In Act II Scene II Macbeth reluctantly kills Duncan due to the influence of Lady Macbeth although he wanted to wait to be king so to not have to kill anyone. This questions whether Macbeth would have become king without murdering Duncan and that in fact nothing would have occurred without the witches’ prophecies. After committing the murder he then leaves the crime scene to wash the blood off his hands. When Macbeth goes to wash his hands he speaks of remorse and regret, however in the course of all the goings on he forgets that he still has the murder weapons on him as he was meant to leave them with the drugged guards so to frame them to the murder. As Macbeth does not leave the weapons with the guards Lady Macbeth becomes angry and tells him to go and set up the guards for the murder. However Macbeth refuses, as he is already very upset and frightened, ‘I’ll go no more. I am afraid to think what I have done; Look on’t, I dare not,’ so Lady Macbeth insults his manhood once again and then she returns to the crime scene to implicate the guards. ‘Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but pictures; ’tis the eye of childhood that fears a painted devil.’
At the end of this scene is the first noticeable evidence that Lady Macbeth realises what she has done and that she also regrets it as Macbeth did. ‘My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white.’ This means that although she is upset she is still very strong-minded and will not show her fear as Macbeth does.
Lady Macbeth becomes the only reason for the play to continue and follow the certain plot of deceit. Before killing the king Macbeth was happy with being thane and waiting to become king, ‘If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.’ Also at this time he was still pondering the words of the witches and what they had said him. This is why he did not want to rush into the murdering of King Duncan as the witches told him that it would happen, but now the question was; Was the reason that he was king because the witches told him that he would become king so that he would commit the crime or would it have happened without the killing? After the murder the only way that Lady Macbeth was influencing her husband was to persuade him to keep the secret to himself and not to make any slips so that someone could accuse them. Even when the body of Duncan is found, in Act II Scene III, Lady Macbeth reacts shocked and upset, she faints and acts womanly as expected. ‘Help me hence, ho.’ Then lady Macbeth is helped off the stage as Macduff tells someone, ‘Look to the lady.’
Subsequently Banquo is killed due to the reason that he is more ‘kingly’ than Macbeth and therefore must be killed as to make sure that he does not over throw Macbeth as Macbeth had done to Duncan. Offstage Macbeth may have been influenced yet again by Lady Macbeth to follow through with another of her deceitful schemes. This leaves Macbeth to execute the plan and to send off for two murderers to carry out the certain scheme devised by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth entrusts them to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. During the scene Lady Macbeth is present and yet does not speak of anything this maybe for the reason that she has already influenced him, offstage, to make the decision of the murder and is around to make sure that Macbeth goes through with the preparation which she has designed. The murderers kill Banquo but Fleance escapes from them. At this time Macbeth is holding a banquet and he unexpectedly perceives the ghost of Banquo in the seat, which was reserved for him. Macbeth becomes erratic and starts to exclaim of the ghost at all the lords at the banquet. Lady Macbeth before long steps in and tries to calm down the unpredictable Macbeth before he tells the lords of their secrets. Lady Macbeth says to him that he is hallucinating and that the ghost of Banquo is just an illusion, but Macbeth sees the dead Banquo as if he were still alive. This also frightens Lady Macbeth as it may give away that they have ordered for his execution. Lady Macbeth finally calms down the erratic Macbeth as she starts to become afraid that they might get caught because of this fit of Macbeth’s. Lady Macbeth tells the lords at the banquet that their lord is ill and has been for some time. This makes it obvious to the reader/spectators that Lady Macbeth has taken control of the situation and Macbeth is just a puppet of hers and that she uses him to control what is happening in the play.
After the end of Act III scene V, Lady Macbeth does not appear again until Act V Scene I were we are told that she has fallen ill. A doctor who is called in to tell us of her illness, informs us that it is sleepwalking and also tells us of her decrease in health. As the doctor examines her, while she sleepwalks, he hears of the murders and plots which she has influenced Macbeth to execute, which she had tried to contain for most of the play. She speaks of the plots and the murders of both Duncan and Banquo. The doctor tells the Gentlewoman, who is looking after Lady Macbeth, that he has heard of things that he never wants to talk of or hear about ever again, this implies that the plots were extremely devious.
Now that we have heard of Lady Macbeth’s deterioration we again do not hear from her again for the final duration of the play. The next thing that we are told of her is regarding that she has died, this is known because Macbeth hears a scream and inquires what it was. However we are not told of how she dies, whether it was suicide or that she died from another cause such as committing suicide due to her condition of sleepwalking as suggested by some film directors. However when Macbeth is told of this he says few words in which he say that she could have lived a great and prosperous life. However after this he continues with what he was doing before the death, this maybe due to the great amount of influence that she has put upon Macbeth.
