When Lady Macbeth is planning the murder of King Duncan Macbeth listens to her willingly and seems to follow her every order. Although murder cannot really be justified, even by saying that it was done as an act of love, that is the reason Lady Macbeth has plotted the murder. The three witches had already promised Macbeth the throne and Lady Macbeth really wanted this to happen. Possibly for her husband but is could also have been for her as well, so that she could be queen. This meant that she would not just sit around waiting for it to happen, as it could never be guaranteed, this way she knew they would get it.
After the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth became very weak and could no longer cope with what he had done. This is where his weakness really shows through. You can tell that he is weak because he syas:
“sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep”. This means that by killing Duncan he will no longer sleep as his guilty conscionce will give him nightmares, whereas Lady Macbeth says: “A little water clears us of this deed” showing that the murder was nothing to her and she can forget about it instantly, putting it to the back of her mind so that it doesn’t affect her.
Now that the King is dead it means that Macbeth is in line for the throne as his official successor. When Macbeth becomes King he seems to become a lot more powerful and confident. This mean that Lady Macbeth can no longer control him. He starts doing more without consulting his wife, like killing again, this time a man called Banquo. He then tells her: “Be innocent of knowledge, dearest chick.” Lady Macbeth starts to feel more helpless but Macbeth is still weak and sees images of the dead Banquo even when awake. This shows that Lady Macbeth is now weaker than Macbeth ever was and she can no longer cope with the guilt of what she has done or what she has turned Macbeth into. Now the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have swapped and it is now the case of Macbeth looking after her, and in the end she needs doctors as she is so bad.
After the murder of Banquo and Macduff’s family, Lady Macbeth loses complete control of Macbeth and herself. Lady Macbeth is being affected more and more by the murder of King Duncan, which she had helped with. She goes from being able to say:
“A little water clears us of this deed” she is saying:
“what, will these hands ne’er be clean”. Lady Macbeth does say this in her sleep but it still shows that she was wrong by saying that the blood will simply wash away when it is always there in her mind. This shows that her imagination is going to the extent of seeing things constantly and not being able to get rid of these horrible pictures. It shows that the guilt has become so bad that everything seems to remind her of what she has done and the constant reminder on her hands means she can never get away from it.
Nearer the end of Macbeth you can easily tell that Lady Macbeth has gone wuite mad, and, in the end she ends up commiting suicide. This shows that she cannot take anymore having to see the blood on her hands and replaying duncan’s murder over and over again in her head.
So, was Lady Macbeth a fiend like Queen who deserves her fate? I feel that she did deserve her fate. I think this because throughout the first half of the play Lady Macbeth was an awful person. She ordered Macbeth around constantly and even forced him into murder. What was even wore is that after the murder she didn’t feel in the slightest bit guilty for what she had made her husband do just so he could become King, which would make her Queen. She turns her husband into a Killer with no conscience and herself into and insane women constantly seeing things. So Lady Macbeth has done it to herself and did deserve her fate.
