Lady Macbeth is also a very good actor because when she hears the news of Duncan in front of Banquo, Lennox, Macbeth, Macduff, Malcolm and Donalbain Lady Macbeth-“help me hence tho” she faints when she hears the news of Duncans death, which occurs Act 2 scene 3.
Although she has a huge influence on Macbeth at this time it fades by Act 3, Macbeth behaved before the killing of Duncan. In Act 3 scene 2 he calls on the evil spirits just like Lady Macbeth did earlier and Macbeth also asks to get rid of his humanity in his closing speech in Act 3 scene 2 just like Lady Macbeth earlier asked to be rid of her sex, also at the end of scene 2. Act 3 Lady Macbeth is now the one asking the innocent questions and her husband speaks using animal imagery just like Lady Macbeth did before the murder of Duncan (she spoke of a serpent and a raven.) As I have noticed when he stops consulting Lady Macbeth things start to go wrong. I think if he had of consulted Lady Macbeth things wouldn’t of went wrong because she could plan things and she had more control over the plans while he just went and done something instead of thinking about it and planning it. Once Macbeth starts planning and killing on his own he loses the influence of Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth starts going mad. She starts to try and wipe blood off her hand which shows irony when Macbeth tried to do it earlier on in the play. The theme of disturbance of the natural order starts to feature and she is now afraid of the dark which is ironic because earlier she wanted plenty of darkness to hide her evil deeds. At the end of Act 5 scene 1 she suffers real insanity as the doctor says “more needs she the divine than the physician” which means she needs a priest not a doctor. All hope of promise and salvation is gone for Lady Macbeth she’s on the verge of suicide notice how her insane mind is obsessed of all the different murders but she’s so confused all the murders have merged into one pool of blood in her mind. This was the women who influenced him so much initially who was so ruthless and determined she is now destroyed and he has become the monster.
The next big influence on Macbeth is the witches. They are the first characters we meet in the play and it clearly shows that they will influence him the most by all these good things that they predict but it takes by things to get them. They also plan to meet him after the battle Act 1 scene 1 second witch “when the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost, and won “third witch “that will be ere set of sun.” In Act 1 scene 3 the witches meet Macbeth and Banquo for the first time. The first prophecy for Macbeth from the witches is that he will become Thane of Cawdor – Second witch-“All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor” then the third witch says “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter” so they are telling Macbeth things he could only dream of and making him very happy and filling him full of hope and desire. Macbeth then shows that the witches have touched a nerve in Macbeth Act 1 scene 3 page 13 “melted, as breath into the wind. Would they have stayed?” The first bit of the prophecy then comes true and gives Macbeth some hope. Macbeth’s reaction when he heard the witch’s prophecy was delighted and he wants to know more Act 1 scene 3 page 13 Macbeth “stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more” while on the other hand Banquo does not believe what they say and tries to find excuses for it Act 1 scene 3 Banquo “Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root, that takes the reason prisoner?” Macbeth shows a suggestion that he is evil in his first line like the witches Act 1 Scene 3 Macbeth “So foul and fair a day I have not seen” which is alike to the witches words. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth latch on to words very quickly and seriously. This is shown in Act 1 Scene 3 when Macbeth is talking in a Aside (soliloquy) we can see he is terrified and horrified at the thought of killing Duncan but also excited that the prophecy is starting to come true, all he can think of is being and the murder of Duncan in order to become king has already entered his mind, he knows he is wrong and that’s what scores him. Macbeth obviously believes the witches because he writes a letter to Macbeth in Act 1 Scene 5. As soon as Lady Macbeth hears about the witch’s prophecy and hears they are all going to her castle she immediately calls on evil spirits to assist her murder plans. Act 1 Scene 5 Lady Macbeth “Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the topfull of direst cruelty; make thick my blood stop up th’access and passage to remorse,” she uses blood imagery and it clearly shows the witches have influenced her and Macbeth because Macbeth sent the letter, and earlier it proves that, he wanted the witches to stay and talk more because he got excited by their words. Later on in Act four the witches conjure up apparitions at him, they lure him into a false sense of security, this all causes him much confusion in the final battle scenes. We can also see that the witches are ambiguous by their language so Macbeth misinterpreted many of their words.
Macbeth also influences himself. He should take responsibility for his own actions and he should take the blame for most of them. His first lines in the play shows that Macbeth is on the same level as the witches Act 1 scene 3 Macbeth “so foul and fair a day I have not seen, another point is that the killings of Chamberlains, Banquo, Macduff’s wife and children, nobody influenced him for these killings they were all his own idea, nobody had to persuade him, he done it himself. Macbeth has a lot of greed as shown when he finds that his wife is dead he has no shock, sadness or despair, and he admits he has lost all human feeling showing us he is a monster Act 5 scene 5 Macbeth “she should have died here after; There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle, life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage” in other words every day is just like the next one a sign of boredom. Macbeth’s relationship with Lady Macbeth starts to break down after Act 3 and he doesn’t listen to her he influences himself and does what he decides, it also shows that after the first killing he is on a spree and the others are easy and he can’t stop he kills a lot more people and some of them are friends with Macbeth which shows he is turning into a complete monster. Straight away when he stops listening to Lady Macbeth he just goes pure insane and I also noticed that everything starts to go wrong. More people suspect him and he also has no true friends and then he is killed. People after Act 3 did not like him they were just afraid of him. He uses rhyming cuplets which has an evil sound to them and we catch him out that he is evil from the beginning. He has a lot of soliloquies (Asides) and they are all secret and talking about all these bad things that he is going to do, so he is influencing himself when nobody is around.
The next influence is fate which I believe is the most important. I think that most of these things were going to happen anyway and the witches just helped it as they were just messengers of fate. I think all these things that happened were inevitable, they could have all happened anyway without the influence of anyone. Who knows it could have been fate with nobody influencing him.
There’s a major Theme of Appearance Vs Reality because in Act 1 Scene 6 of how Duncan thinks he has come to a peaceful place at Macbeths castle were actually he is going to be killed there. Duncan also goes on and on about how much of a hero Macbeth is but really he is not Act 1 Scene 6 Duncan “Where’s the Thane of Cawdor? We coursed him at the heels and had a purpose to be his purveyor, but he rides well And his great love, shary as his spure, hath holp him To his home before us. Fair and noble hosterr, We are your guests tonight”. It shows how gratuitous, affectionate, polite he is to Lady Macbeth which makes his murder all the more cruel, Appearance Vs Reality is also shown when Lady Macbeth and Macbeth pretend to be upset at Duncan’s murder and Lady Macbeth even goes to the bother of fainting when she had already new!
In conclusion I believe that he is only ‘successful’ for a short period and Lady Macbeth is only ‘strong’ for a short period, however, his success and downfall is influenced by a range of factors. I believe Macbeth’s wife influenced him to a small extent because she only influenced him for the first killing which started his spree. I think the Witches were the biggest influence overall but that most of what happened was fate.
