I think that Lady Macbeth is much more vicious than he is, we see this especially when she is persuading him to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth realises that her husband will listen to her as she has the power to dictate as his wife because in Macbeths letter he refers to her as ‘dearest and greatest’ so Lady Macbeth uses her position as wife to get Macbeth to do what she wants. She thinks the goodness in Macbeth as a weakness we know this because she says,”he is failed with the musk of human kindness”
In Act 2 Scene 2 when Lady Macbeth waits for her husband to kill Duncan she was calm and controlled the whole time.
This is dramatic irony from Act 2 Scene2 when she says, “Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures…”
This is dramatic irony because it basically says that it would have no effect on her because the sleeping and d the dead look the same but we know that this is not true due to the fact that she has gone mad.
In this quote she means that there is no difference between the appearance of the sleeping and the dead and that it would be easy to return the daggers to Duncans dead body. When Lady Macbeth comes back from smearing the guards in blood she finds that Macbeth is disturbed. She tells him to wash the blood from his hands and that a little water will wipe away all traces of the murder, but she still remains in control. We know that it did affect Lady Macbeth because she went mad. Macbeth said after murdering Duncan, “ Will all great Neptune’s oceans wash this blood clean from my hands….”
Lady Macbeth said she could not kill Duncan herself as it would reminder her of her farther and that Duncan looks like him but when she went to put the daggers back she saw the dead body which may have also triggered her madness.
Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth in Act 2 Scene 2 that he should not consider the murder so deeply as if to say why are you worrying it won’t be a issue but in the end she was the one that the murder ended up affecting.
Macbeth acts as if Lady Macbeth did while the murder of Duncan was going on. When Macbeth kills Banquo he is Strong minded, commanding and authoritative just as Lady Macbeth was.
In Act 5 Scene 1 she talks about the murder of Duncan, “Who would have had thought the old man to have so much blood in him?” This shows that the murder of Duncan is the cause for her loosing her mind. Lady Macbeth also rubs her hands whilst sleep walking. She does this because she can still see the blood on her hands even though the blood is not there, “Out damned spot! Out, I say!” This is because her soul is not free of the sin she is also suffering from extreme guilt that she thought in Act 2 Scene 2 she would not experience. We can tell that Lady Macbeth is mad in Act 5 Scene 1 because she acts helpless and cannot control what she is doing .She sleepwalks and talks and when she sleeptalks she asks her self questions and is obsessed over the murder. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have been drawn apart and he does not tell her anything that he is doing not even something as important as killing Banquo. This means Lady Macbeth is isolated from anyone and has no one to tern to for her problems. They both feel that their love has deteriorated and Lady Macbeth describes there love as doubtful, because of this they now feel insecure. Macbeth starts to shut her out in Act 3 Scene 2. She becomes anxious and tries to help Macbeth forget what has happened even though she is the more troubled of the two and hides her feelings from him. She says “what is done is done” as if she can forget about it and it is not a problem they have to worry about. This contrasts with what she says in Act 5 Scene 1 “what’s done can not be undone” she wishes she could do something to undo what she has done and feels remorse.
Whilst she is asleep she talks of the bells ringing which was the sign to kill Duncan “one; two: why, then’tis time to do’t…” this shows us that she has been haunted by the killing of Duncan. This links with what Lady Macbeth says, “All the perfumes of Arabia could not sweeten these little hands.”
This quote suggests that Lady Macbeth cannot forget the nasty deed that she has committed. We know this because all these quotes are linked in some way to the murder.
Lady Macbeth Carried a Candle around with her and she had a candle by her bed a night, this was because when she wanted to kill Duncan she asked for darkness and evil but now she is scared and wants to be in the light at all times. When Lady Macbeth is awake you see that she can hide her feelings but when she is asleep they all come out and she talks about them. I think that this shows a infirmity in Lady Macbeth and that even though in Act 1 Scene 7 and up to Act 2 Scene 2 she did not show it but she does compassion.
I feel that Lady Macbeth deserves what has happened to her because it was her influencing Macbeth into doing the murder and if she had not done of it would have happened.