Lady Macbeth could be a witch in Macbeth as she is such an unusual woman, very like the witches that intimate that Macbeth will become King at the start of the play. Lady Macbeth seems as though she helps the witches in a way as without the help of Lady Macbeth, Macbeth would never have become King, it could be argued. Lady Macbeth could have just been making the prophecies of the witches become reality. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth at the end of Act 1 Scene 6, “Leave all the rest to me”, this could be interpreted as Lady Macbeth being a witch as she also asks for the spirits to “unsex me here” which shows she has a problem with her gender as well and she just takes matters into her own hands. This shows that at the time of Macbeth people took into account the spiritual side of the world and that they almost revolved their life around it in some cases, such as Macbeth and his Lady. Lady Macbeth almost wants Macbeth to be King more than Macbeth does which is strange as she shouldn’t really care about the kingship but really about her husband. Also when Macbeth needs advice at the end of the play he turns to the witches, showing again their lean on the spirits, instead of Lady Macbeth which could show that he has lost faith in his wife as she has turned mad but I suspect that it was that Lady Macbeth and the witches have very similar advice, almost the same, but because the witches told the truth earlier he may feel they are more reliable. He may also feel hurt after Lady Macbeth was so rude to him in front of his lords and would have been somewhat angry with Lady Macbeth. (*I*)
Lady Macbeth seems like a sick and twisted character from the very start of the play and, I think, gradually gets worse as the play goes on. Lady Macbeth may have had a real problem with her gender and not really grasped the ‘lady-like’ way of life as she seems willing to kill her own babies to appear more forceful(*I*). She even tells Macbeth to look like “th’ innocent flower” and that she is the “serpent under’t”. The serpent is obviously manlier than the flower so it is a blatant remark showing that even Lady Macbeth knows she is the person with more courage in the relationship, who is meant to be the man, so she may be admitting she has a problem with her gender. However, Lady Macbeth may have only stood out as a manly woman as Macbeth was a very cowardly man and may have only said things like she would “dash the brains out” of a baby just to inspire Macbeth to be a bit more manly.
Lady Macbeth became very paranoid towards the end of the play showing an extreme anxiety and insecurity. She seems very paranoid about the fact they may get found out about murdering Duncan and that Macbeth may crack at any point and tell everything, this is shown in Macbeth as at the Banquet in Act 3 scene4(*I*) he has a sudden outburst proclaiming ‘thou cans’t not say I did it’. She doesn’t seem to like having such a cowardly husband and this might be the reason for her being so insecure. Lady Macbeth also says that if Duncan hadn’t resembled her father she would have done the deed there and then. This might have been the truth and I think it shows insecurity that she ultimately cannot deal with her mind games over real life situations. Also there is a moment in the play when Lady Macbeth says “’Tis safer to be that which we destroy, than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy” which shows that she was very paranoid that the deeds she had committed or helped to commit would come back to haunt her, like Macbeth “Duncan is in his grave, after life’s fittest fever he sleeps well”, which is the beginning of Lady Macbeth’s hell on Earth. I think the rhyming in the quote also puts emphasis on it to show that this is a big thought of hers and it isn’t one that will just pass away as quick as came. She was obviously very conscious of her wrong doings and was very paranoid someone would find out.
Contrary to these remarks, however, Lady Macbeth shows signs of being a very loyal wife to Macbeth and is always there for him in difficult times. If Lady Macbeth hadn’t have been there for Macbeth, Macbeth probably wouldn’t have survived the apprehension of becoming King. A classic example of Lady Macbeth’s loyalty and love towards Macbeth is in Act 3 Scene 4, at the Banquet, when Macbeth seems to go crazy about Banquo’s ghost but fortunately Lady Macbeth says that it’s a condition Macbeth has and he “hath been from his youth” in this state. This shows Lady Macbeth is a quick thinking woman who is thinking for her husband and not just herself. Later on in the scene she dismisses the lords effectively and politely “a kind good night to you all”. This again shows that she wasn’t all self-centered and did have a thinking brain to think on the spot.
Overall I feel Lady Macbeth became a very strange and paranoid woman at the end of the play. This I feel grows on her as the play goes on as there were signs of a real person who was a perfectly normal and caring wife in the play. I feel the witches prophesies played a major part in turning into that confusing, messed-up woman as it probably played on her mind, even if she wasn’t conscious of it, and made her think that Macbeth had to be King but it wasn’t going to happen straight off, she felt she needed to help make it happen.
