LADY MACBETH
We might expect the wife of a brave warrior to be the quieter one in the relationship, but Lady Macbeth defies all stereotypes. She manipulates her husband knowing that questioning his masculinity will force him to act. She plants the bloodied daggers on the guards. She takes control at the feast when her husband has hallucinations of Banquo’s ghost. Yet despite all this she is overcome by her guilt towards the end of the play and seemingly commits suicide. There is lots to discuss about the reasons Lady Macbeth has for her actions. Is she the true villain of the play or simply a woman who wants the best for her husband in a patriarchal society where she feels she has to offer her unconditional support?
PIVOTAL MOMENTS
-Reading Macbeth’s letter explaining his meeting with the witches and her soliloquy where she vows that she will help him achieve his ambition
-Persuading Macbeth to murder Duncan when he is having doubts
-Planting the daggers on Duncan’s guards to frame them for his murder
-Apologising for her husband’s behaviour and commanding the thanes to leave during the feast
-Sleepwalking and confessing her actions to the doctor and gentlewoman
-Her death offstage
PURPOSE
Like the witches, Lady Macbeth drives the action of the play and persuades her husband to murder Duncan. For this we can call her an antagonist.
Her entrance in the play is truly shocking when makes her soliloquy plotting Duncan’s murder, yet ultimately her own guilt kills her. She mirrors the warning that Shakespeare gives us through Macbeth that unchecked ambition can lead to danger.
STRETCH VOCAB
Malevolent
Antagonist
Malignant
Manipulative
Calculating
Treacherous
Perfidious
Key Quotation Analysis
LINKS WITH OTHER CHARACTERS
MACBETH
Macbeth is her husband and they have a close relationship. Lady Macbeth is deeply ambitious for her husband but feels he may be too weak to meet his full potential. She knows how to manipulate him and persuades him to kill King Duncan. Ultimately the power reverses and Macbeth continues his murderous rampage whilst Lady Macbeth cannot bear the guilt.
DUNCAN
Duncan is the king and Lady Macbeth sees him as the obstacle that is stopping her husband from true power. From the moment he enters her castle, Lady Macbeth knows he will not leave alive. She claims that she would have killed him herself had he not looked like her father.
THE WITCHES
The Witches have no direct communication with Lady Macbeth, but she too is inspired by their prophecies. When she reads Macbeth’s letter telling her what they said, she immediately begins plotting murder and treason. She summons up her own spirits as, so clearly has a fondness for the supernatural!