In the Scene, Lady Macbeth is quick to point out the original plan was deceived by Macbeth: “That made you break this enterprise to me?”. She is accusing Macbeth of breaking a promise, made from husband to wife. This gives the impression that Lady Macbeth is questioning her husband’s manhood for; surely, any decent husband would uphold a promise he made to his wife. The line also contradicts an earlier image portrayed by Lady Macbeth, thus making her a compelling and unpredictable character, traits an audience love. In Act 1 Lady Macbeth spits the line: “Unsex me here!” however, just a few scenes later, she is using her femininity as an advantage. A few lines earlier, in Act 1 Scene 7 she is seen taunting Macbeth, accusing him of being a coward and trying to demean him but she then completes a remarkable u-turn and leads Macbeth into feeling he is the one holding the cards and that he must provide for her. This technique is similar to one the army use when posed with a group of new recruits. They demean the soldiers when they first meet, gradually breaking down their ego’s, before building their characters back up, and placing them with a great deal of trust and responsibility. The fact that Lady Macbeth is using this technique suggests that she has rather hollow feelings for her husband. Like an army sergeant, she would rather her husband didn’t die or get caught in the act of killing Duncan but she ultimately knows that she is the driving force and that she could probably manipulate (recruit) someone else to do her deeds for her. This once again shows her femininity as a skill, perhaps meaning Shakespeare intended his audience to realise that, like the brute strength of masculinity, the cunningness of femininity can too be used as an advantage.
Lady Macbeth also emotionally blackmails Macbeth. She is aware that Macbeth loves her and wants her to think him a man, therefore she tells her husband that she will use this situation to measure just how much Macbeth loves her, as proved by the lines: “From this time, Such I account thy love”. Divorce was heavily frowned upon during the time this play was first performed, and Macbeth knows that, as the new Thane of Cawdor and potential Prince of Cumberland (when Duncan eventually passes away) he cannot be seen to having personal problems with his wife. He needs her by his side and ready to support him. Hence, Lady Macbeth gives him no choice. She also accuses Macbeth of cowardice (“And live a coward in thine own esteem”), further making him feel that he isn’t worthy of Lady Macbeth. As a soldier, Macbeth would have felt these accusations of cowardice especially hard to take- Lady Macbeth is hitting a raw nerve. She is not only insulting him on a personal level, but on a professional one also. The tactics seem to work as Macbeth later states that he “dare do all that may become a man”. Lady Macbeth has cornered him. This would have struck a chord with the watching audience. The wives of powerful men in that age usually took a backstairs role, totally devoid of power but they would have realised from Lady Macbeth’s actions that they could actually make a difference. The women watching would have probably supported Lady Macbeth in this scene whilst the men would have empathized with Macbeth, creating a divide in the audience. This serves to making the play much more interesting and to make the eventual fate of the characters much more poignant.
Lady Macbeth isn’t averse to acting like the traditional wife, however, directly contrasting the portrayal of her as a power-hungry revolutionist, threatening her husband with emotional blackmail. The line: “But screw your courage to the sticking place, And we’ll not fail.” evidences Lady Macbeth playing the reliable housewife, she is reassuring her husband. She also uses the collective pronoun “we”, letting Macbeth know that he has the full support of his wife. She also gives Macbeth some practical advice on the murder and how to make it a rapid kill; ironic as Macbeth is a fully trained soldier. Lady Macbeth is a control-freak, a perfectionist, planning everything to the finest detail. The audience, most likely the men, might have reacted to this particular statement with a few stifled laughs- after all Macbeth has spent most of the plays beginning few scenes revelling in the adoration of his fellow soldiers, and he is now being told how to kill someone by his wife! However I don’t believe Shakespeare wanted the audience to react with humour to the statement. I believe he is trying to tell the audience that both sexes are equal- and not just equal in fairness. In some of his other plays the female characters prove themselves as equals by demonstrating their strong-wills or by proving themselves just as clever as their male compatriots. But here, Shakespeare is demonstrating that a women too can stoop too low levels usually only associated with men; women are equal, but that means they have the same faults men have.
