Lady Macbeth is the one responsible for Macbeth’s evil doings. Macbeth himself is not a
very strong character; Lady Macbeth is the driving force, the brains behind the operation of
murdering King Duncan.
Shakespeare did not supply us with much solid information about Lady Macbeth’s
physical appearance. Context clues are all that we can use to assume what she looks like. Some
Examples of context clues done throughout the play are her manner of speaking, actions, and the
surrounding characters’ actions. Macbeth addresses Lady Macbeth as his “dearest partner of
greatness”. He might have meant that he sees her as his equal in authority or power. Most
people see people in power and authority as being firm characters. From the context clues and
Macbeth’s position I assume they were higher in the social ladder. She is a cold, two-faced
woman who will go to extremes to get her way. Lady Macbeth also took part in plotting the
murder of King Duncan. She was the one who gave Macbeth the idea to murder King Duncan.
“What’s done cannot be undone.” This is what Lady Macbeth said to her husband when
he came back home from murdering King Duncan. The statement is subtle and explains her
way of thinking. Although Lady Macbeth is not completely evil-minded, I think she does play a
big part as the antagonist in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is a cold, heartless, and
deceitful character. However if I had to sum up her personality in one word it would be deceitful.
She would have done anything to get her way and made sure to do so. In act 1-7 she stated that
she easily would have killed her own baby if she promised to do so. She is not trustworthy of
anyone but her husband, if that. If it weren’t for her, many murders would not have taken place.
She was the driving force in Macbeth’s reasoning and his added to his downfall.
At the beginning of the play, she is already plotting the murder of Duncan, showing more
ruthlessness, and ambition than Macbeth. She lusts after power and position and then pressures
her husband into killing Duncan. Upon receiving the letter with the witches' prophecies from her
husband that say “hail, king that shalt be”. She begins to fear that Macbeth lacks the courage or
nature for something like this, “it is too full of the milk o’the human kindness” and “thou
wouldst be great; art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it”. After
considering this Lady Macbeth say that she will convince Macbeth of the doing to the evil deed.,
“that I may pour my spirits in thine ear, And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that
impedes thee from the golden round.” Lady Macbeth has decided that Macbeth doesn’t have
enough evil in him to gain the crown through foul deeds like murder, so she will convince him
with her tongue. Also when Macbeth was thinking of not going through with the murder of
Duncan” we will proceed no further in this business”, Lady Macbeth was there driving him back
on task by attacking his manhood, “and live a coward in thine own esteem, then you were a
man”. She knew exactly what to say to push Macbeth, this just shows how calculating and
manuplating Lady Macbeth is. Even though Macbeth is the committer of murder, Lady Macbeth
is the instigator of murder. Her hand did not guide the dagger, but her harsh words drove it’s
point in.
A symbolic visual associated with Lady Macbeth’s guilt is shown in blood. Lady
Macbeth shows her own guilt in the sleepwalking scene, where she goes through the motions of
washing her hands saying, “out damned spot! Out, I say”. This is in reference to the blood that
stained her hands after smearing it all over the guards. She also refers to Duncan’s murder
saying, “yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him!” All these
references are to murder and both include references to blood, again linking the blood to the
murder she drove her husband to. There are constant references to the evil deeds that Macbeth
and herself have committed, most of which include references to blood.
Lady Macbeth is clearly a very important charter in “Macbeth”. Lady Macbeth can not deal with
the remorse at the end of the play and kills herself. Lady Macbeth is the responsible instigator of
murder, pushing Macbeth into committing murder for her own gain. The Murder of Duncan was
the start of Macbeth evil doings, and without Lady Macbeth constantly pushing him, he would
never have Killed Duncan. Therefore Lady Macbeth is responsible for the murder of Duncan that
the chain of events that followed after as well.