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 up the ravell’d sleeve of care’. Duncan is murdered whilst he is sleeping, as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth prefer to act in the dark, which they think conceals their moves. The light reminds them of goodness and purity and therefore brings to mind the terrible deeds they have committed, whereas the dark relates the pair to the witches and evil and makes them feel more sure of themselves. In fact all of the murders are committed during the night, when it is dark. Also, the last words Lady Macbeth says to her husband when she is alive are, ‘To bed, to bed, to bed’, showing that her last desire is that they should have the gift of sleep returned to them, so that they can go to bed and fall asleep, and therefore be relieved of their sins.
Despite her love for Macbeth, I feel that some of Lady Macbeth’s determination to make Macbeth King comes from her recognition of her role in the relationship, and the fact that she has power over Macbeth and so would hold the official title of Queen.
Lady Macbeth says:
‘Thou wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it …’
I think this shows that Lady Macbeth, rather than totally resenting Macbeth for being weak, holds some admiration for her husband. By referring to evil as an ‘illness’ Lady Macbeth indicates that she considers it to be more of a burden than an asset. She therefore respects Macbeth’s innocence.
The fact that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth relate themselves so strongly to the witches would have been seen in Elizabethan and Jacobean times as a sin. At that time order was considered very important, and the supernatural was said to upset the balance of God’s world. It could be said that the witches do not give Lady Macbeth what she asks for later in the play (she asks to be unsexed and made stronger) as she is unable to murder Duncan herself. She says, ‘Had he not resembled My father as he slept, I had done’t’ In my opinion the witches use their evil to corrupt people, indirectly influencing their victims’ thoughts and allowing them to commit crimes of their own accord. By not using ‘magical powers’ as such, the witches are actually less to blame for the actions of their victims than it would seem. They seem to have little effect on people who are not already corrupt - for example Banquo reads little into his own predictions and is willing to wait to see if they are fulfilled. The witches have much more influence over Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who evidently already exhibit some evil qualities, and they put these qualities to their own ill use. I think that Shakespeare was trying to convey a point here - that evil simply manipulates people in order to achieve its goal. Whatever the initial outlook, the intentions of evil are never good.
An important issue between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is truthfulness. Neither is truthful with the other - they each adopt a different personality when they are together. This is particularly apparent after the murder of Duncan, when both feel some degree of regret and doubt, but neither reveals their feeing to the other. Instead they speak of their worries in soliloquies. At the beginning of the play, before Duncan’s murder, Lady Macbeth treats Macbeth harshly, and comes across as callous and commanding when speaking to him. However it is obvious that some of the confidence which she displays is feigned, because more than once, Lady Macbeth asks for the help in committing the murder. In one soliloquy Lady Macbeth begins to talk directly to the witches (it is assumed that the ‘spirits’ which Lady Macbeth refers to are the witches). Lady Macbeth is more aware than her husband that the witches’ evil is preternatural rather than an actual physical embodiment. Macbeth finds it necessary to see the witches in physical form in order to believe their predictions - which is also the case with his visions. Lady Macbeth recognises the witches’ omnipresence and their ability to extend beyond a physical form. It is obvious that she is affected by the witches’ evil, as she refers to them as ‘spirits That tend on mortal thoughts’, which suggests that Lady Macbeth feels somewhat frustrated that the witches plague her thoughts. It is probable that she feels the insignificance of her own evil compared to that of the witches’, and starts to see ‘undesirable’ traces of human conscience within her. Later in the play, just before Macbeth returns from murdering Duncan, Lady Macbeth admits in her soliloquy that ‘had he [Duncan] not resembled [Her] father as he slept, [she] had don’t’, this is just one example of Lady Macbeth’s human ‘weaknesses’ showing through. It is clear that Lady Macbeth fears that she will begin to lose confidence, and so in her soliloquy before the murder she resorts to begging the witches to remove any human qualities from her and prevent her from feeling remorse: ‘make thick my blood, Stop up the access and passage to remorse’. It is obvious that Lady Macbeth considers her femininity to be a potential downfall, as she asks to be unsexed. She also says ‘fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty’ - she asks the witches to give her more evil, but when talking to Macbeth she gives the impression that she already has the required evil and such qualities to commit any crime. This self doubt is backed up by her pleas to the witches that ‘no compunctious visiting of nature Shake [her] fell purpose, not keep peace between Th’ effect and it’. Lady Macbeth recognises that she too has some humanity in her, which must be ousted before she is affected by those same qualities in Macbeth when he arrives home. She fears that if this happens, their actions will be impeded and the deed will never be done. However, Lady Macbeth admits no such doubts to Macbeth. In order to convince Macbeth of her strength, she even speaks about killing her own child were it necessary. An act of this kind suggests the utmost strength and evil in a person, as a mother and her child have a strong bond. Not only does Lady Macbeth talk of killing the child, she refers to a brutal murder - ‘And dash’d the brains out’ - in order to enforce her strength on Macbeth and make him feel the extremity of his supposed inferiority to her. She says that she would be willing to do this ‘had [she] so sworn as [he Had] done to this [the plan]’ Here Lady Macbeth tries to make herself seem more respectable than her husband - she plays on Macbeth’s male strengths. She does so because in Elizabethan and Jacobean times, the strength and masculine qualities of a man were greatly respected, and for Macbeth to have fewer such qualities than his wife would have been a source of shame. Lady Macbeth therefore constantly reminds Macbeth of this.