Flattery plays an important plan in Lady Macbeth’s scheme. She proves this by saying to Macbeth: “(Do this) And be so much more the man;” Once again she is using her gender to convince Macbeth to go against his instinct. She is portraying herself as slightly weak and in need of a man, thus she convinces Macbeth that, if he kills Duncan, he will always be, in her eyes, so much more than a man- a great compliment to Macbeth. This appeals to Macbeth’s masculinity; therefore he participates in the murder of Duncan, just to show Lady Macbeth he can provide for her.
Despite my views that Lady Macbeth is a misunderstood character, some view her as totally evil. These people are quick too point out that she can be contradictory, a trait usually associated with the negative side of human behaviour. They also point out that Lady Macbeth manipulates both appearance and perception as evidenced by the line: “Look like th’ innocent flower but be the serpent under t’.” Here Lady Macbeth is instructing Macbeth to put across a false appearance, he should act nicely and humble when in Duncan’s presence, all the while disguising his feelings of hatred and jealously. Lady Macbeth is being slightly contradictory here, she is instructing Macbeth to lie low, and to use cunning in his murder of Duncan whilst she has failed to see she can use her own femininity to her advantage. She doesn’t seem to realise that less people will suspect her if she keeps um a womanly persona, instead she desires all out carnage and rage, whilst in the form of being “unsexed”. However she is instructing Macbeth to pretend to be grateful to Duncan, whilst secretly plotting his downfall.
The quote also makes use of a slightly biblical reference. “…The serpent under ‘t.” could be a reference to the Devil and the Garden of Eden. The devil, representing sin, hid away amongst the beautiful flowers and fruit, and persuaded Eve to eat an apple God had forbidden her to eat. Here Lady Macbeth persuades the man, Macbeth. It’s almost as if Shakespeare is playing on the morale that all women are sinful and tempt men into evil, in a similar way that Eve tempted Adam. This could support the theory that Lady Macbeth is totally evil, but she could just be seeking support in a misguided and misinformed way.
On first glance, the main, domineering theme of Macbeth seems to be that of regicide, the deliberate and planned killing of a monarch. Regicide (and the aftermath of such an incident) does indeed play a crucial part in the plays development but many other topical themes are included in the play.
The status and power of women in the 1600’s is a theme Shakespeare explores within the play, and the play’s only main female character, Lady Macbeth, is a complex and divided character.
In the 1600’s, women held no positions of power and were forbidden from taking jobs men traditionally held. It was seen as the role of women to stay at home, cooking, cleaning and caring for children. Contrary to the beliefs of the time, Shakespeare enjoyed a remarkably balanced relationship with his wife, Anne Hathaway, and the two shared most of the duties around the home. Shakespeare was also known to disagree with men who stated women should not gain any sort of power, and valued women’s opinions highly. His beliefs on femininity can be seen clearly in Macbeth and I believe the character of Lady Macbeth was created to show women that femininity could be valuable. In the play, in one of Lady Macbeth’s first appearances, she is seen ruing her femininity and stating her desire for the spirits to “unsex me here”. However not long after this request, she is seen acting feeble and weak in front of Macbeth, in order to persuade him to kill Duncan. Shakespeare is showing that femininity can conquer the brute strength of masculinity and thus the two sexes deserve to be equal.
It is highly ironic that the sole voice of truth in the play comes from the witches; a race being burnt at the stake, during this plays first performances, for spreading lies and deceit. The witches are also an example of audience stereotyping. Though portrayed by Shakespeare as queer and unique, the witches are never revealed as truly evil. Yet the audience instantly assumes this, and the trio are thought by many to be the physical embodiment of evil in Macbeth. I strongly disagree with this. If anything, the witches play a positive part. They warn both Macbeth and Banquo what is ahead, and never mention the idea of murder or treachery. True, they most probably planted the seeds of the plan to murder Duncan in Macbeth’s head, but they never openly stated this to be their intentions and never condoned the plan. Perhaps Shakespeare sympathised with the women being murdered for being witches, and so wrote them into the play. He knew the Elizabethan audience would have reacted negatively to the witches, but perhaps he hoped that, when all accusations of witchcraft were proved false, the audience would see the witches as a misunderstood trio, blamed for events in which they had do direct participation.
