Essay: How Shakespeare presents the changing relationship between the Macbeths

Explain how Shakespeare presents the changing relationship between the Macbeths. You must consider language, form & structure and refer to the context of the play.
Shakespeare created a play called Macbeth and it was set in Scotland in the 11th century when there was political instability at the time. The first performance of this play was in 1606 in the Jacobean era. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth at the start of the play is a relationship which is incongruous for the Jacobean time where Macbeth seemed to respect what Lady Macbeth opinions were or what she said and Lady Macbeth gains power and influence over Macbeth. After, Lady Macbeth knows about the witches the relationship changes to a relationship which assimilates more to partners in crime than rather the typical Jacobean marriage. During the play there’s a lot of big shifts in gender roles, one might take charge of the situation if one is tormented or weakened at the time. Towards the end of the play the relationship deteriorates as they both become increasingly isolated, consumed by their own torments and segregated according to their individual ambitions.
In Act 1, the first impressions we get of their relationship is that we meet both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth when they are not together, this could foreshadow a later separation between them. We hear that Macbeth is a brave warrior from others in Act 1 Scene 2 which prepares the audience for Macbeth when Captain says, “For brave Macbeth”. When Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both hear about the prophecy they both have different reactions. Macbeths reaction is not as dramatic as Lady Macbeth is, because he doesn’t really believe in the prophecy. He thinks that it was just a mere lie that it wasn’t true, because people at that time feared witches. He strengthens this idea when he quotes in Act1, Sc3 “to be king, stands not within the prospect to belief” On the other hand, in Act1, Scene 5 when Lady Macbeth reads the letter and hears about the witches’ prophecy, she starts plotting and she believes this prophecy so much that it becomes her own ambition which drives her to persuade Macbeth into being her partner in crime. She knows Macbeths weaknesses and she knows in Scene 5 that she will have to play a new marital role and is willing to accept a link with the witches when she asks “you spirits” this is a suggestion of magic which in the Jacobean time was seen as evil because of all the punishment that people at the time were given to people who were related to magic because of the overall fear people had towards magic. This could foreshadow the evil influence that Lady Macbeth has on Macbeth. Lady Macbeth´s ambition is also shown when she says and dictates what the witches said like if they were instructions for what Lady Macbeth wants to achieve “Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be/ What thou art promis´d; yet I do fear thy nature, / It is too full o´th´ milk of human kindness, / To catch the nearest way.” Even after Macbeth attempts to resist what shes saying with ¨we will speak further¨ She uses imperatives and interrupts him to give orders to Macbeth on what he should do, an example of this is “must do” This was strange at the Jacobean time because woman were expected to support the man in their lives because man were perceived as superiors. Even if they didn’t agree with their opinion they had to support them so the actual type of relationship we see in the play is like a modern marriage nowadays, it does not conform to traditional Jacobean values this could be because of the value Lady Macbeths opinions have on Macbeth. Shakespeare might do this because he wants to personify his own relationship with his wife on the play to show the audience at the time another alternative of hoe their relationships could be.
In Act 1, Scene 7 we start seeing weird shift on gender roles in the marriage when Lady Macbeth starts to assume the fact that she must become the man in the relationship. This is shown when Lady Macbeth evokes the spirits to give her masculine traits ¨unsex her¨, which at the time was seen bad because people were fearful of witches or magic. We also see Lady Macbeth using emotional blackmail to challenge Macbeths masculinity and love to try and manipulate him to doing what she wants. She does this by using the use of imagery, dysphemism, rhetorical questions, flattery and insults. Quotes like ¨And live a coward in thine own esteem ¨ or ¨When you durst do it, you were a man¨ With this quotes Lady Macbeth is able to convince Macbeth with her powerful rhetoric but even after, Macbeth tries to cancel the plan by using an authorative tone by saying ¨we will proceed no further in this business¨ We see that he is not able to decide by himself because he gets heavily pressured by Lady Macbeth. By this we can also see glimpses of loyalty to King Duncan, which tells us that Macbeth is still a good bannerman because at the time Kings just like king James were chosen by the divine right of kings, it was a sin to attack the monarch. After the change in who is in charge, in Scene 5 we see that in Scene 6 the gender roles shift back when Lady Macbeth plays the role of devoted wife and perfect hostess, this could show that all relational talk and shifts are behind the scenes (which shows that Shakespeare uses dramatic irony). We can also see juxtaposition between scenes 5 and 7 between highlights in the shifts of their relationship. The gender role shifts are not evident outside the marriage, they are done privately and done when one in the relationship can’t coop or when he or she is too weak, the other one takes in charge. After this we see Macbeths soliloquy expressing doubts about what he should do, alone and he is already concealing thoughts from Lady Macbeth.
