In order to emphasize this, Shakespeare introduces this character to the audience by having her on the stage alone. There is no doubt in this person’s mind what is required. She is quite prepared to be tempted by the devil, and she will drive her husband to commit evil. She is like the fourth sister, being a tool of fate. She knows that she has to push her husband in order for him to achieve greatness. She more than makes up for Macbeth’s weakness and realizes that she must “pour my spirits in thine ear”. Shakespearean audiences will immediately be able to relate to ‘Hamlet, an earlier play, where King Hamlet is poisoned by Claudius pouring poison into his ear. This is a very significant line of the play, which is becoming increasingly darker scene by scene. This is emphasized by delving deep into the character of Lady Macbeth, which is summed up with the following quotation - “Under my battlements, come you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts, Unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full, Of direst cruelty: make thick my blood, Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose”
In this, Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits to take away her femininity, to thicken her blood and take away from her the ability to weep, which only such a deeply disturbed person could do so.
In Act V scene I, Lady Macbeth suffers from a psychological disorder and she sleepwalks and talks in fits and starts, remembering events from the murders of Duncan and also references to Banquo and Lady Macduff. Her doctor and maid overhear her incriminating words.
During this scene, the audience are now witness to a dramatic change in Lady Macbeth from the early scenes of the play. She is now truly mad and her mind flits from one subject to the next. She can still see the blood on her hands and however much she washes, she cannot get rid of the stain:
“Out damned spot: out I say. The Thane of Fife had a wife: where is she now? What will these hands never be clean? ……………………. Here’s the smell of blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”.
For the audience it is sad to see this once confident woman turned into an unsettled creature, muttering incoherently. Those who attend her, the doctor and maid, are clearly suspicious of her and the part she played in the recent murders. The doctor is unable to bring about a cure and suggests that some divine intervention is required, and she would be better seeing a priest.
Shakespeare creates a black atmosphere through the words and the fact that this scene is played in complete darkness with the exception of one candle, which Lady Macbeth keeps close by her. She is now concerned about her immortal soul and hopes that she can find rest in another world, for at present she undergoes a sleepless existence.
The downfall of Macbeth was a great tragedy. He knew it was not right to kill the king, but he felt he had no other choice. He was trapped into doing wrong. Lady Macbeth gave him the evil ideas throughout the and acted as his driving force.
Without her, Macbeth could not have killed King Duncan. Therefore, Lady Macbeth is as much of a main character as Macbeth is.
Macbeth says, “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires”. Here he is expressing that while he does want to become king and may have a few evil thoughts of how to achieve that dream, he does not plan to act on them. It is not until Lady Macbeth talks to him that he is a bit more convinced. Speaking of King Duncan, she states, “O, never shall sun that morrow see!” quite literally ordering Macbeth to murder him in their own lodgings. Here, Lady Macbeth is clearly the evil being. This is apparent when she receives Macbeth’s letter and responds by saying, “Yet do I fear thy nature. It is too full of the milk of human kindness”. This shows that she knows Macbeth will not murder Duncan on his own. She takes matters into her own hands and decides to convince him.
In scene VII, Macbeth convinces himself not to kill Duncan by giving a long list of reasons not to kill the King. He is his ruler and kinsman, his guest, and a virtuous king. With this list of reasons Macbeth slowly convinces himself not to commit the murder. He then informs Lady Macbeth of his decision to “proceed no further in this business”. Lady Macbeth challenges that and brands him a coward, not a man. She accuses him of retreating on his sworn word to her, and with violent language declares that she would dash out the brains of her own baby, had she promised to as Macbeth had promised to kill Duncan. She then assures Macbeth that failure is impossible, at which point Macbeth is convinced once again to kill the king. Macbeth had resolved not to kill the king after much thinking about it, but Lady Macbeth persuaded him to do it.
Not only did Lady Macbeth convince her husband to murder King Duncan, but she also made the arrangements to make it possible. At the beginning of Act II, scene II, Lady Macbeth informs us that the guards are thoroughly intoxicated. She then continues to say; “I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss them.. Lady Macbeth made all the arrangements necessary for the murder of King Duncan, so that all Macbeth had to do was perform the act.
