Angie Lo
How is the character of Lady Macbeth presented in Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’?
During the Jacobean era in 1606, Shakespeare’s play Macbeth illustrates the tragedy driven
by political ambition, echoing with the instability of King James I’s monarchy during his time.
Being devoured by the desire of power and paranoia, the play is brought to a close with
Macbeth's fatal, desolate, wretched death. As the play progresses, the deepness of Macbeth
and Lady Macbeth’s obsession with the throne intensifies, revealing the duplicity and
deceptiveness to the others. This essay explores how Lady Macbeth’s mentality delineates
her multi-faced character at different stages in the play.
The ruthless ambition of Lady Macbeth could be seen from the beginning of the play, that
she possesses a deceptive and manipulative nature. Her character is revealed as she
recognises the prophecies of the witch, making up her plan not just to carry out murder, but
also to clear up her husband. Shakespeare's incorporation of witchcraft in the play is heavily
related with King James’ interest in demonology and witchcraft, to an extent that he wrote
the book ‘Daemonologie’. Acting as the back steel of Lady Macbeth’s murder, the cryptic
prophecies show the witches’ evil nature, of which taken from James’ belief of witchcraft as
an act of Satan, perhaps as a form of flattery to the king. Upon receiving the letter from
Macbeth, not only does she recognise Macbeth’s ambition, but also the significance of his
indecisiveness and goodwill. She fears “thy nature” will become the obstacle for him to seize
the throne. Lady Macbeth immediately turns her thoughts to her husband, portraying her
concerns through the metaphor of “thy milk of human kindness” is too full. This implies
Macbeth’s incapability of committing regicide with his good qualities, that he is too weak.
Hence, the failure of attaining her ultimate goal of becoming the queen. Showing her
acknowledgement of manipulating Macbeth is the only way to success, as well as
demonstrating her deceptive nature to the others.
Her eagerness of killing Duncan to hasten the prophecy drives her will to seek masculinity as
well as owing the manhood Macbeth possesses. By invoking the evil spirits, it shows that
Lady Macbeth would pursue her goal at all cost, despite the jeopardy of beseeching the
supernatural. The use of the strong imperative “come” and “unsex” shows her desire for
masculinity, to remove her femininity so as to subvert the gender stereotypes, in which
women are too weak to execute bloody deeds like regicide to usurpation. Lady Macbeth’s
strong desire for masculinity shows her strength of purpose which is juxtaposed to her
husband’s tendency to commit murder. Suggesting the divide between gender and reality,
the allegorical quotation demonstrates Lady Macbeth’s ambition is not limited to her gender
as a woman. This also represents the deconstruction of the hegemonic belief at Macbeth’s
time, of which there are strong embedded gender expectations. Lady Macbeth’s ability to
shift in between femininity and masculinity subverts stereotypes, breaking the traditional
binary beliefs between genders, which were not only strong in the 11-century but also during
the Jacobean era.
Lady Macbeth’s use of feminine wiles as the back steel of Macbeth, perfectly demonstrates
her ambition and determination of transferring her desires to him. In her speech, she utilises
comparative “Great” which is a superlative that holds hyperbolic meanings, positively
connotes flattery. Comparing to the “Worthy Cawdor” and the monarch, Lady Macbeth
attempts to feed Macbeth’s ego and superiority of being the future Lord. This achieved her
, goal of manipulating his thoughts to become the next “all-hail” Macbeth, fulfilling her own
ambition to become queen. In their conversation, Lady Macbeth also uses the allusion “Like
the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.” The metaphor “serpent” is intertextual to the
religious myth Garden of Eden which links to King James’ misogynistic views, in which
women are easily influenced and persuaded. Eve entrapped by the “serpent” acts as a
symbolism of Lady Macbeth’s desire of corrupting Macbeth as the vehicle for her ambition.
As if the serpent deceives Adam and Eve, she corrupts the good qualities of her husband.
However, when she brings up the idea of regicide, Macbeth immediately shows his
unwillingness by responding “we will speak further”. It again proves the only obstacle in the
project of making him the king is the human kind he possesses. That Macbeth’s response
acts as an important consequence later in the play, triggering her aggressiveness towards
manipulating her husband to fulfil her desires.
There is a significant twist in Lady Macbeth’s attitude towards Macbeth further into this
scene. She shifts from a soft and complimentary tone into a harsh and aggressive one. The
word “poisoned chalice” acts as a juxtaposing metaphor that the poisoned gift – the crown,
which is given to Macbeth is insecure. He fears committing regicide pushes him into an
irreversible situation of death. This could be linked to the ideology of the great chain of being
which was circulating during the Elizabethan era. The conception of everything in the
universe was allocated by God into a fixed place explains why committing regicide leads to
such serious consequences, of which it destroys the natural order. Not only is their carnal
crime against the state, but the universe, to the extent of supernatural. Lady Macbeth then
immediately indignifies and challenges his chivalrous manhood “then you were a man”. She
manipulates him by questioning his lack of the stereotypical traits of man — bravery. Calling
him a coward as if he is not brave enough to commit regicide. This pushes the button of
Macbeth’s self-esteem and man pride, attributing to his rebellious mentality. Hence,
committing regicide to prove his manhood. By comparing her desires with the love they
possess, she also denigrates his love by saying “Such I account thy love?” Logical fallacy is
demonstrated by using love comparatives. She hurts Macbeth, linking two totally unrelated
subjects, the assassination and their love to convince him. She connotes his unwillingness
with distrust, further pushing him into the sea of guilt that softens the attitude of himself in
killing Duncan. The sudden twist is driven by the eagerness to kill Duncan as he would be
returning to the castle very soon. Meaning that if Macbeth was not convinced, Lady
Macbeth’s plan could not be executed. The use of extreme emotive language clearly
demonstrates her twist into a more negative, aggressive manipulative character.
Lady Macbeth will not give up on her aggression despite Macbeth being convinced by
herself. The decision makers are men. Without subverting the gender roles, fully persuading
Macbeth, she can never be brought to the ultimate goal of being the queen. Macbeth uses
the conditional clause “If we should fail” which signifies him moving back from his concerns
of killing Duncan, confirmed that he is convinced by her. Now it is clear that his mind has
been made. However, the use of “If” shows that he is not determined enough to satisfy Lady
Macbeth. Her forcefulness grows by urging Macbeth to “screw his courage to the
sticking-place”, which infers the fullest extent that he could do for the usurpation of power.
She is shown to be embolden by the prophecies of Macbeth being a thane, as the source of
confidence that attributes to her superstitious character and the forcefulness within the
manipulation to her husband.
