When Macbeth arrives, Lady Macbeth is encouraging towards him as she praises him when he enters,“Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor, Greater than both by the all-hail hereafter” telling him that he will be king, better than a thane. They speak to each other with such closeness and bond and responds to her as his “dearest love”. Lady Macbeth begins to criticise him and urges him to “look like an innocent flower” so people can be deceived, showing that she is the stronger one in the relationship. She then states that she will make all the preparations for the kings visit and subsequent to the murder, “Leave all rest to me” showing that Lady Macbeth is the driving force of the marriage.
In Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth tells his wife that he does not want to pursue the deed of illing the king. As she heard this, she instantly attacked him and questions him. She specifically attacks his manhood, “green and pale”, “art thou afreed” and calls him a coward. He defends himself, telling her that he is being manly, “I dare do all that become a man” which means he has done everything to become a man. Lady Macbeth then asks Macbeth why he told her of the prophecy f he didn’t intend to follow it through and agin she questions his manhood, “That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you break, then you were a man”. Lady Macbeth changes her tactic, revealing that she has become more malevolence and will persevere to get what she wants. She uses a horrific image of killing her smiling baby “while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums” as a way to show her commitment to this deed to Macbeth. This is showing her strength of mind as she persuades Macbeth by constantly attacking him and making him feel weak about his masculinity. Macbeth responds, “If we should fail” showing that Lady Macbeth is a major influence to Macbeth at this point as he begins to think the same way as her for he re-considers the deed to kill Duncan. At this point in the play, Shakespeare re-confirms just how close the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is and that she has the power and he listens to whatever she has to say.
Lady Macbeth’s performance in Act2, Scene 2 is full of excitement and emotion. She is confident at the start of this scene as what made the guards drunkmade her “bold” which is also suggesting that she is nervous for she need a drink to give her courage, “hath given me fire.” We can sense that she is on the edge by the way she reacted to the owl’s shriek “Hark! Peace” which shows that she got a fright. Towards the end of her speech she becomes calmer as she feels a sense of satisfaction that she has “drugged their possets” therefore she is a step closer into fulfilling the deed. Macbeth is regretful straight away after doing the deed, “Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst” and feels that no water will clear away the blood from his hands, “will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood” meaning that his own hands bear witness to the murder. However Lady Macbeth rebukes her husband for having such thoughts and responds that blood can easily be cleared up with water, “a little water clears us of this deed” therefore there will be no evidence linking them to Duncan’s murder.
In Act 2, Scene 3, Lady Macbeth seems to faint when saying, “Help me hence no!” after Macduff announces Duncan has been murdered. She may have done this attract attention away from Macbeth as he is saying too much as she fears that their guilt will be discovered. She may have done this to look traumatised about the situation, which will indicate her innocence.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both show some doubts and disturbance in Act 3, Scene 2 but do not confind in each other, showing that their communication is breaking down after what has happened. In the beginning of the scene Lady Macbeth reveals she is regretful as she says, “Nought’s had, all spent” which tells us that she feels they have done a lot but have got nothing back in return. Lady Macbeth is not happy “without content” although she has got what she wanted, “where our desire is got”. When Macbeth comes she is calming and consoling as she thinks that Macbeth is thinking about Duncans murder, she tells him “what’s done is done” which is a contrast to her silioquoy. Macbeth has taken the initiative from his wife by plotting Banquo’s murder on his own. Now Macbeth uses language of horror by stating that his mind is “full of scorpions”. This links back to when Lady Macbeth made a plea to the spirit world for the loss of her femininity, to be unsexed. Now Macbeth also desires to be rid of his humanity, calling for the dissolution of the bond between him and the natural world.
Macbeth finds out from one of his murders that Banquo has been killed in Act 3, Scene 2 and he then sees Banquo’s ghost, but nobody else there can see this ghost. As quickly as the ghost appeared, it disappears and instantly Macbeth’s confidence returns. This happens throughout the feast, and those assembled there wonder at Macbeth’s sanity. Lady Macbeth immediately takes charge and tries to cover for her husband’s strange behavior, “the fit is momentary” and says that he has suffered from this affliction since he was a youth. This is not the first times she has had to attract attention away from Macbeth and this scene clearly shows that there has been a change in their relationship as she does not feel worry about Macbeth’s mysterious behaviour. She blames his imaginations on his fears, “very painting of your fear” and begins to attack his manliness once again saying that this is like “a woman’s story”. The breakdown of their relationship is further confirmed when she shows more concerns about the people around the table, “your noble friends do lack you”. Towards the end of the scene she shows more affection towards Macbeth, “you lack the season of all natures, sleep” showing that she still cares and tells him that he should go to sleep.
Lady Macbeth’s character changes dramatically in Act 5, Scene1 as she has become weak and less confident. She begins talking in her sleep. She has become mad and starts ranting and raving, “Out, damned spot!” Out I say!” which shows she is breaking down for in previous scenes she was more in control. She shows excessive fear of blood as she tries to remove blood from Ducan, “look, how she rubs her hands” she cannot forget about the blood on her hands and the image haunts her. AS well as seeing it, she can smell it and it cant be remove, “all the perfumes in Arabia, will not sweeten this little hand” this links to Macbeth’s point about the blood being unable to be washed away by Neptunes oceans. Lady Macbeth reflects on what happened after the murder of Duncan and her behaviour at the Banquet “to bed, to bed”. She is echoing her husband’s behaviour and is hallucinating.
