The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth at the start of the play is a relationship which is incongruous for the Jacobean time because during the Jacobean time, Macbeth is seen as respecting Lady Macbeth’s opinions . Lady Macbeth uses the fact that Macbeth respects her to gain power over Macbeth and to convince him to do whatever she wants. The play which was written by William Shakespeare was first performed in the year 1606 and the play represents many of the insecurities of the Jacobean period. Towards the end of the play we see what has been foreshadowed throughout the play which was isolation and death.
In Act 1, their relationship was like a modern marriage in many ways such as both of them having equal roles in the marriage meaning that it does not conform to a traditional Jacobean marriage, it starts with them having a healthy relationship however it then develops into them being partners in crime. In this Act Lady Macbeth is seen as perceptive because when they plan to murder the king she sees all the weakness in Macbeth start to come out,then she also starts take control of the relationship showing how the gender roles in the Jacobean period. We get an initial impression of how brave Macbeth is when the captain says “For brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name” however later in Act 1 you see Macbeth being scared of murdering the King. During Act 1 we see them both introduced to us separately which foreshadows later separation in their relationship. After this we see Macbeth’s soliloquy expressing doubts about what he should do, alone and he is already concealing thoughts from Lady Macbeth. During Act 1 Scene 5 they have different reactions to the prophecy, Macbeth didn’t care about the prophecy too much and we know this when he says “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me” which shows that he will go with whatever happens and with whatever will be the best for him while Lady Macbeth believed it and it seemed as if she thought the prophecy was a set of instructions for Lady Macbeth. When Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are talking about the plan you can see that Macbeth is attempting to procrastinate or resist the plan when he says “ We will speak no further”In Act 1 scene 7 all relational talk is behind the scenes. The changes that occur throughout the relationship are not evident to anyone outside the marriage which gives a sense of dramatic irony. Throughout Act 1 scene 7 Lady Macbeth uses emotional blackmail challenging his masculinity with a use of graphic, visual language, rhetorical questions and insults to convince Macbeth to carry out the plan of murdering the king. Lady Macbeth comes up with a plan after hearing about the prophecy from the witches and since she knows all Macbeth’s flaws she knows how to convince him to carry out her plan. In the play Lady Macbeth is seen as very perceptive, we know this because she knows that Macbeth is very weak and she senses that she will need to play a stronger role in the relationship. When she says “You spirits” this is a link to the witches as she asking for assistance from the spirits and this also shows that she wants to be uncharge of her fate however she can’t do that because in the Jacobean time they saw women as much weaker than men and they used to believe that men would have to go out and work to get money and food for their family. The gender shifts are not seen outside the marriage, all encounters between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are done privately and are done when either Macbeth or Lady Macbeth are too weak, the other one takes in charge.
In Act 2 Lady Macbeth plans an Alibi and takes charge following the death of King Duncan by reverting to her use of imperatives such as when she says “go get some water” in Act 2 Scene 2 L49 which shows her power in the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In Act 2 Scene 2 Lady Macbeth’s opening line creates a new level of emotional intensity. In this scene Lady Macbeth starts to feel very guilty for planning and being part of the murdering of King Duncan and these change in thoughts foreshadow her death later in the play. When Macbeth realises how serious the murder was he says “In blood stepped in so far” the grand scale at which this murder is at. Lady Macbeth is shown to be the stronger partner following King Duncan although her guilt later in Act 5 suggests appearances are not what they always what they seem to be. When Macbeth cant control himself she adopts the role of the stereotypical man during the Jacobean time. During Act 2 Scene 2 Lady Macbeth adapts to the more traditional and stereotypical male role, completing the task and also managing to calm Macbeth due to his guilt over the murdering of Duncan.
In Act 3, we can see how Macbeth is attempting to take the power in the relationship back and he attempts to do this by planning the death of Banquo throughout this Act without letting Lady Macbeth know anything about the plan. We see the dominance of Macbeth when he says “Be innocent of the deed, dearest chuck”, Macbeth also asks nature to conceal his crimes for what he about to attempt to do. In Act 3 scene 4 Macbeth has seen to have lost his masculinity by how he pestered by the death of Banquo, and we see this when he starts hallucinating at the banquet of Banquo’s ghost and when he says “thy blood is cold” which shows the impact of Banquo’s death and ghost on Macbeth. When he is seen as having an “illness” at the banquet his power in the public which is similar to what’s happening in the marriage of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, we can see this when Lady Macbeth is forced to take control of Macbeth and her guest which are at the banquet. Lady Macbeth shows her control in the relationship when her and Macbeth were at the banquet and whilst Macbeth is hallucinating she says “At once, good night: Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once” which shows how the gender roles are completely different compared to a normal relationship in the Jacobean period. It is different because Lady Macbeth has more power in the relationship compared to Macbeth even though Macbeth attempts too get the power back in their relationship however Lady Macbeth does not allow that
In Act 5 scene 5 we can see how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are now both very isolated and this has been foreshadowed throughout the play. In Act 5 when the death of Lady Macbeth had been announced he says “she should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word” and in Act three when Macbeth refers to Lady Macbeth as“her” shows that he doesn’t care about her death and this also shows how Macbeth doesn’t consider her as his “partner in crime” anymore which shows the changes which have occurred in the marriage between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
In conclusion, I believe that the all changes in the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are not obvious to anyone outside of the relationship however we can see that Shakespeare continuously foreshadowed the deaths of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. During this play Shakespeare continuously made it evident that Lady Macbeth has more power in the relationship over Macbeth which was very strange for the Jacobean period however even though Macbeth attempts to gain back the power from Lady Macbeth it had never went his way unless Lady Macbeth had been weak from guilt after the murder of King Duncan.