Lady Macbeth
To what extent do you agree with Malcolm’s description of Lady Macbeth as a “fiend- like queen”?
In all of William Shakespeare’s plays, Lady Macbeth has to be one of his most famous, interesting and notable creations. She is a character whose dramatic actions provoke a similarly dramatic change of opinion and reaction from the enthralled audience: from utmost horror and revulsion for her appeal to the spirits to “unsex” her and fill her with “direst cruelty”, to that of unenviable pity and sympathy when “by self and violent hands took of her life”.
In the time of Shakespeare, women were identified with the homemaking and childbearing role, who were to have no input in their husband’s affairs. However, Lady Macbeth bears no resemblance to this description to this role; in fact, she is the more dominant partner in the marriage and she was in control of her husband. This would have been unbelievable to an Elizabethan audience, which leads us to the play’s major theme of appearance versus reality. Lady Macbeth is very clever in that she plays on the typical view of women at the time. Although she appears like a polite and ordinary wife, she is actually a remarkable woman, full of thoughts that would be frightening, not only by Elizabethan standards, but also by today standards too. Her outward appearance fools a lot of characters in the play, and played a part in the death of Duncan, who thought that she was a charming hostess on the night she was planning his murder. Ironically, it was Duncan who said “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face”. She is the epitomy of the play’s central incantation courtesy of the witches: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair, hover through the fog and the filthy air”.
The first time the audience meet Lady Macbeth is when she is reading the letter from her husband informing her of what the witches told him about what the future may hold for them. The letter is important as it shows us that the Macbeths are communicating in prose. Prose was the type of language used by people who weren’t highborn. For example, the drunken porter uses prose. However since the Macbeths are royalty, they should be communicating through blank verse. They are using prose, as the content of the letter is treasonous and contains information about the witches and Macbeth’s deepest desires. The letter also reveals to us more about the Macbeths relationship. The typical marital relationships in Elizabethan time were very rigid and structured. In fact, many marriages were arranged, and there wasn’t a lot of love, contact or equality displayed between spouses. Wives’s were to stay at home and tend to their housekeeping duties and were not to interfere and had no business in their husband’s affairs. However, the fact that Macbeth wrote to his wife with his news immediately after the witches’ first prophecy came true, shows us that he has a lot of time and respect for his wife and values and needs her opinion. His respect for his wife is further underlined when he addresses her as his “dearest partner of greatness”. The Macbeths are deeply in love at this stage.
Lady Macbeth reads the letter without any emotion, despite the letter containing several dark and wicked fantasies and after she has finished reading the letter she is immediately ruled by her mind's eye and lives in the future. Regardless of the consequences, she plainly understands that Duncan must die and that her husband will become King. However, she knows that her husband is too weak for him to murder Duncan and live out his destiny. She analyses her husband with great detachment and criticism. Although she recognises that her husband has ambition, he hasn’t “the illness (that) should attend it”. She observes his good qualities as if they were bad and inadequate, such as his nobility and respect for Duncan. Another good quality of Macbeth’s that she attacks is his kindness, which she regards, as feminine; “is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness”. This shows us her ruthless pursuit to get what she wants from her husband. She goes on to say that she will talk him into committing the murder by any means, and she, along with the help of fate and the supernatural will make Macbeth king. After being briefly interrupted by a messenger who informs her of Macbeth and Duncan’s impending arrival, Lady Macbeth returns to her soliloquy with more words which would further shock and infuriate the audience. Her plea for the spirits to “unsex” her, shows us that, although she is aggressive and stronger than her husband, isn’t capable to do something so treasonous and also sacrilegious, as Kings were thought to have been chosen by God. This would have been especially bad to the Elizabethan audience as people were very holy. She creates an image showing the audience that the crime that she will commit is truly heinous. “The raven himself is hoarse, that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan.” This quote shows us that when Duncan is murdered, human nature is also destroyed. This heightens the unnaturalness of what she is doing. She goes on to demand these spirits to go through to places such as her blood and her breasts, and alter them so that she won’t feel any guilt or shame, and so that nothing can get in the way of what she is planning on doing. Again, the audience would be disgusted that she was so desperate for power that she calls upon unimaginable evil and also that she would be willing to risk her own health to bring this evil into her body; “Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers.” She wants all of this in her life as she knows that she needs bravery, not just for her, but for her husband too as Macbeth currently lacks courage. However when her husband enters, she immediately ends her soliloquy and greets Macbeth with great reverence, as if he were already King, even though she was condemning him as feminine and afraid of his own fate only moments before. From their conversation, we can see that the Macbeths are deeply in love, but also that Lady Macbeth is the one who is firmly in charge, as she tells him how he should appear; “look like th’ innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t” and also to that she will arrange everything; “leave all the rest to me”.
