have also been murdered. She may also feel responsible for setting Macbeth on this path of bloody massacre. At the end of the play she kills herself which shows that she doesn’t feel worthy enough to live for all the sins she has contributed towards.
From the beginning of the play we see Lady Macbeth, giving the impression of her being strong and powerful, gradually become a weak woman. This is why there is a strong argument for saying that Lady Macbeth is not fiend-like queen, or at least not completely. Any fiend-like qualities which she has surface only at the point of strong desire or when she needs something for someone very close to her.