In Act 2, Scene 2 we see how Lady Macbeth takes charge by confirming an alibi following King Duncan´s murder because Macbeth couldn’t function, he was too shocked by what he did. She does these using imperatives in Act2, Sc2 L49 “Go get some water”, then insults in L52 “Infirm of purpose” when Macbeth refuses and tries to gain back control when he says in L54 “I´ll go no more”. Lady Macbeth is shown as the dominant part of the relationship after Duncans death although her later guilt in Act 5 shows us that not appearances are not always reality. We also see that Lady Macbeth takes charge when Macbeth can’t function, she does this when she adopts the traditional stereotypically male role, completing the task with blood cold and calming down her partner in crime. With this we also see a rapid shift from passive to instrumentally active Lady Macbeth in the play. Unlike, the MacDuff’s relationship, which is a more traditional Jacobean marriage style where the woman is inferior to the man and she supports and agrees on everything the man says despite her own opinions and things like shift in gender roles would never have happen, Lady Macduff would have never had the chance to express her opinions and have that respect like Lady Macbeth had because that was incoherent at the time. However, there was more affection from the Macduff´s than the Macbeth´s this is shown in Act 4, Sc3 when Macduff says “I lost all hopes” after knowing that his family was murdered. Compared to when Macbeth says in Act5,Sc5 “She should have died hereafter” when he knows about Lady Macbeths death.
In Act 3, Scene 2 we see how Macbeth switches the gender roles and takes the more dominant role to oversee what happens, he uses this control to plan Banquo’s murder without Lady Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is not on stage when Macbeth plans his murder, which shows glimpses of control and dominance that Macbeth is obtaining. Which at the time it would be normal because man did not have to rely on women? He shows the dominance when he says ¨Be innocent of the deed, dearest chuck¨ He also asks nature to conceal his crimes for what his about to perform this could show a parallel similarity to when Lady Macbeth asks strength for spirits. It shows that every time only one of them is going to plan or perform something big they need help from an external force to achieve their own ambitions. This could also foreshadow a later separation between them because they do not rely on asking each other’s help to achieve their ultimate ambitions because they might think of the other as too weak to help them achieve their ambitions. This is shown when during specific crimes or events, one partner is always significantly more dominant and more determined than the other. In Act 3, Sc 4 we see that Macbeth is lost the gender role of being the man because of how tormented he is by Banquo’s death, this is shown when Macbeth starts hallucinating in the banquet and starts saying ¨Blood hath been shed ere now, i´ the olden time¨ Macbeths public power is weakening because his control of marital power has vanished, and Lady Macbeth takes control of him after the sighting of B´s ghost. At this point is where their relationship shifts considerably and fundamentally because Macbeth can’t do anything by this stage. So, she becomes in charge socially when they are in the banquet and uses that control plus being queen to break up the banquet and proceedings. She shows this social control when she says ¨At once, good night: Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once¨ The stage directions in Act 3 are very significant in terms of staging and context, some examples are ¨(To Macbeth) (Lady Macbeth joins the lords)¨ also with this stage directions we can see the clear roles of both man and females deferred, and their social expectations because at the Jacobean time woman had less power socially and had non-significant roles.
In Act 5, Scene 5 there’s a radical difference within the Macbeths relationship were both have isolated themselves from each other, they are haunted and tormented but their own fears and ambitions which begins to separate them from each other. This is shown when in Sc 5 Lady Macbeths death was announced. Macbeths reaction was cold unlike MacDuff’s when he knew about his family murder, this is shown when Macbeth says ¨she should have died hereafter; there would have been a time for such a word¨ This is the ultimate end of their relationship. Even in Sc3 Macbeth refers to Lady Macbeth as ¨your patient¨ and ¨her ¨ maybe foreshadowing her later death. This shows that the Macbeths didn’t consider the other as a ´partner in crime´ anymore and the relationship became more like a conventional Jacobean relationship where the man and the woman didn’t need to be as close as the nowadays relationship, this could be because of the wars the man had to fight. Another example of this is the Macduff’s relationship were Macduff leaves the household to fight in most of the play.
In conclusion, I think Macbeth was doomed since the start of the play he was predestined for this to happen, for him to believe in the witches. People at the time believed that witches could predetermined a man’s future, so Macbeth could of possibly be doomed since the start. Or Macbeth might be doomed since the moment he murdered King Duncan because off the divine power that choose the king to rule and that’s why after killing him visions start tormenting him even more. The witches might have also possessed Lady Macbeth when she asked help for the spirits, so Macbeths prophecy could become true and that’s why the incoherent shifts of gender roles might have happened through the play. Especially in the moments where Macbeth was the weakest, for examples: In the banquet and when murdering King Duncan. Also, Shakespeare created all this gender shifts when he made Lady Macbeth use a lot of imperatives and when insulting Macbeth by emasculating him. Shakespeare also created a clear link between every gender shift by using juxtaposition. Shakespeare could of killed Lady Macbeth because he wanted to send a message that women couldn’t have too much power, he probably did this because of the audience that was watching at the time, man didn’t like woman to have much power. Or he wanted to foreshadow that society like nowadays was going to allow woman to have more power.