Macbeth definitely lacks the courage of conviction. For example before the murder, Macbeth becomes nervous, and says, ‘If we should fail-’. However Lady Macbeth immediately jumps in and reassures her husband, saying ‘We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place And we’ll not fail’. Macbeth appears particularly weak when he is around his wife. On the battlefield he is merciless, and kills without hesitation. However when Lady Macbeth is around he becomes almost pathetic. I feel that Macbeth’s frailty when he is around his wife comes from his deep awe of her. For example, Macbeth says to his wife ‘Bring forth men-children only For thy undaunted mettle should compose Nothing but males’ showing that he thinks of Lady Macbeth with utmost respect. He refers to her courage as ‘undaunted’ which conveys a strong feeling of admiration. It is clear that this admiration stems from Macbeth’s recognition that his own courage is far from undaunted. Lady Macbeth’s extreme power and strength gives Macbeth as much fear as it does motivation. Although Macbeth sets Lady Macbeth up to overshadow him in the first place, she does so so thoroughly that Macbeth’s own imperfections are made very obvious to him. The significant difference between the two is more apparent to Macbeth now than ever.
After Duncan’s murder Macbeth begins to dominate the dialogue, mainly with speech that is laden with guilt and regret. He begins to worry that he is now condemned and damned to hell because of the murder. He says, ‘To know my deed ‘twere best not to know myself’. Lady Macbeth proves more difficult to read. She speaks very little, and when she does so it is only to reassure Macbeth. There is a sense however that she too regrets the murder. Yet she maintains her mask of strength, as, despite her worries, she still scorns Macbeth for his doubts. She says: ‘My hands are of your colour, but I shame To wear a heart so white’.
Initially Lady Macbeth is extremely on edge, which I think is a mixture or her paranoia of being discovered and her inability to cope with the guilt of the murder. An example of her nervousness is: ‘Alack! I am afraid they have awaked, And ‘tis not done; the attempt and not the deed Confounds us.’As Lady Macbeth talks to reassure Macbeth I get the impression that she also attempts to reassure herself. She speaks with great dramatic irony. For example: ‘These deeds must not be thought After these ways; so, it will make us mad’
When Lady Macbeth learns that Macbeth has killed Duncan’s chamberlains she faints. There are many arguments as to why she did so. It is my personal belief that Lady Macbeth faints because Macbeth has committed these murders spontaneously. Only we the audience know that the murder of Duncan was difficult for Lady Macbeth. She saw the need to perform only one murder in order to fulfil the prophecy and she was prepared to sacrifice her better qualities to get that end. She now feels that the situation is getting out of hand, especially since Macbeth’s murder of the chamberlains was so unnecessary. It is probable that Lady Macbeth is shocked that Macbeth is starting to act independently of her - she feels that he is starting to slip out of her control. She begins to realise that Macbeth has become too involved in his own wrong doings, and that she has lost him. Throughout the rest of the play Macbeth becomes carried away with murder. Once he is crowned King, he proceeds to kill more people needlessly and without consulting Lady Macbeth. Also he begins to ignore his human conscience as Lady Macbeth tried to do before Duncan’s murder.
It would seem therefore, that, as the play progresses, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth lose their love for one another. Their relationship starts to deteriorate. Lady Macbeth begins to lose her power over Macbeth and Macbeth his respect for his wife. For example, he begins to become resentful of Lady Macbeth’s ‘indifference’ to Duncan’s murder; ‘You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, When mine is blanch’d with fear’. Once Macbeth is King Lady Macbeth makes few decisions. Macbeth arranges to kill Banquo, and when Lady Macbeth becomes suspicious of this she asks;
‘What’s to be done?’ to which Macbeth replies
‘Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck …’
Not only does Macbeth refuse to involve Lady Macbeth in his plans, he also patronises her by the use of this term which was of endearment, more suited to a child or young lover. He begins to isolate himself from other people and Lady Macbeth has difficulty communicating with Macbeth - reverting to enquiring after him through servants. She is no longer by Macbeth’s side as his ‘dearest partner of greatness’. Most affectionate terms are lost by this point in the play, and Lady Macbeth has reverted to addressing her husband as ‘my Lord’.
