We, too, would not have such a tortured conscience for all the world. At the end, the serving woman who watches her anguished sleepwalking says ‘I would not have such a heart in my bosom’, which directs the audience’s response to feel the pathos (pity) of the disintegration of her mind, her power and her relationship with her husband. Yes: Her ambition brings her no happiness and the play documents the change in Lady Macbeth from a strong ambitious woman to a broken wreck. Look at the character in a different way.ĭoes Shakespeare leave us with any sympathy for Lady Macbeth? Romeo and Juliet – Extract Question Lesson.And, although she longs for innocence again, she cannot confess her crimes and seek forgiveness (and so die ‘holily’) because to do so would betray her husband. She is appalled by the horror of the murder, the guilt can never be washed away. They are each quite alone, she knows that she cannot go with him further down this bloody path.ĭeeply anguished, Lady Macbeth acts out her grief and guilt in her sleep, going over and over the deed that killed their innocence and destroyed their marriage. She can now see the ruin of their hopes and, when Macbeth speaks of his ‘dark and deep desires’, his affinity with evil, and his determination to suppress all opposition, she knows that he is lost to her and their love can never be the same again. She saves him at the banquet by calling up every ounce of strength left in her, and the effort leaves her drained. The old love between her and Macbeth is now complicated by new pressures, and perhaps she feels that they are growing apart. If there is remorse for the cruelty she showed Duncan, it is completely subconscious, and only hinted at in her tormented sleep.įor herself she seeks no comfort, even though her sickness is growing and, despairing, she almost longs for death.īeing queen has not made her happy. In her dreams she thinks that everybody can see the blood on her hands. She may feel that the price is being paid now, in the form of this new, uncontrollable, Macbeth, or that it will be paid soon, for one day their crime must be discovered. She has learnt that what is done is never undone, and there is always a price to pay. If she feels regret at the murder, it is perhaps because she cannot wash away the event that has led to this sorry state of affairs. In her sleep-walking, she re-enacts the times when she could control Macbeth. It is this perhaps more than anything that drives Lady Macbeth to the brink of insanity. He needs her quick wits and nerves of steel only once more, to save them at the banquet when he lapses into his old terrors and imaginings. Macbeth does not need her ruthlessness any more, he has enough of his own, and he has broken away from her. Even so, she is worried about his state of mind, he seems dangerously obsessed, and if he goes too far he may expose them. She suspects that he is going to kill Banquo and she encourages him to do so. There is only one ruler in this Kingdom, and it is not Lady Macbeth! She even has to ask him for an audience. He becomes harder to control, he no longer asks her what he should do. Things start to go wrong for Lady Macbeth once Macbeth comes into his own as king. She thinks that Macbeth can’t do anything right.

Next morning, when Macbeth is in danger of arousing suspicion by his over-loud grief at the king’s death, and his sudden murder of the grooms, Lady Macbeth pretends to faint. She cannot share any regret or remorse he may feel.

Scornful of her husband’s weakness, she taunts him with cowardice. Perhaps she is content to leave the most dangerous part to her husband? When he bungles, she marches off in desperation to smear the grooms in blood. But she does not commit the murder herself. When Macbeth looks like backing out of the murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth bullies him into submission. Lady Macbeth almost revels in cruelty and despises her husband Macbeth for being too soft and compassionate, but she knows she can rule him.

Lady macbeth