Lady Macbeth wants to be queen like Macbeth wants to be king, but they both want to obtain it in different ways. Lady Macbeth is more ambitious than Macbeth, who would rather leave it to fate. Lady Macbeth recognises that deception is the best way to obtain kingship. 'Look like th' innocent flower/ But be the serpent under't.' The imagery used here is linked to the Garden of Eden because the serpent was the devil. This is what Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to act like with Duncan.
In Duncan's murder scene, Lady Macbeth is definitely the stronger of the two. 'Infirm of purpose!' She constantly criticises Macbeth because he is not at all manly. However, she still shows some fear. 'Th' attempt and not the deed/ Confounds us.' This quote shows her fear of being found for attempted murder. The audience sees evil in Lady Macbeth's earlier scenes but in Duncan's murder scene she shows some compassion. 'Had he not resembled/ My father as he slept, I had done't.'
Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth use the water imagery independently but in very different ways. Macbeth is scared that 'Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand?' whereas, Lady Macbeth thinks that 'a little water clears us of this deed' and that it will purify their sins.
After Duncan's murder we see the collapse of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship. Lady Macbeth goes from 'my dearest partner of greatness' to having to ask to see the king. 'Say to the King, I would attend his leisure/ For a few words.' We also see the unhappiness and insecurity of Lady Macbeth. 'Nought's had, all's spent, / Where out desire is got without content.' She has everything she wants but is still not happy. We also see a little bit of fear. ''Tis safer to be that which we destroy,/ Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.' She hides these feelings of hers from Macbeth, which also shows the distance between them now. 'What's done is done.' She pretends that she has got over the murder.
Macbeth now does most of the talking. This shows Lady Macbeth's loss of power over her husband. However her loss of power does not stop with Macbeth. She also loses control of her castle when Banquo's ghost appears. It is hell like she asked for it to be before Duncan's murder. 'Come, thick night,/ And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell.' However, it is not to her liking.
In Act five, Scene one we see Lady Macbeth's mental breakdown. Lady Macbeth's gentlewoman claims that 'since his Majesty went into the field' she has been sleepwalking and imagining that blood is present on her hands. The blood on her hands is a metaphor of her guilt. Before their equality was what kept Lady Macbeth going, but Macbeth no longer feels guilt, so Lady Macbeth is left alone. Lady Macbeth shows her change in character when she claims that 'all the/ perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.' This is the opposite of what she said about the blood in Duncan's murder scene. She says that 'What's done/ cannot be undone' whereas before she said that the murder would no longer concern her. 'What's done is done.' Lady Macbeth faces the fact that she will be going to hell. 'Hell is murky.' Before she wanted her castle to be hellish but now she dreads it.
Shakespeare's use of different language in Lady Macbeth's speeches really creates her breakdown. In most of her speeches she uses blank verse with strong rhythms reflecting her power. But here she speaks in prose, which is abrupt and even uses doggerel (ill- constructed verse) with the rhyme 'The Thane of Fife had a wife.'
After Duncan's murder she told Macbeth that 'These deeds must not be thought/ After these ways; so, it will make us mad.' Lady Macbeth is always worried of Macbeth losing himself, but it turns out that she is the one that goes mad. Also after Duncan's murder, Macbeth is worried because he can't sleep. 'Glamis hath murdered sleep, and therefore Cawdor/ Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more.' Now it is Lady Macbeth who is having problems with sleeping. Whereas before Lady Macbeth needs the devil and hell to help her accomplish her needs, now she is in desperate need of God. 'More needs she the divine than the physician.' Lady Macbeth's paranoia soon leads to her committing suicide.
Some do not have sympathy for Lady Macbeth in this play, because they remember all the evil things she does and says, however we know that she has some compassion. So, we do feel pity at the same time. However, the audience do not feel sorry for her at all. Suicide was seen as one of the worst sins in Jacobean times. It was believed that the people who committed suicide went straight to Hell. However, Lady Macbeth has her reasons for it. After Macbeth is crowned king, she sees him less and at times when she needs love and affection he is not there to help her. Lady Macbeth feels isolated and has to calm herself down whenever she thinks about the past. She also always covered up her true feelings and towards the end of the play they start to surface, causing her a lot of distress. Her expectations of being queen are too high and cause her to be unhappy and kill herself.
