Because Lady Macbeth likes the idea of becoming queen, she encourages Macbeth to kill Duncan. Just like a woman would do, she begins to put her own interests before the well-being of her husband. She tells him that he must kill Duncan, which he eventually does with great hesitance. Even after he commits the deed, she maintains that what he did was rational, and thus begins Macbeth's path of annihilation.
It is important to note that Macbeth is primarily a brave, courageous, and loyal man. It was not until the witches planted the idea of "power" in his head, and Lady Macbeth encouraged him to murder Duncan, did he stray from the righteous path. In Macbeth, responsibility rests solely on the shoulders of the women in the play. Just as Eve gave the forbidden fruit to Adam, women supply men with evil temptation that will inevitably lead to misfortune. .
".My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, Shakes so my single state of man that function Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is But what is not." (1.3.140-143). Throughout Shakespeare's play, we see that Macbeth is the victim of evil seduction by women. In the above quote the evil is perpetrated by the witches. Lady Macbeth also plays a strong role in his moral corruption. ". the influence of Lady Macbeth (though she too has an inarticulate angel struggling against her own evil), and the instigation of a supernatural power all combine to crush his better nature." (Boyce 391). Macbeth would not have even thought of killing Duncan, if it were not for the influence of the witches and his wife.
Historically, man has been corrupted by woman. Going back to the story of Adam and Eve, we see such an example. ". she took of the fruit thereof, and she did eat it; and she gave it unto her husband." (Genesis 3.6). Eve, out of fear, beguiled Adam. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the witches, succumbing to greed, corrupted Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth's actions parallel those of the witches.