Macbeth

A devious manipulator. A woman ahead of her time. A tragic figure plagued by guilt. An associate to regicide, murder, and tyranny. These are all the ways Lady Macbeth can be described from reading the play. Possibly the most complex and interesting of all of Shakespeare’s characters in general, Lady Macbeth is a pinnacle of character work, as she is still studied and debated today as either one of literature’s great villains or most tragic figures. Lady Macbeth’s impact on the play is immense as she not only influences the politics of Scotland during the duration of the play but also defies her gender role and represents an array of themes and ideas, including gender, guilt, ambition, and power. For starters, as she is a woman in a male-dominated political landscape, created by Shakespeare who lived in a society in which women held very little political power, it is surprising just how influential Lady Macbeth is.

Trusted enough to receive politically important letters from her husband, such as the one detailing the prophecy, Lady Macbeth is obviously highly intelligent and even before the events of the play served as a trusted figure to her husband. Furthermore, she formulates the entire plan to kill Duncan and for Macbeth to usurp the throne.

Aside from this cunning nature, Shakespeare in the early stages of her character provides a very powerful desire to be beyond what she perceives herself to be. In an incredibly progressive and powerful way, Shakespeare has her desiring to renounce her gender, having her darkly proclaim, “come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here.” An incredibly iconic line, it says much about her relationship with her femininity, as when compared to the motherly and devoted Lady Macduff, Lady Macbeth is a driven woman obsessed with raising her and her husband’s position.

This desire to go beyond her gender expectations is expanded on further as the play progresses, as she frequently admonishes her husband for his lack of ambition and mocks him of his fears after murdering Duncan and claiming to have seen Banquo’s ghost. She goes so far as to physically be involved with the murder, as she returns to the crime scene bearing the bloody daggers that killed Duncan and wipes them on the clothes of the drugged servants in order to blame them. The noble lady wife of the second most powerful man in Scotland returns to her terrified husband with hands covered in blood. This is a powerful move for any character, let alone a female character, and justifies her enduring relevance over four hundred years after the play was written.

At heart, regardless of her actions, Lady Macbeth is a tragic figure. Desiring power beyond what she can obtain, she is forced to resort to dark methods and manipulation in order to achieve even just a taste of what she desires. Yet, this is a cursed achievement, and she is doomed by destiny and forces beyond her understanding. How could such a strong willed and seemingly powerful character turn out such a way? The answer lies in the themes of power and guilt, and the parallel rise of her husband compared to her decline. Initially, Lady Macbeth held immense sway over her husband pushing him against his initial will and morality to fulfil his destiny and even went so far to berate him at times. Yet ironically, as Macbeth became more and more arrogant in his own power, hers declined as she was less informed of her husband’s plans, kept in the dark about the murder of Banquo, the second visit to the witches, and the murder of Macduff’s family. Whatever phantom power she felt she had was taken from her, leaving her lone with the guilt of the actions that eventually lead her and husband into a position of being despised and betrayed by their enemies. This is why she is a tragic and brilliant figure of literature, as though she was partially responsible of her own ambition, she had no knowledge of how the same ambition would twist her husband and eventually ruin her life. In a haunting case of tragic irony, the very thing Lady Macbeth desired led to her demise.