Lady Macbeth plays a crucial part in the key events surrounding Macbeth. Through the play we see her determination build to a point where she pushes Macbeth and herself over the edge. As soon as Lady Macbeth reads her husband’s letter In Act 1 Scene 5 telling her of witches’ predictions she was instantly determined to be Queen and hence she starts to plan the murder of King Duncan. From this scene we learn that she is ambitious. [QUOTE] As soon as Macbeth returns home, she quickly manipulates her ruthless ambitions into his mind and we watch her guide him along the misleading path of murder and deceit. It becomes clear that she holds high hopes for her husband. At first it appeared to be just because she loves him, but as the scene progresses, we find out that she is actually determined that she will be Queen. When Macbeth starts to have doubts, she would question his manly hood and persuades him to go ahead with the King’s murder. When Macbeth starts to crack under the pressure, Lady Macbeth is the one who covers up his mistakes and ease his erratic nerves. [QUOTE!] Basically she is going to use Macbeth to satisfy her own desires. She also gives the impression that she feels Macbeth is too honest to be King, [QUOTE] It is not until later on in the play that her guilt comes right back at her and she finally suffers a nervous breakdown, which results in her suicide.
In Elizabethan times, for a character to be given a good soliloquy, he or she must have been a very important character. So by Shakespeare giving Lady Macbeth the soliloquy when evil spirits were called upon to give her strength and masculinity, he is showing us that she is an important character, in this soliloquy Lady Macbeth has the stage to herself, something unusual for a female character in Elizabethan plays. The soliloquy consists of dark phrases and Shakespeare shows us that she is a cruel woman. [QUOTE]
In scene 7, Lady Macbeth starts to show her true colors and how manipulative she really is, as she persuades Macbeth into killing King Duncan. She uses various techniques to make Macbeth see her way. She uses emotional blackmail and her femininity by saying she will not love him anymore. [QUOTE] She takes a great risk when she insults his masculinity. Calls him a “wimp” and a “scaredy cat” [QUOTE] She weakens him as she compares him to the cat that wants the fish but doesn’t want to get his paws wet. We see here how much she is driving Macbeth to be King, but of course we catch impressions of her own ambition to be queen. Then she starts to compare his inability to commit the murder to her ability to dash her own baby’s brains out. Through the play, Lady Macbeth hints that she was emotionally scarred, perhaps she had had a child but it had died. Lady Macbeth was already set on her decision that King Duncan will die whatever Macbeth says. But if Lady Macbeth hadn’t been in the picture at all, it is quite obvious that Macbeth wouldn’t have murdered the King.
In Act 2 Scene 2, Lady Macbeth covers up for Macbeth when he breaks down after the murder. He becomes instantly paranoid after the murder. He said that the guards muttered in their sleep [QUOTE] this shows that he is beginning to crack and he is imagining things that will eventually contribute to his downfall. Macbeth makes the mistake of killing the guards. Although he does it as if in a rage about the King’s death, after when he was explaining his deeds to the King’s Men, he starts to babble. Lady Macbeth conveniently faints to distract the guards from Macbeth’s gibberish. Here we see that she is aware of her feminine charms and power and uses them to protect her husband. Throughout this scene we see Lady Macbeth’s importance in covering up the murder and not only did she finish the deed but she also covers up her husband’s numerous mistakes. Shakespeare is hinting that without his wife, Macbeth would be useless, that in face Lady Macbeth “wears the pants” in their relationship. In the beginning, Lady Macbeth intended for Macbeth to do all the dirty business and get his hands dirty rather than hers. When Lady Macbeth comes back from taking the daggers to the guards’ rooms, we see a transformation from innocent to guilty. [QUOTE] now, even thought she is completely part of the murder crime, she doesn’t feel any guilt.
In Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth breaks down yet again after seeing the ghost of Banquo at the banquet he was held to celebrate him becoming King. She covers him by saying that he is just experiencing a fit. She had to make the guests leave which may have caused suspicion among their guest but realizes this but has to make sure that Macbeth doesn’t make any more mistakes. We see in this scene that she is stronger willed and that she wasn’t affected as much as Macbeth has by the murder. At the same time, we see that Macbeth is steadily going downhill. The Banquet scene is the last time we see Lady Macbeth as her strong and determined self. Near the end of the play, the emotions and roles have been reversed between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is unemotional and strong whereas Lady Macbeth suffers a nervous breakdown and defeated by guilt hence she commits suicide. She sleepwalks relieving the dreadful nights’ events and describes the murder. A doctor and her maiden become suspicious when she starts to mutter about washing blood off her hands. [QUOTE] This contradicts herself when the night of the murder, she said that water would rinse the blood off their hands, now she is saying that water won’t. This represents her guilt finally taking over. This scene means that they have to reconsider their view of her as it appears that she is not as strong as she first appeared. When she commits suicide, the audience finally see that she wasn’t as resolute and strong willed either.
In the beginning scenes of Macbeth, the witches are seen as mysterious. In Act 1 Scene 1 they plot to do something later on. Stage directions showed thunder and lightning which Shakespeare intended to make the atmosphere of the audience mysterious and dark which will give the impression that the witches are up to no good. This also shows that the witches were supernatural as they could see the future. In the Shakespearean times this was seen as superstitious. Authorities were so aware of witches that laws passed that if you had skin like a dead person, you were accused of witchcraft. These witches are old and ugly but they were not accused of witchcraft since they were outside of society. The witches are also represented as evil and bitter. This is portrayed when they fool Macbeth into thinking that he could achieve a higher status to the throne. They clearly represent power as they control Macbeth’s views and common sense, and willpower. The witches manipulate Macbeth’s mind and made him gullible after murdering King Duncan. Witchcraft and supernaturalism was seen as a sin because of the strict religion in Shakespearean times.
Lady macduff, although she only appears in one scene, she has an important role. Lady Macduff is represented in Macbeth as a defenceless, pure character with good and innocent who suffered under Macbeth. She is made out to be the blissful female so that the audience would sympathise and care for the very few scenes she was put in. She provides the audience with an insight into the events occurring in Scotland and gives a contrast to the evil Lady Macbeth. Lady Macduff obviously has some strong opinions on Macduff reaction to Macbeth’s behaviour. She uses imagery to describe her situation as a bird. [QUOTE] When Macduff left his family, Lady Macduff probably felt lost and vulnerable, forced to single-handly take care of the children. Unlike Lady Macbeth, lady Macduff is nurturing and helpless, such as what was expected of the women at that time. She possibly felt unsafe with the children being left on their own since she can’t really protect them like Macduff can. In Shakespearean times the husband had to be supportive and strong as they’re the person that holds the family together, bring home the food and protect the family. Although Macduff wasn’t there to protect the family when they were in need, Macduff did what his guts told him to do. Lady Macduff disagreed with the idea of moving with him. The reason of her not speaking up when she could was the stereotypical ideas that the Shakespeare men had on women. The truly believed that they should ONLY cook, clean and care for the family.
