A messenger appears with news that Duncan, King of Scotland plans to spend the night at their castle. As she hears this, she takes it as an opportunity. She has just read a letter from her husband which suggests they will be King and Queen soon and that the current King is staying at their own castle that night. She calls upon evil spirits to strengthen her for the impending murder she has formulated in her head. Shakespeare is comparing her, in part, to the witches from the opening of the play where they are shown predicting the future. He is getting the audience to create connections between her and the witches. When she chants, it is as if she is asking to become a witch. She asks the spirits to “unsex me here…and take my milk for gall…” which would shock Elizabethan audiences as it is again reinforcing that she would sacrifice her femininity to ensure that her conscience does not get in the way of her intentions. The ‘ritual’ that she carries out creates comparisons to when the witches congregate, shrieking antithesis such as “fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
After her husband arrives, reluctant to talk, she asks him to look innocent and leave the rest to her. She is simply asking him not to do much so that he does not give anything away. This is probably because she does not think much of his ability to lie and deceive, a quality she feels that she is quite strong at.
Their ability to lie and deceive is put to the test when Duncan arrives later that night. Both greet him with welcoming smiles, although I think that it is only Lady Macbeth who is acting while Macbeth is genuinely glad to see him or wants him to know that he is fond of him should the murder go awry and the blame falls upon him. The fact that Lady Macbeth is so capable of lying does not seem to register with Macbeth, nor does the fact that if she is such a good liar that she may have lied to him before. This shows a naivety about him that is contradictory to his power and status as the current Thane of Glamis.
Lady Macbeth has to convince Macbeth to carry out the murder. Macbeth expresses his doubts about murdering Duncan and fights with his conscience in his own soliloquy. He is friends with Duncan and has no reason to kill him except his own ambition. Even when he is speaking aloud, he refrains from using words such as murder or death and reverts to euphemisms like “taking-off” and “surcease”, He declares to his wife that they will not proceed with their plans which is Macbeth standing up for what he believes is the right thing to do. She attacks him, calling him a coward and taunts him, saying that he is not a real man. She speaks of an adage, or proverb which says ‘The cat wanted to eat fish, but didn’t want to wet her paws.’ This could be considered a rather offensive way to persuade someone to do what you want and proves that she believes this to be the best way to get someone to do what she wants. She makes it clear that she would do anything to keep a promise and get what she wants-even kill a baby. This hints that she may have had a child but it is never mentioned again in the play. As soon as she explains to him that she plans to frame the chamberlains, Duncan’s servants, by getting them drunk, Macbeth agrees. This means that Macbeth’s greatest refusal not to carry out the murder was the fact that he feared he would be found out.
As Macbeth is carrying out the murder, Shakespeare offers us an insight into Lady Macbeth’s true nature here when she says that “had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done’t.” If Duncan did not remind her of her father, she would killed him herself. Initially, the audience was led to believe that the only reason that she was making Macbeth carry out the murder was because she feared she would be caught, literally, red-handed. Now the audience sees that she may have had a father whom she was very close to. This is surprising, as the audience considers her a ruthless, fiendish character. Now, however, she has a background and a valid reason for not carrying out the murder which conflicts with the presentation of her character so far in the play.
Macduff and Lenox both seem to be uncertain as to who the real murderer of King Duncan is and suspect Macbeth, due to his exaggerated speech over being really upset with regard to the murder. Lady Macbeth realises what is going on and faints, to draw attention away from Macbeth. This is, for the second time, showing how incompetent she thinks he is but at the same time shows how perceptive a character she is to notice the suspicions hanging over her husband’s head.
By Act 3, Scene 2, there has been a obvious power shift. Macbeth is now the King of Scotland, having taken over the title from Duncan. Macbeth says that he feels guilty though and that he is having bad dreams. At this point, Macbeth has arranged Banquo’s murder by means of two murderers. The fashion in which Lady Macbeth speaks to Macbeth in this scene could be considered patronising, she says:
“sleek o’er your rugged looks;
Be bright and jovial among your guests tonight.”
It creates the image of a mother, grooming her son before an important Christmas meal with the whole family. This kind of behaviour has been consistent throughout the play so far, how she still thinks of herself as the dominant one even though her husband is the most powerful man in Scotland. Macbeth, meanwhile, due to the elevated level of power the title of King of Scotland has given him and the knowledge that he holds of Banquo’s fate feels more confident and, although he still listens to what his wife tells him to do, does so with more disdain than before. Macbeth’s choice not to reveal the planned murder of Banquo to Lady Macbeth emphasizes the new poise he holds, how he has more confidence in himself because he has carried out a murder and become King. Of course, unbeknownst to him, suspicions still linger as to who the real murderer of Duncan is. Macbeth’s inability to confide in his wife could be one of two things; the new power that he has acquired has meant that he has lost the ability to trust others or that he feels Lady Macbeth needs to learn her place, by being out of the loop for once.
There have been comparisons made between the banquet in Act 3, Scene 4 and the stability of Scotland as a nation. Due to its presentation as a disorganised mess, how Lady Macbeth does not greet the guests, it connotes that the nation will also be disorganised due to incompetent rulers. It could also be said that Lady Macbeth and Macbeth pay more attention to each other’s well-being than each other and not to their guests which would symbolize that the same would happen once they were given decision-making powers in the ruling of their country.
