It was perfectly natural for Lady Macbeth to have had ambitions and plans for her husband. In Shakespeare’s era, women had no rights or legal powers so it would have been in their best interests to support their husband. Lady Macbeth, even before becoming queen, already had a fairly high place in society and did not face the prospect of poverty, as many other women would have.
Before the murder of Duncan and immediately afterwards, Lady Macbeth was acting far stronger than her husband and persuaded or even bullied her husband into the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth does say a lot of speeches that emphasise the means she would go through in order to reach their shared goals;
“I would while he was smiling…plucked my nipple…boneless gums…dashed his brains out”.
This shows the evil that has taken over her mind, and how determined she is to fulfil her ambition even if it would mean harming her own baby in order to do so. Lady Macbeth talking this way about a baby could also suggest an inner grievance that she is still trying to rectify. She also accounts her husbands love for her when he is debating whether to go through with the murder of Duncan. After such intimidation Macbeth does give in, and decides to go through with the murder. Macbeth is terrified of the consequences as he knows he is in the position he is in through double trust and will be betraying Duncan deeply. Not only does he feel that he will be betraying Duncan, but as a Christian he feels that he will be committing a huge sin, which he will surely burn in hell for. At this point, Lady Macbeth is so sure of herself that she does not even contemplate failing, which is why I think that the line;
“We fail?” is said in such a tone.
After Lady Macbeth has changed Macbeth’s mind, she is described as;
“Undaunted Metal”, which portrays her as a hard, though, and insensitive “woman”. Macbeth also says;
“Bring forth men children only”, as men would stand for the future kings and fighters of society.
Lady Macbeth then appears not to be scared of anything. We know that this is a front or she would not mentally crack up through guilt and regret later on in the play.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are very close when they are planning the murder of Duncan, as they are generally planning and working together. They worked together by means of Lady Macbeth planning the exact details of the murder, and obviously planning it well for it to work so well, and, Macbeth committing the murder. Lady Macbeth did make sure that Macbeth was not to be caught, as when Macbeth foolishly brought the daggers back with him from the murder, she made sure that they were replaced so that the guards would definitely be blamed for the murder, and no suspicion placed on the Macbeth’s.
When it is discovered that Duncan has been murdered, Lady Macbeth attracts attention to herself by fainting when they are trying to establish what happened. Lady Macbeth does this or similar things to this at many occasions which shows her devotion to working in a team with her husband. Another occasion where this occurs in a very helpful way is during the banquet scene, where without her covering up for Macbeth, everything could have ended for them on that night.
“Thou canst not say I done it… nee’er shake thy gory locks at me!”
If Macbeth’s hallucinations had continued at this point, and he had continued to make such remarks, everyone at the banquet would have been aware that they had something to do with both murders, which would have been a tragedy for them both. Lady Macbeth successfully manages to disregard and cover- up Macbeth’s revealing out-bursts. When the hallucinating worsens, she makes sure that she dismisses all her guests, regardless of social order and hierarchy;
“Stand not upon the order…but go at once”. A statement like this also reflects upon how the social order of the whole state had been lost, not just the obvious loss of order at the banquet table.
The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begins to crumble, ever since the first murder is committed. The first murder involves them both, but afterwards Macbeth becomes reliant on the witches predictions, and comes to depend on them. By going to the witches for advice and predictions, he does not find a need to consult his wife with his plans, but at the same time she is suffering the consequences and dying of guilt.
Ironically, Lady Macbeth’s words straight after the murder were;
“A little water will clear us of this deed”, which contrast heavily on her words said later on in the play when she is in very ill heath;
“What will these hands ne’er be clean?”
During the banquet scene, it is Lady Macbeth who is stopping Macbeth from unconsciously saying what they both would regret, whereas it is ironically Lady Macbeth who unconsciously admits to the murder of Duncan to the Gentlewoman. The Gentlewoman is a complete contrast of character to Lady Macbeth, as she contains all of the natural elements of a woman, and even says;
“I would not have such a heart…dignity…body”.
The doctor realises what Lady Macbeth and/or Macbeth had done, and says;
“You have heard what you should not”, which shows us that they are aware of the situation.
Even though Lady Macbeth was evidently the stronger character, as their relationship grew further and further apart, she began to suffer immensely from the consequences of her and her husbands plans and actions, while her husband was consulting in further evil. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s relationship eventually shrinks into so little value that when Macbeth hears the news of her suicide, he portrays a very nihilistic attitude by saying;
“She should have died hereafter”, meaning her time to die had come anyway. We then see how much Macbeth has changed through evil, with his speech, which reflects how worthless his whole effort was and the pointlessness of life;
“Out, out brief candle (referring to his wife’s death), Life walking shadow…struts and frets on stage…heard no more (dies)”. It is only at this point when he finally wishes his deeds were undone, and is still relying heavily on the witches’ predictions. It is when he is confronted by Macduff, that he realises he has been fooled by the witches, and how they “play with words”. Regardless of this, he is aware that he is going to die anyhow.
The fact that Lady Macbeth took her own life through the mental strain and guilt shows that she was not simply an evil, wicked woman, because she would not have felt so full of resource and regret if that was correct. I think that Lady Macbeth’s guilty reactions reflected her true nature and that the evil phase was part of a strong ambition and taste for power, status and violence.
