Discuss the character of Lady Macbeth as revealed in act 1 and how she attempts to influence her husband
Lady Macbeth is introduced to us in scene five. At this time she is reading a letter sent to her, by her husband, Macbeth. Lady Macbeth mostly thinks about the issue of killing Duncan. She believes that Macbeth won’t do it because he doesn’t have the ruthlessness. He wants to be great but he doesn’t want to commit murder or any other crime to gain this greatness. However, despite this she is still very determine to carry out the deed, she wants to prompt Macbeth into doing it. The easiest way out for Macbeth is to just not kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth goes onto begin describing the supernatural element which is attached to Macbeth. This is represented by the three witches. When lady Macbeth is told that Duncan is to stay in her house she is overwhelmed by disbelief as it is like someone is reading her mind. This shows that the witches are at work. After the attendant leaves the scene, she begins to talk of the murder of Duncan again. She calls upon the spirits to enter her body. She wishes that she could lose her femininity and thus be able to carry out the deed for herself rather than relying on Macbeth to do it for her, in losing her femininity she will feel no remorse after killing Duncan. She wants to turn her milk sour; this means that she wants it to become evil. She wants it to be made so dark and evil that not even the knife can be seen as it is stabbed in to Duncan.
