Macbeth doesn’t tell Lady Macbeth about Banquo’s murder because he feels that it’s for the best, to protect her because he loves her and doesn’t want her to get hurt, he tells her that he will take some action but he refuses to tell her more.
You can also tell that Macbeth feels guilty because, his conscience plays tricks on his imagination, e.g. the bloody dagger, when he sees the dagger pointing to the door.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.”
Towards the end of the play, Macbeth shows some resemblance to the brave, patriotic character he once was at the beginning of the play, as he tries to salvage some dignity because he is prepared to fight and what he believed in once again.
“Come, put mine armour on.”
“I will not be afraid of death and bane.”
Now I am going to try and find some redeeming features of Lady Macbeth.
On the other hand, Lady Macbeth is a very willing woman, who is prepared to do anything she can to help Macbeth fulfill his destiny, lady Macbeth has no real ambitions or desires of her own.
Lady Macbeth is quite a tender character and this is why she needs to get rid of all her tender feelings, so she can have the strength and be cruel enough to commit the deed of killing Duncan.
“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty.”
After this lady Macbeth feels that she is able and ready to commit the deed, and persuades Macbeth to go through with it.
“What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me?”
Macbeth is unsure whether to commit the deed, he thinks they might fail but lady Macbeth pulls him around.
“We fail? But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.”
And Macbeth has been persuaded and comes around to the idea of the ordeal. When Macbeth does the deed, he almost immediately regrets it and lady Macbeth had to plant the daggers on the guards herself because Macbeth is so shocked with what he has done. He is a nervous wreck.
Lady Macbeth shows determination and drive even if it is in the wrong cause, she didn’t think of the consequences of what they would do after the murder. Lady Macbeth also pushes Macbeth to commit the deed as he had planned to do whilst he was drunk. Lady Macbeth refers to the proverb (“the cat would eat fish, but will not wet her feet”) this means that Macbeth wants everything done for him, but is not willing to do it himself.
“Like the poor cat I’th’adge?”
Lady Macbeth has tender feelings and before the murder of Duncan she shows this by taking away everything that makes her a woman, all her tender feelings.
“Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown, to the toe top full with direst cruelty.”
Lady Macbeth didn’t realize the effect the murder would have on Macbeth. She thought it would be just the murder of Duncan and then Macbeth would be king and they would live happily, after that she didn’t realize the consequences and the trail of devastation it would unleash.
“A little water washes us of the deed.”
Obviously this wasn’t the case though.
Lady Macbeth didn’t see the difference in killing others on the battlefield and killing people he knows, but there was a big difference in this, as this affected Macbeths character greatly.
I have come to a conclusion, I hope I have proved a number of redeeming features in both characters, which proves they are not totally one dimensional evil characters.
I have found that Macbeth’s main redeeming feature is that he is patriotic in both the beginning and the end of the play, in the beginning of the play Macbeth fought valiantly and violently to defend his country, and in the end he fights passionately for what he believes in.
“Come put mine armour on.”
“I will not be afraid of death and bane.”
I have also found that Lady Macbeths main redeeming feature is that she loves Macbeth and everything she does is to fulfill his destiny.
