Write a comparison of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Show how each character views the prophecies and subsequent murders. Describe their reactions and evaluate how each character behaves at the play’s end.
In Act One, scene 3, Macbeth and Banquo meet some witches who make predictions about their future: they tell Macbeth he will be Thane of Cawdor And then King; they tell Banquo that he will be father to a line of kings. In my essay I will argue that the reactions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth to the prophecies and deaths are diametrically opposed throughout the play, so that by the end of the action, they appear to have undergone a reversal of roles.
Their attitude to the murder of Duncan differs greatly. In Act One, scene 5, we see Macbeth and Lady Macbeth together alone for the first time in the play, after Macbeth has heard the prophecies of the three witches. It is clear that Lady Macbeth already has a plan to murder King Duncan that night as he sleeps in their castle. She takes charge of the situation and tells Macbeth
... you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. (I, 5, 65-68)
We will proceed no further in this business.
He hath honoured me of late and I have bought
Golden opinions from all sorts of people.
But Lady Macbeth knows how to appeal to Macbeth’s sense of himself and, having argued that he would kill Duncan if he loved her or if he were a real man, Macbeth succumbs to her persuasions. During and after the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is full of nerves and Lady Macbeth remains calm and collected. When Macbeth stands there, gazing at his bold covered hands, Lady Macbeth confidently says: “A little water clears us of this deed.” (2, 2, 70)
Macbeth, haunted by sleepless nights, is distraught that he is undergoing all this suffering in order for Banquo’s descendants to become kings. The murder of Banquo and Fleance is different and show that the relationship between Macbeth and his wife is changing. Macbeth hires murderers to assassinate Banquo and does not tell his wife his plan. However, the guilt that Macbeth had shown after Duncan’s death is also a reaction to his murder of Banquo. During the feast to celebrate his coronation, he keeps ‘seeing’ Banquo’s ghost and the celebratory meal breaks up in disarray and confusion. We should note, however, that at this stage that Lady Macbeth is still in control. Macbeth breaks up at the sight of Banquo’s ghost; Lady Macbeth keeps calm and quietly ushers the other courtiers out of the room.
We never see Macbeth and his wife together on stage after that scene. Macbeth goes to consult the witches again and, as a result of what they tell him, he sends assassins to Macduff’s castle and everyone in it – Lady Macduff and her children are slaughtered. The witches have told Macbeth that he should have no fear of nay man born by a woman. This makes Macbeth believe he is invincible.
In the final act, after some time has passed, while we have caught up with events in England, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem totally estranged. Lady Macbeth has changed completely from the confident woman of the first three acts: in the Act 5, scene 1, the sleep-walking scene it is clear that she has lost her mind. Having said after Duncan’s murder that “A little water clears us of this deed,” now she insanely and maniacally rubs her hands in a forlorn effort to erase the sin she feels and the blood that in her insanity she believes is still visible. All her speech is directed to the absent Macbeth and what she actually says is a curious mixture of references to Duncan, Banquo and the slaughter of Macduff’s family. For her, guilt has brought her to insanity.
For Macbeth, guilt and the responsibility of the murders he has committed or ordered have, in one sense, made him stronger. He lacks any sentimentality, any feeling for others. Murder and violence have desensitized him and made him wholly without emotion. He does express regret and remorse in one of Shakespeare’s finest soliloquies, having heard of the death of his wife:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death (5, 5, 18-22)
Macbeth seems to recover his bravery at the end of the play, crying:
Ring the alarum bell! Blow wind, come wrack!
At least we’ll die with harness on our back! (5, 5, 50-51)
In conclusion, we can see that Lady Macbeth moves in the play from a position of total control to insanity; while Macbeth moves from nervous dread at the thought of killing Duncan to a brutalized, de-sensitized mood at the end of the play. They have swapped positions.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. 1997. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Print.
