Essay: Explore William Shakespeare’s Macbeth Through the Lens of Lady Macbeth: A Powerful Female Character

William Shakespeare produced one of his most strong and forceful tragedies, Macbeth, during the Elizabethan era. The play is about a Scottish general named Macbeth who aims to become King through bloodshed and following orders of prophecies. Macbeth emphasizes the highs and lows of cynical ambition and greed on people who seek to attain abundant power in their name. A prominent character in Macbeth’s endeavors is his goading wife, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most famous and frightening female characters. She is ascribed as the person who ignites Macbeth’s passion to execute the missions of the prophecies and to claim the throne as his.
Our initial encounter with Lady Macbeth occurs in scene five of the first act. She is found receiving the letter from her husband which entails the witches’ prophecies. Lady Macbeth expresses her doubt in Macbeth’s willingness to succeed in such a treacherous task; she believes he is not capable of fulfilling his destiny on his own accord. Further into the act (specifically in scene seven), this conflict between Lady Macbeth and her husband develops. Macbeth is hesitant about killing the king while Lady Macbeth is in favor of doing whatever to receive a higher title of nobility. To solve the situation, she persuades Macbeth to follow her plan by stating, “What beast was’t, then, That made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; And, to be more than what you were, you would Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place Did then adhere, and yet you would make both. They have made themselves, and that, their fitness, now Does unmake you” (Shakespeare 1.7. 47b-54). Lady Macbeth is seen compromising Macbeth’s fragile masculinity to ease his nerves about committing regicide. Additionally, Peter William Clayden discusses her actions in an essay he wrote regarding Macbeth. Clayden was a British historian, biographer, and journalist who enjoyed critiquing. In his essay, he stated, “She is said to have tempted him to crime, to have pushed him over the boundary line which divides criminality from innocence, though when once he had crossed it he became indeed a villain. But she is considered to be far worse than he. She was a born demon; he was only a man who had been sorely tempted and had awfully fallen” (Clayden). Lady Macbeth consistently exhibits her austere articulation through her actions. She does not attract attention from others while plotting her future with Macbeth.
In addition to having clashing views from her husband, Lady Macbeth is one of Macbeth’s foil characters. Foil characters often contrast with the main character to emphasize the personality traits of the main character. Lady Macbeth and her husband differ in the way they approach their pursuits. An English author and critic by the name of Richard G. Moulton has written about Shakespeare’s works and studied Shakespeare’s language. In chapter 29 of his study, Shakespeare As a Dramatic Artist, Moulton states, “The exact key to her character is given by regarding her as the antithesis of her husband, and an embodiment of the inner life and its intellectual culture so markedly wanting in him. She has had the feminine lot of being shut out from active life, and her genius and energy have been turned inwards; her soul—like her ‘little hand’—is not hardened for the working-day world, but is quick, delicate, sensitive. She has the keenest insight into the characters of those around her” (Moulton). Moulton essentially describes Lady Macbeth as someone who is familiar with the inner workings of situations and knows how to react in a manner that benefits her. In contrast, Moulton illustrates Macbeth as someone incapable of formulating personal thoughts. In the same chapter, Moulton says, “…his lack of training in thought has left him without protection against the superstition of his age. He is a passive prey to supernatural imaginings. He himself tells us he is a man whose senses would cool to hear a night-shriek, and his fell of hair rouse at a dismal treatise. And we see throughout the play how he never for an instant doubts the reality of the supernatural appearances: a feature the more striking from its contrast with the skepticism of Lady Macbeth…” (Moulton). Throughout most of the play, Macbeth’s mutable nature is reliant on Lady Macbeth’s calculating nature because Lady Macbeth provides stability and consistency for Macbeth. She does this by persuading him to continue on with their plan.
Although Shakespeare initially conveys Lady Macbeth as the opposite of the feminine stereotype, she deals with internal conflicts. The contrast of her feminine appearance and her cold personality work as her strength and weakness. Lady Macbeth’s femininity acts as an advantage because she can freely escape scrutiny for her devious plans due to stereotypical ideals of women being incapable of processing such cruel thoughts. On the contrary, Lady Macbeth’s femininity limits her capabilities. In scene five of act one, she states, “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. Make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between the effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers, wherever, in your sightless substances, you wait on nature’s mischief” (Shakespeare 1.5.39-49). Lady Macbeth asks for higher powers to strip away her femininity because she knows that her nature goes against committing treason and being cruel. As the rest of the drama in the play unfolds, Lady Macbeth gradually evolves and feels guilt about King Duncan’s death. These haunting thoughts consume her mind and lead her to commit suicide.
In conclusion, Lady Macbeth was both an eminent and dynamic character in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. She was crucial to Macbeth’s character development, and the play would have such a contrasting outcome if she chose to act differently. Without her manipulation, Macbeth would have always experienced apprehensions about the witches’ prophecies and its legitimacy. Lady Macbeth’s presence and impact progressed the events in the play to what we know today. Her influence continued long after her passing, having Macbeth evolve into what Lady Macbeth once was. Society says that there is a great woman behind every successful man, and Lady Macbeth was that woman.