Yes Shakespeare does represent Lady Macbeth as a dominating character responsible for Macbeths downfall. lady Macbeth becomes a heartless savage as soon as she finds out that she could become queen to then being a very fragile woman. in the beginning of the play, she is very hungry for power and is really ambitious. She convinces Macbeth to kill Duncan to make sure that what the witches predicted was correct. Lady Macbeth asks the gods to make her strong so that she can help her husband to be strong enough to murder Duncan.
lady Macbeth turns into a heartless creature determined to kill Duncan as soon as she finds out that she could become queen, she is hungry for power. This is evident when Macbeth sends her a latter saying“I am writing this letter to you to announce the wonderful news of my greatest success; I am the new Thane of Cawdor!... these weird sisters saluted me, and referred me to the coming on of time with 'Hail, king that shalt be!”this shows that Macbeth was successful in war and that he met witches on the way home that had predicted he will become king.Shakespeare also uses “lay it to thy heart, and farewell” to foreshadow that Macbeth is still unsure weather he will kill Duncan or not and that he is not totally determined until Lady Macbeth gets into his mind and convinces him. Up until this scene Lady Macbeth is the reason and is a major part of her husbands downfall. She has destroyed his future and self-esteem because of her selfish thoughts of become powerful.
Lady Macbeth is the most frightening female character Shakespeare has ever introduced. In the first time we see her she was already planning the murder of Duncan. She knows that her husband is too kind to commit this murder. This is evident when we hear Lady Macbeth’s soliloquy where she states that her husband is “too full of the milk of human kindness.” This shows us that Lady Macbeth is stronger and more ambitious than her husband. At a point, she wishes that she was not a woman so that she could do it herself when she says “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty!”she is telling us that since Macbeth is too scared to Kill Duncan she really does wish she could do it herself but what holding her back is her gender.
This really does exaggerate the fact that Lady Macbeth is more hungry than ever to murder Duncan and finally become powerful. The major downfall begins the night of the cruel murder. Following the murder of Duncan Macbeth Right after Duncan’s murder, Macbeth becomes overwhelmed with guilt and anxiety. He also orders the Murder of Banquo and Fleance, as well as Macduff’s entire family in order to secure his throne. During the banquet scene Macbeth is informed that Banquo has been killed but Fleance has escaped. This results in him seeing Banquo’s ghost during the banquet. As the play progresses Macbeth becomes more and more of a tyrant. But at the end he becomes a defeated tyrant who is unable to defend his throne. Later in the play Lady Macbeth constantly washes her hands trying to wash of the blood which only she can see. This symbolizes her guilt as a part of Duncan’s death. Later Macbeth hears a scream and when he asks about it, he is told that Lady Macbeth has died. He didn’t ask what was the cause of her death as he knows she would have died anyways. This is evident when he says the famous quote “She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word… It is a tale” this speech implies that he thinks life is just a tale and everything is meaningless which makes his crime seem less awful. During that same quote Macbeth also says“Signifying nothing”. This not only signifies his own life but also the entire play.
This is because he means everything has no meaning therefore the play has no meaning. This leads us to the fact that the death of Lady Macbeth was not a big deal and has nothing to do with the guilt.
