Ambitious- Lady Macbeth seems very ambitious at the start of the play, she at once assumes that the things mentioned in Macbeth’s letter are to become reality (Act 1 Scene 5) “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor;” and then implies that they WILL become “And shalt be what thou art promised”. I feel that it is her dream for her husband that causes her to overcast reality and humanity when considering her plan.
Dominant- I feel that Lady Macbeth is definitely dominant over Macbeth. The first time that she speaks to him in the play, and when persuading him in Act 1 Scene 7 she jumps upon him with her proposals in a way that causes Macbeth to find it even harder to oppose her in fear of what she may say or think. When he does this is the reaction he gets:
Macbeth- “If we should fail-“
Lady Macbeth- “We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.”
He is cut off mid-sentence and snapped back at by Lady Macbeth, he feels he should just keep quiet as so not to anger her further and goes along with what she says.
Cunning + Calculating- Lady Macbeth is very cunning and calculating. She first of all creates the flawless plan and then uses her intelligence to destroy Macbeths doubts and lack of enthusiasm when she tells him. She does this by using her anger coupled with the power she has over him to make him submit to her plan and agree with her. She does this constantly throughout the play when Macbeth needs to be encouraged. For example after the murder at the end of Act 2 Scene 2 when Macbeth is too scared to take the daggers back to the chamber:
MACBETH: I'll go no more
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.
LADY MACBETH: Infirm of purpose! She shouts at him
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt.
[Exit. Knocking within.]
MACBETH: Whence is that knocking?
How is't with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
{Re-enter LADY MACBETH.}
LADY MACBETH: My hands are of your color;
but I shame To wear a heart so white.
She is saying to him that they are on the same grounds, so don’t
worry, but she doesn’t like him being such a wimp and would like him to pull him self together
Knocking within.] I hear a knocking
At the south entry: retire we to our chamber;
A little water clears us of this deed: She then instructs Macbeth what to do to give him support
How easy is it, then! Your constancy And tries to sound cheerful
Hath left you unattended.
[Knocking within.]
Hark! more knocking.
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us, 70
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts. She says this to say “pull yourself back together”
I think that there is not much good in her. She is selfish when it comes to other peoples needs, and only really thinks of herself, when planning to get Macbeth the throne although it seems not, because she is so convincing to us that she is doing it for him that she convinces herself that she is too!!
The reason the murder of Duncan had such a bad affect on Macbeth and eventually Lady Macbeth and the reasons for caution were emphasised was because Regicide (killing of a king or queen) was regarded in those times as the worst possible crime. This was because they believed in “The Great Chain of Being” which is created by God and places each person in order of how important they are. They believed that God is the one who decided on who was king (hence the great respect for the king) and killing the king would therefore have meant that that person would be disrupting nature and committing a crime against god. The result of this crime would have meant that that person would be condemned in the hands of evil and be stripped of all natures’ gifts e.g. restful sleep. We see this influence on the play where Lady Macbeth is said to not have slept. Also when the killing is committed the old man in Act2 Scene 4 reports that that night was disrupted by strange happenings e.g. an owl being hunted by a falcon and the best of the kings horses going crazy.
Throughout the play I noticed changes in the personality of Lady Macbeth. I think that this is because she did not anticipate the amount of lying that she had to do or how guilty she would feel (she obviously felt extremely bad because her sleep was disturbed) and how it would affect the happiness that she had hoped it would bring. She feels remorse when she says, “Nought’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content.” in Act 3, Sc. 2. It also could be that she was worried about Macbeth and their relationship “How now, my Lord! Why do you keep alone?” she is worried that he is unhappy, She tries to console him, “what’s done is done.” She would have been worried about him because she loves him, but she could have been annoyed at her suspicion of him taking care of actions behind her back and would have liked to know what was going on.
Towards the end she starts to break up under her remorse she shows sign’s of craziness with her sleepwalking and frantic actions. She was suffering from a guilty conscience, this was shown where she walks in her sleep and dreams that she is back when she and Macbeth murdered King Duncan.
Vulnerable- She feels that her relationship with Macbeth is deteriorating because she is suspicious of him going behind her back after Macbeth sees the ghost at the banquet and she doesn’t know what is going on. She feels vulnerable because she feels insecure without the input of her husband being around her.
Eventually Lady Macbeth is driven to suicide by her problems at the end and in Act 5 Sc. 5 her death is reported to Macbeth ‘Seyton- “The queen, my lord is dead.” I think that if Macbeth hadn’t of gone behind her back with the planning of the 2 murders he wouldn’t have made the irrational decision because Lady Macbeth would have thought over their actions better. She would have felt better because she would have felt in better control and knowing of the situation.
I felt no sympathy for Lady Macbeth throughout the play and feel that the outcome was entirely her fault and that the blame could not be blamed elsewhere. This was because at the beginning she was too overwhelmed with her fantasy of her and Macbeth sitting on the throne. I feel that this fantasy may have been aggravated by her excitement of her husband actually fulfilling the sister’s proposal, by becoming the Thane of Cawdor. She was too ambitious for her own good and should have left matters to naturally find their way rather than meddling with them in the way that she did.