She is most influential person in Macbeth’s downfall, next to the witches. However, her relationship with him goes far deeper then that of the witches. It is my belief that the witches act only as a trigger to start the events in the play, and that Lady Macbeth herself was the driving force behind Macbeth’s actions. It is she who he contacts when he meets the witches, and immediately trusts her with the prophecy he is given.

The relationship between Macbeth and his wife is paramount to the understanding of a major theme of this play. At first it would appear to be an equal partnership. However, I believe Lady Macbeth was the dominant of the two character; she could have persuaded Macbeth to do anything if she so wished. And though she does not openly exercise her power over him in public, in private she often uses humiliation and emotional bribery to manipulate Macbeth to execute her will.

The first scene in which we see Lady Macbeth is Act 1 Scene 5, in the first half of which she is reading the letter sent by M

Her manipulation is again, effective. She fills him with pride, and using that, suggests a seemingly easy way of dispatching the King in his sleep, and blaming the murder on the guards. Macbeth applauds her, and quickly psyches himself towards the task, steeling himself to put on a false face for the banquet.

She is depicted overall as a thoroughly manipulative and scheming female, who will give anything to fulfil her ambition. Although it can be said that through out the play he exhibits masculine tendencies, I think, this behaviour is more of a reaction to the masculine world in which she was born, with a female body. She feels that in order to fulfil her potential she must rid herself of all that makes her female, which in her eyes, means kindness, love, and guilt. And take on masculine properties like power, and ambition. She is trapped by her own gender and greed. She was of the nobility, which is run entirely by men, women taking on an inferior role within the patriarchal society. Lady Macbeth however, is not willing to conform to this ideal, unless it is for her personal or emotional gain. And since she is unable to take power herself, she uses her husband as a vehicle for her ambitions. I do not think she finds the actual power itself that attractive, as Macbeth does, but feels it her goal to make sure she is more powerful then anyone else, she does not want to submit in a kind feminine way to another’s dominance. So, to fulfil this need she does everything she can, to fill her own picture of how she is meant to be within herself. She is, after all, a very human character; she shows weakness on at least three occasions, the third one being very important, because she goes insane. This is very obvious indication of her insecurity, and it is an interesting point to debate, that perhaps she was mentally ill throughout the play. Medical science does not recognise the existence of good or evil, and from a medical point of view, Lady Macbeth was simply a sick person, who, because of her mental condition, was bent on ambition. The play does not show what emotions she was going through, as it does with Macbeth, perhaps because she did not show them, and only experienced the hallucinations just before her death, as her conscience caught up with her, and she succumbed to her guilt, went insane, and killed herself.

When Macbeth enters, they greet each other warmly, and Lady Macbeth reveals her intentions to murder King Duncan, and persuades Macbeth to go along with the idea, and warns him to greet the King warmly and not give any indication of their plans. It is important how Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth, she uses veiled talk, and double meanings to attempt to sweeten the idea, she never mentions the word murder, rather, and just notes that Duncan will not see the sun rise tomorrow. It is a form of seduction almost, she hides the foul ideas behind pretty words, making it seem as if it is all right. When Macbeth tries to interject, she simply speaks over him, soothing his now troubled mind with a promise that she will handle everything else, as long as he keeps an innocent face.

Obviously, past this point Lady Macbeth cannot be held responsible for Macbeth’s actions, because she has no say in them anymore. He locks himself away from the world; too paranoid even to trust his wife, who he has trusted with everything up to then.

Some topics in this essay:
Lady Macbeth, Lady Macbeth’s, Duncan Macbeth’s, lady macbeth, Macbeth Act, Unfortunately Macbeth, Courtyard Castle, King Duncan, Lord Macbeth, Macbeth Banqou, Macbeth King, lady macbeth’s, scene lady macbeth, scene lady, own guilt, lady macbeth died, strong willed, relationship macbeth, mental condition, macbeth died, king macbeth, macbeth lady macbeth, paranoia lady macbeth, patriarchal society,