The character of Lady Macbeth separates into two completely different roles during the banquet scene. The first is as a hostess. She takes it upon herself to ensure that the guests know nothing about the murder or her husband’s worries and guilty conscience. She does not come across as very well suited to this role and lets the guests talk amongst themselves instead of joining in, as the audience gets the sense that she is constantly monitoring her husband as he stays off-stage. When Macbeth decides to join the banquet he comments that there are no chairs. There is one, but it is occupied by Banquo’s ghost. As soon as Macbeth begins to react in terror to the bloody corpse that he sees, which may suggest that Macbeth cannot deal with the full effects of murder and its aftermath, Lady Macbeth appears to rush to his aid. In fact, she is only ensuring that he does not give anything away. She still has no knowledge that he has given the order for Banquo to be murdered, and you get the sense she actually does not care, just as long as Macbeth keeps his mouth shut and does not reveal to the guests what really happened to Duncan. This is where Lady Macbeth switches to her second role as a persuader as she tries to use her ability to persuade the guests that Macbeth is often like this, or as she says:
“Think of this, good peers,
But as a thing of custom: ‘t is no other;
Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.”
The way in which she chooses to say this is typical of her first role, the hostess wherein she cares for the guests, making sure that they enjoy themselves and pay no attention to Macbeth who could spill the beans at any moment. She explains that he is usually like this and blames it on his childhood, which is a lie. Again, she is trying to use her ability of persuasion to lie to guests. She becomes worried when this tactic fails as she had the power to do so when Duncan arrived at her castle the night before. Shakespeare is trying to show that her importance is diminishing and her inability to persuade the guests ends results in the dismissing of them all from the banquet.
To further reinforce that her importance is diminishing, Shakespeare does not include her in the middle part of his play. In no way does she have any impact on any other characters, which is going against the dream she held from the beginning of the play which was to have as much power and influence over everyone as she could. Although her character is not seen for quite a while, the audience is left with the last remaining image they hold of her, which is caring after her distressed husband while pondering what the future holds.
In Act 4, Scene 2, the audience is introduced to Lady Macduff. Many people feel that this scene is used as a dramatic device in which Shakespeare is comparing her to Lady Macbeth. I agree with this description as, from the beginning of the scene, Lady Macduff could be considered the polar opposite of Lady Macbeth. The audience gets the feeling that Lady Macduff cares only for her family and not for herself and her daily schedule is consumed with worrying about the well-being of her family. In other words, she is presented as selfless, caring and motherly. Lady Macbeth on the other hand, has always been presented as a woman who goes against the image of a mother, even though she may have had a child once. She is darker, filled with selfish intentions, and who almost reverses the roles of husband and wife between herself and Macbeth.
The next time that Lady Macbeth is seen on stage, is in Act 5, Scene 1 where her gentlewoman overhears her talking while sleepwalking. The gentlewoman refuses to repeat to a doctor that she hears Lady Macbeth talking about murders as she fears Lady Macbeth may have her killed as well. As the gentlewoman and doctor listen on, Lady Macbeth relives the experiences that have led up to this point. While in a trance-like state, she continuously washes her hands, trying to get rid of blood that she sees on both of them. “Out, damned spot! Out I say!…will these hands ne’er be clean?” When she speaks these words, she is recalling the night of the murder, where she said with confidence to her husband “A little water clears us of this deed.” The way in which she is always washing her hands means that she feels that she has Duncan’s blood on her hands and that she feels that it was her fault that Macbeth killed him, when she gave him the orders to do so. The doctor even comments on her condition when he says, “What a sigh there! The heart is sorely charged.” He could be referring either to the heavy burden of guilt that she must be carrying or that she is constantly tormented by the events leading up until now.
When the audience first saw Lady Macbeth early on in the play, her character was one with aspirations. The wife of a Thane, she craved power and knew that sacrifices had to be made in order for her to get what she wanted. When her craving is fulfilled by becoming Queen of Scotland, she has nothing else to live for. Because she has accomplished her dream to have a lot of power, she realises all too late that it is the end of the road after that. Her time which used to be spent aspiring is now spent feeling guilty over the deaths that her husband committed. When she speaks to others, but Macbeth is particular, her speeches were often longer than the person she was talking to, indicating that she held the dominance in the conversation. Now though, in this scene, Shakespeare wants us to see that her speeches consist of maybe two or three lines, showing that her importance has disappeared and now her sanity is slowly being eaten away at. Because, in her language, she is reliving past experiences, this just adds to the fact that she has nothing else to live for, and so can only relive events that have already happened.
When Malcolm refers to Lady Macbeth as a ‘fiend-like Queen’ at the end of the play, I initially said that I felt the description was accurate and that she deserved to be labelled this. After fully reviewing the play and trying to understand the character of Lady Macbeth, I am going to change my opinion. I do feel that the approach favoured by her to obtain what she wants was not the right one and I therefore agree that Malcolm has given a correct portrayal of her character. However, she only took the route she did because she felt that all the others were cut-off. She was desperate to achieve what she wanted, but she was too naïve to think about what may happen after she achieved this. Shakespeare was not trying to teach Elizabethan society a lesson, as other authors choose to do, but was just trying to create a female character who creates an impact and can be just as complex as other male counterparts.
