Lady Macbeth is ruthless as a character as well as being committed. She would sacrifice her love for her own flesh and blood, for example ‘how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me: I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done to this’(act 1 scene 7, line 35) here Shakespeare uses bold suggestions that Lady Macbeth would simply kill the most precious thing other then Macbeth for her commitment to Macbeth. Because she has given a commitment she will do everything she can to go through with what he wishes of her. Shakespeare shows how the devotion of Lady Macbeth brings her to ask for help from unnatural sources. She asks the 3 witches for the courage and ability to do wrong for the cause of her husband, for example (act 1 scene 5 line 36) ‘ come, you spirits, that tend on moral thoughts. Unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty; make thick my blood’ not only does this express what lengths she is willing to go to, but also the unfeminine characteristic ‘unsex me here’ and the determination Shakespeare has created her to be. She uses manipulation towards Macbeth to have control over him and expresses herself to convince him that he should kill king Duncan for the chance for Macbeth to take over the throne for his well being in the same way she is ambitious for him.
Shakespeare uses imagery in the language he uses to show the supernatural side of what happens, including symbolism such as ‘what, will these hands ne’er be clean?’ in this scene lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and in her dreams she is trying to wash blood, that she is hallucinating, off her hands that appears to be there. After all the horrific murder her conscience comes back to her with the image of blood. This shows the supernatural activity throughout the play; such as the 3 weird sisters who predict the future of Macbeth to him and banquo, also the curious weather changes that promote strange activity, for instance in act 2 scene 4, the ‘old man’ and Ross spoke about the strange circumstances in connection with the weather “ by th’clock ‘tis day And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp. Is’t nights predominance, or the days shame, that darkness does the face of the earths entomb when living light should kiss it?” .My impressions of this quote is that there should be light when there isn’t and this is not natural for such normality, they suspect this has something to do with the suspicious murders that are happening ‘ tis unnatural, even like the deed that’s done’ from the scene it shows they are weary of the behaviour.
Another supernatural influence is the changes on lady Macbeth since she asked for help from the spirits to help her to transform from good to evil, and now she feels only guilt and her conscience beckoning her to see the evil she has performed in killing the king.
She is a tragic figure of this play, because of the flaws in her character, because she is unable to control the ambitions that flow inside her, the temptation of getting what she wants takes control of all of her, for these reasons Lady Macbeth is essential to the play, being the tragic figure in a tragedy.
I would say that the most dramatic moments of the play are the 4 murders, the murder of king Duncan, Banquo, and lady Mucduff and lady Mucduff’s child. These murders represent lady Macbeth as a tragic character because she is guilty of them. Lady Macbeth’s sanity and the murder of her husband, Macbeth, are also seen as key dramatic moments, lady Macbeth loses her sanity not long after the murders, ‘out damned spot’ (act 5 scene 7). It builds up the tension of the play because the audience expect something then to happen not soon after, but her suicide is not made out to be hugely exaggerated, Macbeth has his own skin to watch out for, because he knew his death awaited him.
Lady Macbeth shows her character as what women in the Shakespeare’s time could be, whereas compared to the other female character of the play; Lady Macduff shows what women were. Lady Macbeth is a strong, unfeminine, committed character, which shows ambition and creativeness throughout her appearance and manipulation. However Lady Macduff is a sweet and loving character who looks after her child and husband, she works at home doing what in those days was considered a womens job, being a housewife which is a perfect symbolisation of how housewives lived looking after her husband.
In Shakespeare’s time Lady Macbeth would be played as fierce and controlling and seen as very different from other women. She would have a great impact on the audience because she dabbles in witchcraft and in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, there was witch uproar in society and nearly every woman in the UK were accused of being a witch. This resulted in many executions, witchcraft was thought to have been pure evil and Satan worshipping. They believed witches to be the reason for deaths and unhappiness and they sacrificed serpents and lizards to the devil. So because of these circumstances she would have been a really evil character to be a witch and so pure evil.
Another point is that the audience would have laughed in the scenes in which a modern audience would have seen as horrific, due to the fact they found death to a witch good rather then evil. She would be an impact on the audience today because in her characters she explores every part of ambition and she shows a great way of ruining your life and although maybe realistically she wont be hallucinating blood in her sleepwalking, but maybe murder isn’t the best way to get what you want. Today they say that it is curse to say Macbeth’s name if you are an actor, so lets just wait and see.
