Macbeth (Leaving Cert English): Model Answers
Lady Macbeth: A Complex Character
Lady Macbeth is a complex character who inspires both revulsion and sympathy in the audience.
From her very first appearance on stage, Lady Macbeth horrifies the audience with her callousness, manipulative nature, and amorality. Shakespeare presents a woman who attempts to turn her back on humanity to realise her ambitions. However, Lady Macbeth fails to foresee the strength of her own conscience. She is left traumatised by her actions, overwhelmed, and paralysed by guilt. By the end of the play, her fragility and troubled conscience evoke immense sympathy from the audience. She is a far cry from the screaming harridan of the opening two acts. Indeed, Lady Macbeth is a complex character who evokes both disdain and sympathy from the audience.
Lady Macbeth is presented as an ambitious, evil force from her very introduction. She instantly repulses us. Upon learning of the prophecy, she becomes totally single-minded and controlled by her own ambition. She is determined to see Macbeth become king: "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be what thou art promised." However, if Macbeth is to become king, Duncan must die. Without hesitation, she commits herself to the King's murder: "The raven himself is hoarse / That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements." She is opportunistic and intent on fulfilling her desires, and this ruthlessness horrifies us. Her sadistic nature is further evident when she criticises Macbeth's kindness: "Yet I do fear thy nature; it is too full of the milk of human kindness." She scorns his conscience and compassion, revealing her harsh nature. Lady Macbeth takes it upon herself to "pour [her] spirits in thine ear." She is intent on ensuring that Macbeth follows through with the murder, even if she must coax and manipulate him. She acknowledges that Macbeth is essentially good and possesses a conscience, but she is willing to destroy this part of him to achieve her ambitions. Her blatant disregard for human life and her strength of will create a commanding character who ultimately repels us.
However, although darkness certainly dominates Lady Macbeth, she is not innately evil. She knows she will need strength to see the deed through and calls on evil spirits to possess her: "Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts." She is human but does not want a woman's supposed physical or emotional weakness to hinder her: "Unsex me here and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty." Her attempt to suppress her femininity is shocking, but a woman consumed by ambition and human emotion can, to some degree, be pitied. However, all sympathy for Lady Macbeth is eradicated when she viciously manipulates Macbeth. She relentlessly taunts, goads, and challenges him, threatening his masculinity: "When you durst do it, then you were a man." She is unscrupulous and does not consider the consequences of killing Duncan or how the murder will affect Macbeth. She encourages him to pursue a course of action from which there is no return. Her incessant jeers reveal a scheming, shrewd woman who repels us. She continues to fascinate and appal us with graphic descriptions of infanticide: "Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out." This gruesome image truly shocks us; she has shattered the image of the Madonna and entirely suppressed her femininity. Lady Macbeth is the architect of Duncan's murder. Her crude comments, malicious intentions, and innate ability to manipulate her husband are revolting.
Furthermore, Lady Macbeth disgusts us in the aftermath of Duncan's murder. She demonstrates immense self-control when she realises that Macbeth has carried away the daggers used to kill the King. She appears unaffected by the regicide and, after criticising Macbeth, willingly returns to the chamber to smear Duncan's blood on the faces of the grooms: "Infirm of purpose! Give me the daggers." She is stony and ruthless, and her cool, practical approach to the murder is unsettling. She continues to shame and goad her husband: "My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white." Lady Macbeth remains calm and composed—at this moment, she is without a conscience. Her lack of remorse convinces her that they will suffer no long-term effects from the murder, as she scorns her husband's fears and insists that "A little water clears us of this deed." Her refusal to acknowledge the indelible stain that the blood will leave on them is both naïve and ignorant. She has acted hastily and will suffer the consequences. Her heartless reaction to the murder paints a picture of a frosty, immoral woman who is literally and figuratively coated in blood. Both her actions and her character disgust us.
That said, before Duncan's murder, there are indications that Lady Macbeth possesses a conscience, which adds complexity to her character. Although she demonstrates remarkable composure while preparing for Duncan's murder, she is forced to quell her nerves with alcohol: "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold." This reveals that she has a conscience and needed some false courage to get through the night. She is not entirely the emotionless, invincible woman she presents herself to be. This is supported further when she is unable to kill Duncan herself: "Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it." His resemblance to her father affects her and prevents her from carrying out the murder herself. The woman who claimed that she could kill her own baby is not without heart, after all.
When Lady Macbeth learns that Macbeth has killed Duncan's guards, she is overcome by emotion and faints: "Help me hence, ho!" The realisation of what has been done finally hits her. She is stunned that Macbeth took it upon himself to kill the guards and fears that he may have revealed their involvement in Duncan's death. She is consumed by exhaustion. In the past 24 hours, she has plotted, planned, and covered herself in blood. This shows that she is human—she feels human emotions. This first sign of physical weakness is the beginning of Lady Macbeth's demise. She is never as forceful or domineering again. Lady Macbeth is a woman consumed with ambition, but the emergence of her conscience softens our perception of her.
Likewise, as the play progresses, Lady Macbeth further earns our sympathies. In private, she expresses her doubts about Duncan's murder: "Nought's had, all's spent, where our desire is got without content." She has found no satisfaction in gaining the crown. Her guilt has begun to haunt her, and as Macbeth grows in power, Lady Macbeth diminishes. Her mad grab for power has rendered her helpless and frail. Macbeth no longer needs her, and an unbridgeable gap is forged in their relationship. They were co-conspirators in crime, but Macbeth now acts alone: "Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, till thou applaud the deed." This highlights her isolation and seclusion. Lady Macbeth becomes a shadow of her former self, and her diminished status and alienation evoke our sympathy.
However, Lady Macbeth earns our greatest sympathy when Macbeth reaches his nadir and assumes absolute power. She spends her nights sleepwalking, weighed down by horror, guilt, and remorse. She is the picture of vulnerability and fragility. Lady Macbeth is forced to relive her crime each night. She is reminded of Duncan's bloody death and is traumatised by it: "Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?" She is haunted by the indelible stain his blood has left on her: "Yet here's a spot." She is obsessed with the blood and scrubs her hands relentlessly, willing the stain to disappear: "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" The blood symbolises her guilt—she is capable of remorse after all. This shapes her complexity. She is truly tortured and fears that she will never be clean of the deed: "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." Finally, she realises, "What's done cannot be undone." Lady Macbeth acknowledges her failure. Before Duncan's death, she did not consider the consequences. They have destroyed her, and we feel great sympathy for this ruined woman. Lady Macbeth's conscience drives her to suicide—she cannot live plagued by guilt forever. Macbeth's cold, callous reaction to the death of his "fiend-like queen" further stimulates our sympathy: "She should have died hereafter." The guilt-ridden Lady Macbeth finally evokes our sympathy.
Lady Macbeth is indeed a complex character. Shakespeare succeeds in charting her metamorphosis from the vilified queen described by Malcolm to a troubled soul who highlights the price of guilt. Inspired by her ambition, she attempts to turn her back on humanity, but she underestimates the power of her conscience. By the end of the play, she is presented as a vulnerable, pathetic figure wracked with guilt. At first, the audience is horrified and disturbed by her malicious intentions. However, these feelings of disdain are transformed into sympathy, ensuring that Lady Macbeth remains a figure of fascination for any audience of Macbeth.