‘Your majesty loads our house. For those of old,
And the late dignities heaped up to them,
We rest your hermits.’
However we remember her advice to her husband:
‘Look like the innocent flower
But be the serpent under’t.
This is the recurring theme of the play.
She is lulling them into a false sense of security and safety showing how she is cunning and crafty.
In Act I, scene vii Macbeth has slipped out of the supper-room and is having second thoughts on the plan to murder Duncan. He is aware of the seriousness of his proposed crime against an innocent guest. When Lady Macbeth finds him, Macbeth has decided to cancel the plan but his wife persuades him to change his mind. They argue but she outlines her tactics and Macbeth agrees to it.
Macbeth’s final words in scene v were ‘We shall speak further’. His wavering is continued into this scene but when Lady Macbeth joins him she takes over and tells him what is to be done. She pressures him into doing it by going into the heart of what he values, being a man:
‘When you durst do it, then you were a man.’
She says he has to prove his manhood by acting decisively. Lady Macbeth does what she says she will do in Act I scene v: ‘pour my spirits in thine ear’. Macbeth argues but it is obvious Lady Macbeth is dominant, her strength of purpose and leadership are a remarkable contrast to Macbeth’s performance at this stage. In the end he is reduced to the cowardly line: ‘If we should fail?’
Failing is not something Lady Macbeth even bothers to contemplate and she reassures him that nothing will go wrong:
‘We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we’ll not fail.’
Even though Macbeth is a strong warrior and Lady Macbeth is only a woman, she is the strong one in the relationship. She uses wit and knowledge of him to manipulate him. Showing she is cunning and devious.
In Act II, scene ii Lady Macbeth has drugged Duncan’s servants and now, stimulated by wine, she awaits the completion of the murder and the return of her husband. Macbeth enters, almost out of his mind, unable to distance himself from the scene in Duncan’s room. He is rebuked by his wife who, seizing control of the situation, finds that she has to take the daggers back because Macbeth has removed them and is incapable of returning to the scene of his crime. A sound of knocking is heard and Macbeth is lead out by his wife to wash off the blood and change into his dressing-gown.
Lady Macbeth is clearly – despite some nervous apprehension – in control of herself and of her husband. Her mood is exultant and bold, and she boasts how she has drugged the guards.
However there is a redeeming quality because she would have murdered Duncan herself, except his sleeping form reminded her of her father:
‘Had he not resembled
My father as he slept, I had done’t.’
This shows she is not all bad and does have tender feelings like a normal human. She also had to have alcohol before she did the deed, showing that Lady Macbeth might not be as bold as she seems and it could just be the alcohol that’s making her so confident:
‘That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold.’
When Macbeth appears the conversation between him and Lady Macbeth is short, jerky dialogue suggesting panic and nervousness:
‘Macbeth: When?
Lady Macbeth: Now.
Macbeth: As I descended?
Lady Macbeth: Ay.
Macbeth: Hark, who lies i’th’ second chamber?
Lady Macbeth: Donaldbain.
Macbeth: This is a sorry sight.’
Lady Macbeth reacts towards Macbeth with scorn and frustration ordering him to pull himself together and stop being to paranoid and childish. She is practical and controlling.
‘Lady Macbeth: Consider it not so deeply
Macbeth: But wherefore cold not I pronounce ‘Amen’?
I had most need of blessing and ‘Amen’
Stuck in my throat.
Lady Macbeth: These deeds must not be thought
After these ways; so, it will make us mad.’
Lady Macbeth planned the execution and it is her readiness of mind and strength of purpose that compensates for Macbeth’s failure to act decisively once the murder is committed, for example, how she masterfully takes the daggers back.
Ironically, Lady Macbeth imagines that washing ones hands will wash away guilt; however by the final act it is she, finally, who is unable to wash her hands clean. This scene is a clever dramatic device that is carried on until the end of the play. Lady Macbeth’s comment to Macbeth, ‘Infirm of purpose!’ comes back to haunt her, as he strengthens in evil resolve, whilst she becomes madly suicidal – anticipated in her dismissive comment ‘so, it will make us mad’.
In Act II, scene iii the knocking increases and the Porter, still drunk, organises himself to open the gate and, eventually, he lets Macduff and Lennox enter. Macbeth appears apparently wakened by the noise. When Macduff, who has gone to waken the King, returns with the news of his murder and raises the alarm, Macbeth and Lennox go to investigate. Lady Macbeth enters followed by Banquo and, while the news is discussed, Macbeth relates how he killed the blood-covered servants in his fury. Lady Macbeth faints and in the ensuing confusion Malcolm and Donalbain decide to slip away because they fear for their lives. Banquo proposes a general meeting to discuss the situation and the others agree.
It can be argued that Macbeth’s justification for killing the two guards becomes so colourful and rhetorical that he is in danger of being exposed through what might be ‘overacting’ his part. Lady Macbeth’s swoon, therefore, at this point conveniently distracts attention away from her husband and the question he poses. This shows how cunning Lady Macbeth is.
On the other hand this could be a redeeming feature; that Lady Macbeth really is fainting. Either because of Macbeth killing the guards, something she didn’t know he was going to do, or realising what she had done.
In Act III, scene ii Lady Macbeth realises that the satisfaction she and Macbeth had sought has not been achieved. She tries to enter into her husband’s obsessive involvement while, at the same time, trying to reassure him and urge him to cheerfulness. Macbeth is tormented, his thoughts fixed on Banquo. He hints at black deeds to come but won’t tell Lady Macbeth about them.
