As Macbeth enters the room Lady Macbeth instantly praises him and flatters him, she is treating Macbeth with consideration. She refers to him as ‘Worthy Cawdor’, this may be to convince Macbeth to commit the murder of Duncan. She says ‘look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’, this shows a more deceiving side to Lady Macbeth. She is telling Macbeth to act innocent and appear normal but to plan his actions and behaviour towards the plot all of the time.
In this part of the scene Lady Macbeth is being very controlling towards Macbeth and the things she is saying are said to make Macbeth feel small and insignificant and for Lady Macbeth to have all the power in the situation. She also says ‘ leave all the rest to me’, she wishes to plan the murder and do everything except actually kill Duncan, this is showing another side to her, a less powerful side but she may also be having doubts about being caught, if it is not her stabbing Duncan she will not be blamed.
At the beginning of Act I Scene 7 Macbeth is on stage by himself, he is thinking about the murder, Lady Macbeth enters and Macbeth tells her he will not murder Duncan! Lady Macbeth responds by insulting Macbeth and questioning his man-hood, ‘When you durst do it, then you were a man’. This suggests that now Macbeth will not kill Duncan he is not the man he once was. She is trying to make the murder seem acceptable, she is playing it down and saying there will be no consuquence, ‘you would be so much more than man’, this is also complimenting Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth carries on insulting him and she even suggests that she would kill her own child brutally than break such a promise: ‘while it was smiling in my face, Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums And dash the brains out’. The way that Lady Macbeth says that her baby would be smiling as she dashes its brains out is a very shocking tactic which occurs many times in this scene.
In the last part of the scene Lady Macbeth shares her whole plan, this is one last attempt to get Macbeth to agree to do it. She tells him exactly what both of them would be doing, when and where they would be doing it during the murder. She persuades Macbeth by intimidating him and using emotional blackmail. The powerful role seems to be Macbeths in this part of the scene and Lady Macbeth hardly talks but only to reassure and persuade.
At the beginning of Act 2 Scene 2 Lady Macbeth’s actions and behaviour are changing, she used to be powerful and controlling. ‘That which hath made them drunk, hath made me bold’, this shows that she is no longer powerful, also it shows that Lady Macbeth is only bold because she has been drinking alcohol. Also Lady Macbeth contradicts herself and her actions because one minute she is calling herself brave and bold and the next minute she is scared of an owl: ‘[owl shrieks] Hark Peace!’ This may suggest that she is not really bold and fearless at all, infact she may be worried about her part in the murder and the possibility of getting caught. This is the main part in the play where you see a shift in Lady Macbeth’s behaviour, she is becoming anxious and reserved throughout the scene.
When Macbeth enters the room with two bloody daggers Lady Macbeths actions begin to change and she begins to show how anxious she is, she fears the murder has not actually been done but it has just been attempted ‘And ‘tis not done; th’attempt and not the deed’. She seems more apprehensive about this than about other things because if this has happened there is a great chance of getting caught.
Macbeth begins to worry about the murder and he worries that someone has seen or heard him, at this point in the scene Lady Macbeth becomes more powerful one again by ordering Macbeth around and putting him down even though he has just done the deed for her! Lady Macbeth is constantly telling Macbeth that what he is doing is wrong ‘why did you bring these daggers from the place? They must lie there’. She asks Macbeth to take the daggers back to the place of the murder and smear the blood on the guards faces so they would get the blame, Macbeth refuses therefore Lady Macbeth goes forth and does it herself, here Lady Macbeth regains her power and confidence for the first time in Act 2 Scene 2. Throughout the entire play Lady Macbeth’s actions are particularly shocking and strange. In the time the play was written they would have been severely frowned upon and they would have been punished. Lady Macbeth also plans an alibi towards the end of the scene, this is unlike at the end of the scene, this is unlike at the end of the last scene where she became anxious.
At the beginning of Act 5 Scene I the gentlewoman is telling the doctor that she has seen Lady Macbeth sleep walking since the King has been killed. Then Lady Macbeth enters as she is sleep walking and the gentlewoman and the doctor observe and talk about the reasons of this happening. I think the reasons for her sleepwalking are that now Macbeth has been crowned King and he is coping with the over hanging guilt of the murder whereas Lady Macbeth cannot cope with the guilt the murder has brought her. As she is sleep walking Lady Macbeth is attempting to wash the invisible blood from her hands, this is linking to Act 2 Scene 2 as the is thinking about the murder, she uses the words ‘What, will these hands ne’er be clean?’ this is telling us that she thinks there is still blood on her hands, she may think of the blood as guilt and the guilt can never be washed away. Towards the end of there scene Lady Macbeth also talks about the murder of Banquo and about how they must ‘Wash your hands, put on your night-gown, look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave.’ So not only is she thinking about the murder she planned of Duncan but she is also feeling the guilt of the murder of Banquo. The last words of Lady Macbeth in this scene are, ‘what’s done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed’. This may be her saying she has had enough and her repeating the words means there is a deeper meaning to them, as if she wants to go to bed forever. Also her repeating the words is emphasising them and wanting people to think about what she is saying and she wants them to understand what she is going through. She is very unstable and seems to have no power over her actions therefore Macbeth is left to handle things by himself as Lady Macbeths mental state begins to deteriorate slowly as the scenes progress.
Throughout the entire play Lady Macbeth is losing her power and I think this has a great impact on her behaviour, she begins to feel the guilt and she feels she is being separated from her husband. This makes her more scared about the happenings in the future and I think she no longer cope by herself.