After Lady Macbeth hears news of Macbeth coming back she panics slightly and a sudden rush of planning comes over her. She realises that she must put into affect her plan and asks for the spirits to “unsex” her and give her the strength to be evil. There is no doubt in her mind that what she wishes to do is very evil as she then asks for the night to cover her tracks and for her not to be found out, “my knife see not the wound it makes”. Here Lady Macbeth refers to the murder as her knife. This could show that she was intending to murder Duncan herself; however this cannot be as she would not need Macbeth, so therefore it shows her love for Macbeth, as she refers to them as one almost by saying “my knife”.
Lady Macbeth is the first to mention murder when they meet together after Macbeth’s arrival home, when she hears that Duncan is to stay with them that night. “Never shall sun that morrow see”. Macbeth has not mentioned the Witches, or the prophesies, showing that Macbeth is much more hesitant about the murder.
During this conversation Lady Macbeth knows what she will say, and starts by telling him that he is too truthful, and that he is not very good at lying. “Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters.” This shows that she knows that Macbeth is hesitant and that it will be hard for him to commit this crime.
Lady Macbeth is also very commanding towards Macbeth, “look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” Here Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to hide himself from the king, and the other courtiers, so as he is not suspected by anyone. Macbeth is also very abrupt with her, “we shall speak further” as they discuss Duncan and the murder. This shows us that Macbeth, although in love with her, speaks to her as he does the witches, and his men on the battle field. This shows that he thinks himself superior to her and everyone else.
Would Macbeth have done it, if Lady Macbeth had not talked to him as she did? Macbeth did think of murder after the Witches predictions. Macbeth thinks of murdering Duncan before Lady Macbeth suggests it, but he is much more vague and wavering about it than Lady Macbeth. In this soliloquy he shows his true feelings toward the witch’s predictions as he talks of what they have said. Macbeth has not yet told Lady Macbeth at this point. “why do I yield to the suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair” Here, Macbeth is thinking of murder, but does give any real detail. When Lady Macbeth talks of murder, she talks of daggers, but Macbeth gives no indication of a weapon.
By the beginning of Act 1, scene 7, Macbeth is debating whether or not to kill Duncan. He starts his soliloquy saying that he would, but only if there were not to be any consequences, “If th’assassination Could trammel up the consequence and catch With his surceases, success” Macbeth believes that if only there were no consequences resulting from the murder, he would risk it, not worrying about the future, and would “jump the life to come”, meaning that he would go to hell for it.
He dose however consider the arguments against killing Duncan. He starts with vengeance saying that the killer will be killed, but moves on to kinship, as he is a relative to the king and that it would be wrong to kill him. “Strong both against the deed; then, as his host, Who should against his murderer shut the door” He also thinks of hospitality, and says that he should be protecting the king, as his host, from murderers. Macbeth also considers the religious consequences, that the killer is damned for eternity, and finally, pity and horror. ”And pity, like a naked newborn babe Striding the blast, or heaven’s cherubin horsed Upon the slightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, That tears shall drown the wind.” This shows that Macbeth knows that it is wrong to kill Duncan, as it is pitiful and horrid. We can see this from the language that he uses in this sentence.
In the final part, Macbeth talks of his ambition to become king. “ I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself And falls on th’other-“ Macbeth explains that ambition would be his only motive to kill Duncan. He does consider greatly the possibility of killing Duncan, and in this passage does not completely disregard it, however when talking to Lady Macbeth, he tells her that they will “proceed no further in this business”. This shows that Lady Macbeth will have to use all of her techniques to persuade him to kill Duncan.
The first technique she uses is accusing him of being a coward and not loving her. “such I account thy love.” This is quite clearly going to hit a nerve, as it is made obvious that he loves her by the way that he addresses her “My dearest love”. She is using emotional black mail here to gain what she wants from him.
Another technique that she uses is accusing him of being a coward, “As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life, And live a coward of thine own esteem”. We know that Macbeth is not a coward as he has just come back from fighting in battle, and it was described to the king in Act 1, Scene 2 of how he fought the battles and was a brave soldier.
Lady Macbeth also uses herself and the love that Macbeth has for her, and tells Macbeth of how she would do anything for him, shown when she says, “ I would, while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn As to you have done this”. Here she uses a powerful image to frighten Macbeth and shock him. She does this to have an effect, and shows that she can be ruthless about getting what she wants.
Towards the end of the scene, Macbeth practically asks for a full plan of what they should do when he says “If we should fail?” Here he asks what exactly they should do, and how it should be performed. Lady Macbeth plans everything, and sets it all up. She makes it so, that all Macbeth has to do is kill Duncan.
There are other reasons that could be the driving force behind the killing of Duncan. Macbeth is obviously an ambitious person, and this could play a vital role in his decision to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth is aware of his ambition however, “Art no without ambition,” and so could have used this to her advantage. However, ambition could have been the true driving force itself.
Macbeth also thinks of what the witches said when considering murdering King Duncan, as they were the first to mention him becoming king. “All hail Macbeth”. Lady Macbeth was not present at this time, and was only told of there prophecies after Macbeth had considered murder himself. “Let not the light see my black and deep desires”. Macbeth was very curious about what the witches knew, and how they new this. “Say from whence you owe this strange intelligence…Speak I charge you.” He tries to command them, to find out more, but they ignore him, and do not answer. This shows that Macbeth likes to control things, maybe his future and by killing Duncan he was, as he thought, controlling his future.
Macbeth was also a very responsible man, as he was Thane of Glamis, and fought for the king, proving that he is a strong-willed man. Therefore, I see no reason as to why he would not be able to control him self and resisted giving into his wife and own ambition. He had a choice after all.
I think however, after considering all of the evidence, that Lady Macbeth was the driving force behind the murder of Duncan. She used the love that Macbeth felt for her to get Macbeth to agree to kill him, and then made sure he did not fault in their plan. She did however; feel guilty after the murder as shown here when she says, “what, will these hands ne’er be clean?” She imagines that the blood that was spilt on her hands when killing Duncan was still there, and that she can not wash it off. Lady Macbeth does feel guilty for murdering Duncan, as did Macbeth. She does not feel this till much later in the play however, and only after she dwells on what they have done feels any resentment towards there actions. I believe that Lady Macbeth was just as ambitious as Macbeth, if not more so and therefore was the driving force behind the murder.