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth feel similarly about the situation but are unable to share their thoughts with each other and, by now, Macbeth has detached himself from his reliance on his wife and pursues his own course. In the encounters so far, Lady Macbeth has been dominant but now we see the situation changing. Macbeth is keeping to himself and brooding on the crimes committed, and on the crimes he intends to commit:
‘O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!
Thou know’st that Banquo and his Fleance lives.’
He is not sharing his thoughts with his ‘dearest partner of greatness’ and so she herself is feeling isolated.
For the first time we hear Lady Macbeth say ‘What’s to be done?’. She doesn’t know of Macbeth’s plans for Banquo and planning has passed from her hands to Macbeths.
For Macbeth this proves a period in which he seems to grow stronger – ‘Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill’ – and seems to get used to doing evil; for Lady Macbeth it is the start of her disintegration – she will take control one more time, at the banquet, and then she will be overwhelmed by remorse for the evil she has helped unleash, and go mad. Their roles are reversing.
In act III, scene iv Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are welcoming the guests to the feast when one of the murderers arrives and tells Macbeth of the death of Banquo and the escape of Fleance. Macbeth turns back to the table and comments on Banquo’s absence. Banquo’s ghost enters and occupies Macbeth’s place; he is visible only to Macbeth. Lady Macbeth tries to calm her husband and keep control of the situation, but after the ghost has gone and Macbeth seems to be recovering, suddenly, again on Macbeth’s mentioning his name, Banquo’s ghost reappears and Macbeth is helpless. After the ghost has gone for the second time, Lady Macbeth brings the feast to a hurried end. Macbeth informs Lady Macbeth that he intends to visit the withes and press on with eliminating all opposition.
This is the final appearance of a sane Lady Macbeth. Her self-control, loyalty to her husband, organising skill, apparent hard nature – all evident in this scene – are qualities she possesses and could be redeeming features. She tries to cover up for Macbeth and takes control when she tells the lords to go:
‘I pray you speak not; he grows worse and worse.
Question enrage him. At once, good night.
Stand not upon the order of your going,
But go at once.’
However the strain on Lady Macbeth is evident. Although he himself has been terrified, Macbeth, by the end of the scene, seems casual in his attitude to what has happened. His comment, ‘We are yet but young in deed’ suggests that this mere problem will soon pass. She, however, has had to use all her resources and wit to contain the potential damage of exposure and seems to show more humanity and feeling than in the previous scenes.
This part in the play is where Lady Macbeth could get the full enjoyment out of being the queen; she is on her throne, surrounded by subjects. Yet this, through Macbeth’s actions becomes a hollow and empty event, lacking any dignity or royal significance. Her mind then does begin to question the value of what it has accomplished.
Macbeth no longer talks of ‘we’ – himself and his partner of greatness – but of himself alone:
‘For mine own good
All causes shall give away’
This shows that the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are weaker and they are more detached.
In Act V scene I a doctor and Lady Macbeth’s lady-in-waiting are watching to see if Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep as her servant has reported to the doctor. She enters and begins to rub her hands as if struggling to clean them and before she departs she refers to the deaths of Duncan, Macduff’s wife and Banquo. The doctor confesses that he is incapable of dealing with such cases.
This scene shows Lady Macbeth’s carefully contrived mask has slipped. In her sleep-walking she reveals the guilts and anxieties by which she is tortured. Particularly she re-enacts the first murder scene when she took the initiative and organised a stumbling Macbeth:
‘To bed, to bed; there’s knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand’
Now, alone, her loyalty to her husband remains intact; only once does she reproach him:
‘No more o’ that; you mar all with this starting’.
The fact that after everything Lady Macbeth is still loyal to her husband is a redeeming quality.
Her behaviour is revealing and moving. She has given all and now her present is overwhelmed by the past. She is weaker than herself and the audience thought and has had a mental breakdown from guilt. As with all guilt, Lady Macbeth has an obsession with the past. It was her who said, ‘what’s done is done’, thus suggesting that it would no longer be of concern. Here, despite all her courage and ambition and strength of purpose, all that has been ‘done’ is not past, but present – and ever present – in her mind. She herself refers to her earlier declaration when she says, ‘What’s done cannot be undone’.
Ironically the physical symptoms of her guilt include the forlorn hope of washing clean her hands. This links to her statement that ‘a little water cleans us of this deed’.
Most of the play is written in blank verse but the appearance of Lady Macbeth in this scene is an exception. Before, and particularly in the first two acts, Lady Macbeth’s speech had been blazing and fiery blank verse – the strong rhythms reflecting her strong grasp on reality, and her determination. Now she speaks in prose – choppy, abrupt and lurching from one incident to another. This represents her breakdown; the language is breaking down under the strain she is under. It is therefore not surprising that she commits suicide – she can no longer hold it together and on death language disappears altogether.
Lady Macbeth is a controversial figure. She is seen by some as a woman of strong will who is ambitious for herself and who recognises her husband’s strengths and weaknesses, and is ruthless enough to exploit them. They see her in her commitment to evil and in her realisation that getting the Crown has not brought her the happiness she had expected, and finally, as one who breaks down under the strain. Others see her as a woman ambitious for her husband whom she loves. She recognises the good in him, and feels that, without her, he will never win the Crown. She allies herself with the powers of darkness for his sake, but here she breaks down under the strain of the murder of Duncan and the alienation of her husband.
One of the main redeeming qualities of Lady Macbeth is her love, loyalty and support to her husband. She does have personal attributes, for example she is resourceful, brave, quick thinking and focused. She may be emotionally disturbed and unbalanced due to loss of a child which could have pushed her to act like she did. Although she seems evil and callous at the beginning, we see her break down and struggle with her conscience later on in the play, showing she is not all bad.