At the start of the feast in which Banquo’s ghost appears, Lady Macbeth is isolated from the rest of the group. This isolation, which is more mental than physical, comes from her dejection. Lady Macbeth’s misery is reflected in her speech - it becomes brief and perfunctory. For example when she tries to console Macbeth after the appearance of Banquo’s ghost, she says things such as ’Almost at odds with morning, which is which’ rather than the lengthy, persuasive speech she used prior to Duncan’s murder. Also, Lady Macbeth ceases to boast of her own strength and no longer refers to Macbeth’s weaknesses. I think that Lady Macbeth is able to see that Macbeth is ignoring his conscience, but she is lacking the spirit and feels that she is no longer close enough to him to change his actions. During the ghostly illusion at the banquet Lady Macbeth defends her husband against exposure. However eventually she is unable to defend him further and asks their guests to leave. The last words Lady Macbeth ever speaks to her husband are: ‘You lack the seasons of all nature, sleep’. This is the speech of a depressed woman. She regrets the murder of Duncan, as she realises that because of it, she has lost both Macbeth and herself. Lady Macbeth does not appear in the play again until her sleepwalking scene, and until he hears of her death Macbeth does not seem to consider her.
There is a reversal in character towards the end of the play - Macbeth becomes more like Lady Macbeth; dismissive, controlling and impulsive, whereas Lady Macbeth no longer fights for power over her husband. Also, at the beginning of the play Macbeth displayed obvious affection for Lady Macbeth, whereas she showed little for him and was very powerful and domineering. However now, towards the end of the play, Macbeth is the one who disregards Lady Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth’s love for her husband becomes more apparent. This is evident in the psychology of her speech in her sleepwalking monologue. She often talks to Macbeth, reverting to reassuring him; ‘No more o’ that, my lord, no more o’ that: you mar all with this starting’ and ‘I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on ’s grave’. This sleepwalking soliloquy conveys Lady Macbeth’s true opinion of Macbeth, as she is unconscious and therefore unable to maintain a false personality. Thus she speaks her true feelings. So despite all the corruption the pair had suffered, Lady Macbeth still loves her husband. I think that Shakespeare was trying to convey a point here - that love can prevail throughout the most difficult times.
There is a lot that can be deduced from the sleepwalking scene. Lady Macbeth repeatedly washes her hands, signifying her attempts to wash Duncan’s blood from her hands. It is obvious that his murder strongly affects her, and it is now clear, at the end of the play, that she truly regrets it. It is quite ironic that it was Lady Macbeth who pushed Macbeth into committing the murder, and that it is she who comes to regret it the most. Lady Macbeth also makes reference to the bell which she rang to signal to Macbeth when to commit the murder. Lady Macbeth is aware that it is due to her own actions that Duncan’s murder came about, destroying that which she loved. It is this self-induced misfortune that sends her mad.
When Macbeth is informed of Lady Macbeth’s death, he shows no obvious signs of grief. In fact he seems almost irritated at it’s inconvenience, as he says: ‘She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word’. However closer examination of Macbeth’s language reveals another layer of meaning. Macbeth is mournful of his wife’s death, and says that his ‘Life’s but a walking shadow’. When he is told that Dunsinane Wood is moving, and therefore his prophecy is being fulfilled and it is probable that he will die, Macbeth does not react as he did regarding Duncan’s murder - with fear and uncertainty. Instead he says, ‘Blow, wind! come, wrack! At least we’ll die with harness on our back’. This recklessness shows that he has given up the will to live - without Lady Macbeth his life is meaningless. And so, although Macbeth seemed to grow unaffectionate and hard towards his wife at the end of the play, he must still have loved her. Macbeth ends his soliloquy; ‘it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.’ The last line, ‘signifying nothing’ is very dramatic as it does not follow the rhythm of the rest of the lines. Rather than having five strong beats (the pattern that the rest of the paragraph follows) this line has two strong beats and then a sudden stop with the word ‘nothing’. This draws attention to the word ‘nothing’ showing Macbeth’s feelings - his life has come to an abrupt and unexpected halt with Lady Macbeth’s death, and Macbeth is left with ‘nothing’. The loss of Lady Macbeth’s love was the worst thing that could have happened to him, and therefore the only thing that could break down the wall which he had erected to shield himself from the consequences of his actions.
Although it was not always apparent, I believe that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth loved one another strongly throughout the play. Their relationship definitely deteriorated as the play went on, due to the acts committed and the conscience of each person. The deeds which the pair carry out in the play meant that the public opinion of them deteriorated dramatically. Macbeth, who was considered to be a worthy man, became a treacherous fiend, and Lady Macbeth, the ‘doting wife’, became a self-created devil. Shakespeare adds dramatic irony here regarding the opinion of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as Duncan, who thought most highly of the pair, was murdered by them. This sense of the betrayal of a friend contributed to the ill opinion of the pair at the end of the play.
Shakespeare wrote ‘Macbeth’ very cleverly. He established a strong sense of moral justice in the play – a wrong deed will always catch up with you. In the case of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, it was through loneliness, heartbreak and death.