AO1
AO2
AO3
The marriage between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth has been broken down, as she has caused him to
kill King Duncan. By emasculating him, ‘art thou a man’, it appears that Macbeth has been influenced
by his wife’s words to prove to her, and perhaps himself that he holds the power of a man. Lady
Macbeth further continues to provoke him, being ‘shamed to wear a heart so white’. The colour
‘white’ could reflect kindness within Macbeth’s heart, however L. Macbeth wants to rid of that
kindness from herself and her husband as she is ‘shamed'. Even though this contrasts with the
strong killing, ruthless ability that Macbeth has, ‘unseamed from the nave to the chops’, L. Macbeth
still believes that Macbeth holds kindness, and it is the root and cause of his ‘cowardly’ behaviour
and could also possibly reflect Lady Macbeth’s own inner weakness that she does not want to show.
Perhaps as a protofeminist, Shakespeare has created this characteristic of L. Macbeth as this is her
only way to gain power within society and represent her value. With no rights and being perceived
as weak, she was also unable to have children, so this is the way L. Macbeth is able to gain strength
herself, being represented by her spouse – however, she would always remain subservient to
Macbeth.
Perhaps being a construct of the women in Jacobean society, it could reflect the inner thoughts that
were in women’s minds, to have basic rights. However, in the play, it is clear to gain power,
humanity would have to be cast aside, which both the spouses do later in the play, but leads to
greater consequences – mental instability ‘out damned spot’ and eventual death. Although L.
Macbeth appears to be masculine in Act 4, she is subsidiary to Macbeth and can never cast aside her
femininity ‘milk for gall’, also leading to a similar downfall. Shakespeare wants to warn society that if
they execute free will, or are influenced by sin (committing treason), their hearts will change, leading
to punishment or suffering. (Link punishment and suffering in next paragraph...)
Consequently, after L. Macbeth has died, and Macbeth realizes that he was manipulated by his wife,
he does not go and see her body when she had died off stage, perhaps as revenge for over what she
had caused his life to become. Infact, it is an inconvenience for him as ‘she should have died
hereafter’. This tone of resent clearly emphasizes the value of life for Macbeth – little to none,
especially his own partner. The change that Macbeth had overcome from the beginning, ‘valiant’
and ‘brave’ to a dictator-like murderer is purposeful in order to represent the harmatia of Macbeth
due to his ambition in power, exercising free will to achieve it, and perhaps the manipulation that he
endured during the entire play – by both his wife and the witches. By not even using L. Macbeth’s
name and substituting it with the pronoun ‘she’, it is clear that Macbeth has no love for his wife, but
only cares about the war that will soon come and his own fate in the future. Macbeth’s realization
towards the end of the play that he will not survive begins to understand that his life was a waste,
becoming full of suffering, a ‘tale told by an idiot…signifying nothing’.
