Introduction
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the interplay between reality and imagination is central to the unfolding of the tragedy. The character of Lady Macbeth epitomizes this duality as she oscillates between calculated rationality and the descent into madness. Her resolute nature initially drives the plot forward, yet ultimately her unchecked imagination leads to her demise. This essay explores how Lady Macbeth’s manipulation of her husband’s visions and her own imaginative power serve as pivotal elements in Shakespeare’s exploration of guilt, power, and psychological disintegration.
Lady Macbeth’s Practicality and Control
While the resolute Lady Macbeth keeps a clear head and already takes all practical precautions for the cover-up of the crime. In the process, she construes his visions as a sign of weakness and dismisses them as fantasies: “Why, worthy thane, / You do unbend your noble strength, to think / So brainsickly of things.“ (Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2, ll.45–47). She criticizes him as “infirm of purpose” (Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2, l.53) since he does not feel able to bring the bloody daggers back to Duncan’s servants and smudge them with blood in order to blame the murder on them. But at the same time she constantly tries to keep his fantasies under control, through which she saves the situation several times, for instance when she pretends to faint during the general commotion after the murder (see Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3, l.119) in order to direct the attention – especially Macduff’s who, due to Macbeth’s murder of Duncan’s two servants, already started to become suspicious – towards herself.
Lady Macbeth’s efforts to control the narrative and manage her husband’s unraveling mental state are pivotal. When Banquo’s ghost appears to Macbeth and the gathered Lords become suspicious due to his delusional utterances – with which he reveals himself to be at least a participant in the fact that Banquo did not appear at the banquet – Lady Macbeth, in her presence of mind, immediately realizes the seriousness of the situation and saves what is left to save by appeasing the lords and downplaying the obviously deranged mental state of her husband.
The Power of Imagination and Its Consequences
Nevertheless, she also possesses a productive power of imagination which, however, only comes to light in the first scene of the fifth act and ultimately seals her fate since, then, everything that she had repressed with the power of her will rises up again in her dreams and drives her around until her strength is finally depleted and, as a result, she commits suicide in act five, scene five (Rojahn-Deyk, p.215, l.34ff.). Concerning their imagination, the decisive difference between Macbeth and his wife is that his is very active, especially in the beginning, and comes to rest from the beginning of act four – after the witches have prophesied his future with the help of visions (see Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1). Lady Macbeth’s imagination, on the other hand, never really comes forth in the first three acts but, in return, it catches up with her in act five in an all the stronger extent and thereby completely gets out of control.
The guilt that they have both loaded on themselves together establishes in Macbeth as defiance, while as for Lady Macbeth it manifests as remorse. That is why she is being haunted by her power of imagination until she finally, sleepwalking the entire time, breaks apart due to its monstrosities – which, just like with her husband, function as a kind of revenging providence – and, in complete mental derangement, commits suicide since death now presents the only possibility for her to put an end to her agonizing delusions of the smell and sight of the blood of her husband’s murdered victims and to rediscover her inner peace. In her fantasy she seems to live through the entire scene before and after the murder of Duncan over and over again, whereby the blood, which she repeatedly attempts to clean herself from in her delirium, symbolizes her complicity in the first, crucial murder of the king which all further murders resulted from.
Lady Macbeth’s deterioration is poignantly illustrated through her confused soliloquies. After discovering an imaginary bloodstain on her nightgown, she exclaims the following: “Out, damned spot: out, I say. One; two. Why / then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, / fie, a soldier and afeared? What need we fear? Who / knows it when none can call our power to account? / Yet who would have thought the old man to have / had so much blood in him?” (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1, ll.35–40). Shortly after, in her mania, she repeats the same instructions she gave to Macbeth in the murder scene: “Wash your hands, put on your nightgown, look / not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo’s buried; he / cannot come out on’s grave.“ (Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1, ll.62–64; see Act 2, Scene 2, ll.67-73). Thus, in addition, the murders of Banquo and Macduff’s family also afflict her heavily. Besides, with these statements she furthermore reveals herself in front of her lady-in-waiting and the doctor, who was called for help.
The Decline into Madness
Nevertheless, Lady Macbeth generally lives to a significantly higher degree in reality than her husband. Throughout the first three acts she lives and thinks exclusively in reality; only here, during her last appearance in act five (see Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1), she is entirely in the world of her imagination, owing to her now mental incapacity, and therefore does not register her real environment anymore. Thus she also takes no notice of her lady-in-waiting and the doctor, who observe her in puzzled dismay. Overall, this disparity between imagination and reality, on the one hand, underlines the complexity of the events, but, on the other hand, it also illustrates how closely the inner action pursuant to Macbeth’s imagination is interlinked with the outer action corresponding to reality.
In doing so, Shakespeare also demonstrates the multifaceted, often enigmatic inner life of the protagonist as a characteristic component of his individual identity so that, as a recipient, one already tends to consider Macbeth as a personality. The intricate dynamics between Lady Macbeth’s suppressed guilt and Macbeth’s active imagination illuminate Shakespeare’s profound understanding of the human psyche. Lady Macbeth’s practical approach, her eventual succumbing to guilt-induced madness, and her ultimate suicide are emblematic of the play’s exploration of the destructive potential of unchecked ambition and moral corruption.
Conclusion
In Macbeth, the dichotomy between imagination and reality serves as a crucial element in the tragic downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth’s initial control and pragmatic approach to their ambitious plans gradually give way to the overwhelming power of her imagination and guilt. Shakespeare uses this transformation to explore deeper themes of psychological turmoil, the consequences of unchecked ambition, and the inextricable link between one’s actions and their mental state. Through Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare provides a profound commentary on the destructive potential of the human mind when burdened by guilt and remorse. The complexity of her character, marked by her initial strength and eventual breakdown, underscores the enduring relevance of Shakespeare’s exploration of the human psyche.