When Macbeth tells her that he is having doubts about the murder of Duncan, she throws up insults at him. She says that he was drunk when he had the idea, and says that he is like the cat who wanted to eat fish, but would not get her feet wet (a proverb). Also, she questions his manhood, saying the when he told her, then he was a man, but now, he is no linger a man – she opposes womanhood to embarrass him. After all this, she continues to insult him by saying that if she had to pluck her own child off her nipple and, while it was smiling at her, dash its brains out – if she had sworn to him to do it.
After the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth seems rather on edge. She says to herself “Alack, I am afraid they have awaked.” As before, she has to tell Macbeth what to do- he is too broken down & amazed at what he has just done. She then plucks up some courage – I think that it is for Macbeth's sake – and takes the daggers back. When she gets back, she washes the blood off her hands, saying “A little water clears us of this deed.” – whereas Macbeth is convinced that all the water in the world will turn red before his hands become clean.
In Act three, Scene two, she reassures Macbeth that everything will be all right. It is the day of the banquet. She says to him “Sleek o’er your rugged looks,” meaning loosen up a little. She also says in this scene that they can’t go back – what’s done is done.
At the banquet, Lady Macbeth covers for Macbeth – by saying to all of the lords that he has had a problem since childhood – that he sees things.
Lady Macbeth loses her influence after about Act three, Scene four – the Banquet Scene.
This means that she is in ten scenes, spanning all five acts.
The Witches
When the witches first meet up with Macbeth, they greet him as:
“Thane of Glamis”
“Thane of Cawdor”
“That shall be King here-after!”
The main thing that they don’t say is anything at all about killing the current king – Duncan.
Macbeth takes these predictions as rubbish at first, but when he is informed that the king has named him Thane of Cawdor, he thinks that the predictions must be true. Banquo thinks that they are rubbish – and tells Macbeth to ignore them.
After the murders of Duncan and Banquo, Macbeth goes to see the witches. The significant thing about Him seeking Them out is that he did it off his own back – no-one told him to do it, he wanted to find out more.
After seeing the apparitions, Macbeth does not worry about anything – he says to himself “Why worry when I will not be killed by anyone born of a woman”. Also he believes that the wood cannot move up the hill – so he does not worry about that either.
The witches only really appear in three significant scenes altogether, but they span four of the five acts in the play.
Macbeth
Later on in the play, Macbeth seems to work on his own a lot more. He organises the murder of Banquo on his own; he decides to go and see the witches on his own; he decides to murder Macduff’s family, once again on his own.
The Main Culprit
In my opinion, the main person responsible for persuading Macbeth to do evil is Macbeth himself. He didn’t have to listen to the witches, and he definitely didn’t have to kill Duncan – who knows, he may have become king after Duncan anyway. Quite a lot of the play is Macbeth's doing – with Lady Macbeth covering up for him in places, and the witches telling him what will happen. He isn’t told how to interpret the prophesies – so he does it his way. 823 words