Macbeth is a play full of magic, mystery, and murder. The variety of plots, as well as
the interesting characters, force the reader to pay full attention at all times.
Unfortunately, one of these characters is a victim of her own imagination. Although Lady
Macbeth adds much positive flavour to the play, her character is revealed through her
aggressive attitude with her husband, her inhumane disregard for life, and her guilty
conscience.
Lady Macbeth is very assertive when dealing with her husband's hesitations about
murdering Duncan:
?O never shall sun that morrow see!
Your face... is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower
But be the serpent under't.?
This urging causes Macbeth to possess ?black and deep desires', which lead him to murder
the king. She takes it upon herself to pressure him and therefore, her bold character is
revealed. Macbeth's intentions would have been less serious if his wife was not more
anxious than he was. She, more than her husband, is to blame for the death of King
Duncan, due to her relentless pursuit of power and authority.
Lady Macbeth is a heartless fiend with an savage disregard for life. This is evident in
the manner in which she downplays the murder of Duncan to her husband:
?A little water clears us of this deed;
How easy is it, then! Your constancy
Hath left you unattended...
Get on your night-gown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers. Be not lost
So poorly in your thoughts.?
She tries to make Macbeth believe that committing the murder was not a vicious deed and
that washing their hands will wash away all the guilt. Macbeth exclaims that ?all
Neptune's ocean? will not wash the blood from his hands. Lady Macbeth appears at this
point to be a ruthless killer working on behalf of the prince of darkness, which
solidifies her character and gives the audience new insights to her psychological state.
The audience is lead to believe that Lady Macbeth will never feel any guilt concerning
the murder, but her guilty conscience is displayed near the end of the play. She begins
to sleepwalk and relive the murder in her mind:
?Out, damned spot! out, I say! One; two; why, then
?tis time to do't. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord--fie!
a soldier, and afeard??
Lady Macbeth's character seems somewhat stable until this scene and is it now that we
learn that she is mentally ill. The doctor and the Gentlewoman witness her exploits and
they are the first people to discover that the murder of King Duncan was committed by
Macbeth with the help of his wife. The guilt of the murder has become unbearable for
her, to the point of taking her own life ?by self and violent hands?. The
characteristics of her personality become obvious with her death, leaving the audience
free to form various opinions about her.
During the course of the play, we see the disintegration of Lady Macbeth's solid
character, through her actions with her husband, her own opinions of first-degree murder,
and finally watching her try to cope with obvious guilt. Her downfall is complete when
she kills herself, appearing to be a case of severe mental anguish. Her tragedy is now
one that is shared around the world by millions of Shakespeare's faithful followers.
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