Character Profile: Lady Macbeth

Lady Macbeth

In this post, I am going to introduce you to a very special character, Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth's husband (the thaness of Glamis?). If I were to describe her in two words I would call her evil incarnate. She possesses the traits that every super-villain wishes they had. Lady Macbeth is ambitious, ruthless, manipulative, and insane. In the play, her husband describes her as having a masculine soul (which is totally sexist). I don't identify with Lady Macbeth but the reason I like her character so much is because she demonstrates incredible strength. Even though her motives are impure, she defies the status quo and goes for what she wants.

We first meet her character as she is reading a letter from Macbeth. The letter details the prophecies of the witches. After learning that her husband will one day become king she immediately concocts a plan to kill the current king (and when I say immediately, I mean immediately). The timing's perfect because King Duncan is staying as a guest in their castle. Lady Macbeth's plans involve getting the king's servants drunk and then getting her lovely husband to murder Duncan in his sleep. She would do it herself but since she's not a man she cannot (because in Shakespeare's time, men were supposedly all violent and women were not). Lady Macbeth convinces Macbeth to follow through with her plan by challenging his manhood and telling him that he is a chicken (because taunting guys always works). She then proceeds to say this quote which left me absolutely flabbergasted;

"How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,
And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you
Have done to this." (I.vii.55-59)

Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that she must only bear male-children because of her ruthlessness (romantic <3) but I personally don't think she should ever have children if that quote is any indication. I look forward to seeing how Lady Macbeth handles the repercussions of what she has caused. Will she break under the guilt (I do believe that she has a conscience because she said she needed to act fast before remorse stops her from committing the murder)? Will being queen satisfy her thirst for power?

Lady Macbeth is the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
Lady Macbeth is the voice of temptation to Banquo's voice of reason.
All hail Queen Macbeth, the true power behind Macbeth's ambitions.

Lady Macbeth as she reads her husband's letter