The other noblemen of Scotland are Lennox, Angus, and Ross and King Duncan also holds referent and legitimate power over them. Also Duncan holds reward power over Macbeth, because when Macbeth has captured Macdonwald, he rewarded Macbeth with Macdonwald’s title as Thane of Cawdor.
Although, at this time in history men had power over women, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are somewhat equal in power in different forms of power. For, example Lady Macbeth holds expert power, because she can manipulate Macbeth into doing her dirty deeds, and mock his power and manliness and tempt him to prove to her he is strong. On the other hand, Macbeth, being a man in that time holds legitimate power over Lady Macbeth, because women were expected to stay home cook, clean, and take care of the children. We can clearly see that Lady Macbeth isn’t one of these women; she is strong-willed and determined. The more comments that she had made, the stronger she got. It made the reader more horrified to listen to her true nature. This is what makes her so different to the stereotypical woman of the times. Another thing that she had done to show that she was more powerful in the relationship was stopping Macbeth from speaking. He was saying, "If we should fail-" and she stops him by saying "But screw your courage to the sticking-place." During this act Macbeth is an indecisive character and still has some human kindness, moral, and loyalty to King Duncan. Like Lady Macbeth said, “…yet I fear thy nature. It is too full of the milk of human kindness…” (Act I, Scene 5)
Act II
In Act II, most of the power between characters have changed and shifted around. At the top of the chart are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, because in the beginning of this act Macbeth still can’t decide whether to kill Duncan or not, and then he sees a dagger floating towards his hand and thinks he’s hallucinating, after seeing it and making a speech, he decides that he’s going to kill Duncan after all. Lady Macbeth on the other hand, has gone a little soft, she said that she was going to kill Duncan herself, but when she saw him, he reminded her of her father and she couldn’t go through with it. Although in Act I, she seemed harsh, cruel, determined, and heartless, she’s shows more compassion in Act II. This shows that Macbeth has gained more power and ambition than Lady Macbeth. At the end of scene 1, Macbeth kills off Duncan and he and Lady Macbeth soon becomes king and queen of Scotland, therefore they hold the most power.
When Lennox shows up with Macduff, Macduff says he’ll go to wake Duncan, and Lennox mentions some strange events that happened at the place where they were staying that night to Macbeth while waiting, which means that they’re a disturbance in the Elizabethan Chain of Being. Soon after when Macduff comes back he says that he discovered Duncan’s dead body, but secretly he suspects that it’s foul play rather than his drunk guards killing him. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth pretend to play along with all of this and accuse the drunken guards of doing it. Duncan’s two sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, after hearing this, fear that they may become the next targets and they leave Scotland to different countries.
After Ross finds out about the news, is talking with an old man, his friend. They mention that Duncan’s horses became wild and ate each other, and an owl hunting mice attacked and killed a falcon, and the entire day was dark as night. The old man and Ross are exchanging important information, concerning the disruption of Elizabethan Chain of Being. Later Macduff comes and says that he is going to Fife and Ross announces that he is going to Scone.
Later in Act III, you will see Macbeth crowned as king and Banquo says, "Thou hast it now: King, Cawdor, Glamis, all, as the weird women promis'd." This shows that Banquo remembered the predictions that the Weird Sisters had made. Macbeth also remembers one of the predictions they had made was that Banquo's children becoming King after Macbeth. Since Macbeth feels that this must not happen, he hires murderers to kill Banquo and his son Fleance. He does this behind Lady Macbeth's back, which shows that they are no longer a united pair. They are actually now individuals, and Macbeth holds more power than Lady Macbeth now.