Deception is rife in the play of Macbeth, and haunts numerous characters. One of the first characters on stage is revealed as a traitor (the previous Thane of Cawdor) and, from that point onwards, treachery and lies dictate the course of the play. Perhaps some of the most deceiving characters in the play are the weird sisters- the three witches. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t view the witches as evil. However deception, an art of illusion, isn’t necessarily an evil thing. If only Macbeth had interpreted the witches’ messages differently, all of the murders in the play could have been avoided. Macbeth should be the character made guilty for the witches “crimes”. He takes their messages in the wrong way- seeing how he can manipulate the future. If he was a nicer character, he might have seen the witches’ visions as a warning, and stayed clear of murder or treachery. This image of Macbeth as evil is supported in Act 1 Scene 7, when Macbeth states he has: “no spur to prick the sides of (his) intent, but only vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself”. This line proves that Macbeth recognises the fact that evil lies within him, and it is perhaps this evilness that mis-understood the witches’ message. The fact that he also sees his ambition as “vaulting” also suggests that is untameable and out of control. He cannot control his emotions, implying he is unbalanced and irrational- common traits of a Shakespearian villain.
Macbeth has everything required to be considered a tragedy. All of the main characters have a tragic flaw (Macbeth’s- too ambitious, Lady Macbeth’s- too remorseful to be a murderer, Banquo’s- failing to act on the knowledge of Macbeth’s murder) and tragically flawed characters are essential in any tragedy. Dramatic irony also plays a big part in Macbeth. The fact that Thomas Howard, the real life Thane of Cawdor was considered a villain gives the audience a slightly negative opinion on Macbeth before he even opens his mouth. Also the witches dialogue provides a good example of dramatic irony, they discuss Macbeth and their plans in front of the audience before Macbeth knows about them; therefore the audience know more than the character. The play also ends in a denouement, climaxing with the death of Macbeth.
There is no doubting Act 1 Scene 7’s importance in terms of dictating the course of the play; the scene also gives us an invaluable insight into the two main characters: Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. From the scene, many conclude that the character of Lady Macbeth is totally evil, relentless in her persuasion, with her sole aim being the death of Duncan by Macbeth’s hand. However I disagree with this opinion. In my eyes, Lady Macbeth only ever supports her husband. It was Macbeth who first had the idea of committing regicide, Macbeth who eventually proceeds in killing the King, Macbeth who finds himself drunk with the heady, god-like state of power. Lady Macbeth simply supports her husband, and pushes him to achieve these aspirations. It is here where I believe Shakespeare is being slightly sarcastic. It was a common believe that all women should support their husbands, and that they should never voice their opinions. This is nearly exactly what Lady Macbeth does in the play. Some would argue that she does indeed voice her opinions but these lines could be viewed instead as lines of support from wife to husband- Lady Macbeth just wants her husband to do well. Normally, a character’s soliloquy can be used to judge their feelings but in Lady Macbeth’s two main soliloquy’s she is thinking irrationally, in the first bitter and angry, in the second desolate and suicidal. How then, can these soliloquies be taken seriously? Lady Macbeth represents the oppression of women, viewed as a villain despite “doing her job”.
The fact that Lady Macbeth conquers Macbeth in the scene also makes Act 1 Scene 7 a very important scene. Shakespeare is showing his audience that femininity can humble masculinity and that, if the public aren’t willing to treat both sexes in the same way, it should at least be women who are considered the superior race. His play wasn’t merely written to entertain, it was also written to provide a medium in which Shakespeare could put across his statement: treat the sexes the same.
Macbeth remains one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays and still pulls in the crowds to this day. Act 1 Scene 7 could be interpreted as the most important scene in the play, and most people conclude slightly different judgements- such is the depth and detail of the scene. In my eyes Lady Macbeth is misunderstood, not a villain but an ironic statement on the oppression of women. She carries out her roles as wife to Macbeth in perfect fashion- she supports him, doesn’t offer her honest (and differing) opinion to Macbeth and also covers up for him, one example being when Macbeth begins to hallucinate at dinner. If only Lady Macbeth and the world around her adopted Shakespeare’s advice, that being treat everyone the same and value everyone’s opinion, the disastrous events of the play might never have occurred and that is precisely Shakespeare’s point.