The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

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GCSE Macbeth coursework - Jan. 2004. Hannah Fulford

English GCSE coursework

The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth face an extraordinary situation involving a strong supernatural theme and murder and treason of the highest kind. However Shakespeare still cleverly manages to make Lady Macbeth and Macbeth relate to audiences of all eras and to convey a strong moral message within his play.

The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is fascinating to study. Shakespeare constantly changes their attitude to each other throughout the play, making it hard to form a clear-cut opinion of their relationship. My personal opinion is that, although events in the play certainly draw Macbeth and Lady Macbeth apart, their love for one another is evident throughout the play.

Having encountered the witches, Macbeth sends a letter to his wife informing her of their prophecies. In the Elizabethan and Jacobean times the Divine Right of Kings claimed that Kings were appointed directly by God, and were therefore answerable to only God. This meant that to resist a King was sinful, and so to murder a King was to commit utmost sin against God. By sending his wife a letter with such treasonable contents, Macbeth demonstrates an incredible trust in Lady Macbeth. I believe that Macbeth’s main motivation for sending the letter was his recognition of his own weakness. Upon hearing the witches’ prophecies Macbeth interprets them himself, and speculates that the murder of Duncan is necessary for his immediate claim to the throne. However he is unwilling to take the responsibility and blame of murdering Duncan alone, and so by sending Lady Macbeth the letter, Macbeth hands the ‘task’ to her. Thus he provides himself with an authoritative figure behind whom he may hide. He recognises that Lady Macbeth is strong and impulsive, and knows that she is likely to act upon what she reads. By letting his wife announce that they must kill Duncan, Macbeth is able to offload some of the guilt of the deed onto her - he uses Lady Macbeth as a scapegoat for his already guilty conscience. Upon sending the letter Macbeth immediately goes to see his wife. In my opinion he does this so that Lady Macbeth is ready to begin to override Macbeth’s good characteristics immediately. When Macbeth loses Lady Macbeth’s support later on in the play he is forced to act independently of her, and so loses the ability to murder. I feel that his actions throughout the play are an indication of Macbeth’s dependency on his wife, as well as his misuse of their love in order to claim the title of King. He refers to Lady Macbeth as: [his] dearest partner of greatness’ showing that Macbeth envisages them sharing the power of the throne.  

In his soliloquy Macbeth admits that he has ‘no spur To prick the sides of [his] intent’ which indicates that Macbeth knows that he will require Lady Macbeth to be his ‘spur’, and coax him into murdering Duncan. He also knows that by allowing Lady Macbeth to take up such a domineering role she will take the murder out of his hands, thus freeing him from a great deal of guilt.

Upon receiving the letter, Lady Macbeth immediately responds to Macbeth’s wishes, realising that it is necessary to kill Duncan. In the soliloquy that follows it is clear that she is aware of Macbeth’s weakness, and frequently speaks of them with regret . She says: ‘Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way’ showing that she fears that Macbeth’s conscience will prove a liability to their plans. Lady Macbeth also says; ‘Art not without ambition, but without The illness that should attend it’, which shows that Lady Macbeth considers herself to be the ‘illness’ that Macbeth needs, or as Macbeth says, the ‘spur’  that he needs. I think that Shakespeare was trying to say here that ambition can be a good thing, depending on the way it is used. Ambition is a good quality to have, so long as a person has enough sense and rational thought to balance it. He uses Lady Macbeth to portray a character that has much ambition but no sense or conscience to accompany it, and he uses Macbeth to portray a character who has ambition and a conscience but no motivation. Both characters misuse their ambition, which results in their leading unhappy lives.

          In order to act as a ‘spur’ Lady Macbeth says that she must ‘ pour [her] spirits in [his] ear, And chastise with the valour of [her] tongue All that impedes [him] from the golden round’, I believe that she does this, not because she is power-greedy, but because she would genuinely like to see Macbeth as King. It is clear at this point that Lady Macbeth is the dominant figure in the relationship. Much of the initial speech in the play is that of Lady Macbeth, an indication of her authority over her husband. Macbeth’s speech is brief, showing his uncertainty and inferior position in the relationship. In this way Lady Macbeth would have been a particularly unusual character to Shakespeare’s Elizabethan and Jacobean audience. Women were always considered to be the weaker sex - they performed daily chores and cared for the children. It was almost unthinkable than a woman could be capable of handling a more important role, as is exemplified by Lady Macbeth. The fact that it was Lady Macbeth, not Macbeth, who eventually instigated the murder of Duncan would have been shocking to Elizabethan and Jacobean people.

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        Throughout the play a lot of emphasis is put upon the importance of sleep. In the play sleep is regarded as God’s beautiful gift to the innocent - a way to be at peace and have no worries. Once Macbeth has murdered Duncan he says that he loses the ability to sleep, and is therefore robbed of any way to be at peace. He feels that it is God’s punishment for committing the most punishable crime of murdering the King. Macbeth says, ‘Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’-the innocent sleep, Sleep that knits ...

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