Macbeth Key Character Profile: Lady Macbeth (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)
Revision Note
Macbeth Key Character Profile: Lady Macbeth
Understanding Lady Macbeth and, crucially, what themes Shakespeare uses her character to explore is vital to understanding Macbeth as a play. Even in her absence from the stage she remains a crucial character to the plot of the play and influences how the other characters – particularly Macbeth – act.
In this detailed character profile you will find analysis of how Shakespeare uses the character of Lady Macbeth across his text to explore the following themes:
Ambition
Jacobean gender roles
Corruption of nature
This page also includes advice on how to answer an exam question on Lady Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth: Character summary
Lady Macbeth | |||
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Key characteristics | Role | Themes | Overview |
| She plays a pivotal role in driving the plot forward by helping Macbeth to fulfil his ambitions for the crown |
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How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth?
The best way to understand characters in a Shakespeare play is to explore how they relate to the overarching themes of the play: ambition, gender and the corruption of nature.
Lady Macbeth and ambition
Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth display the fatal flaw of ambition throughout the play:
The fatal flaw, or hamartia, is a common feature of tragedy
Typically, in a tragedy, this fatal character flaw will result in a character's demise, or death
Shakespeare conforms to the conventions of tragedy by having both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth consumed by their hamartia and, ultimately, dying
It could be argued that Lady Macbeth is even more ambitious than Macbeth:
This makes Macbeth a true tragic hero: unlike Lady Macbeth, he is at first presented as brave and loyal, and has redeeming qualities
It is just his ambition that is his downfall
Conversely, Lady Macbeth cannot truly be considered a tragic hero because she is not presented at the play’s outset as sympathetic
At the outset of the play, she has no doubts about the plan to murder King Duncan
Macbeth, on the other hand, wrestles with his conscience when weighing up whether to commit regicide and an audience might have more sympathy for Macbeth
Lady Macbeth’s ambition has dire consequences for her state of mind
She is less bullish about the murder of Duncan
She has lost control of her speech
She has lost the ability to control Macbeth, or the people around her
She ultimately loses her mind and commits suicide
Later in the play (in Act V, Scene I), we see that her resolve and authority have disappeared
Her hubris (overconfidence) leads her to commit crimes that would have been considered truly shocking to a Jacobean audience:
This hubris comes with a fall, and she is consumed by guilt and fear of religious consequences
For more on how Shakespeare presents the character of Lady Macbeth, see our video below:
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Lady Macbeth and Macbeth’s relationship: exploring Jacobean gender roles
Shakespeare explores ideas about gender roles through the character of Lady Macbeth
She is shown to subvert the typical characteristics of a woman in that era:
She is not subservient to her husband, or other men, but rather controlling and manipulative
She is not presented as loving, or nurturing, or compassionate: she feels no pangs of conscience when planning, or remorse immediately after, the murder of Duncan
Therefore, Shakespeare presents the audience with a woman who is thoroughly untypical of Jacobean societal norms
It could also be argued that Shakespeare presents a role reversal in the traditional Jacobean relationship between a husband and a wife:
Typically, a man, and especially a husband, would have:
authority over his wife, but Lady Macbeth seems to have authority over both Macbeth, and even the castle, Dunsinane, that they live in (she calls them “my battlements”)
agency to act as he pleases, but Lady Macbeth influences, or even manipulates, his actions in the first two acts of the play
Interestingly, this role reversal incrementally switches back to societal norms over the course of the play:
As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth has less and less authority over her husband
Macbeth begins to keep secrets from Lady Macbeth (the assassinations, visiting the witches for a second time) and having increasing agency
By Act V, he assumes the typical, dominant role of a husband, and Lady Macbeth is reduced to a feeble, powerless wife
Shakespeare could be suggesting that because she is a woman, Lady Macbeth is less capable of handling the power that comes with being a king or queen
He could also be suggesting that women have less capacity to deal with guilt
She commits suicide while Macbeth fights bravely until the last
A modern audience, with different attitudes about women's role in society, might respond differently to Lady Macbeth:
Her profound love for her husband leads her to evil deeds and she is motivated by her ambition for him, as his "dearest partner of greatness"
Rather than being an evil or demonised caricature, the "fiend-like queen" Malcolm describes her as, she clearly has a strong, moral conscience:
She calls on evil spirits to "stop up ... the passage of remorse" so that she can put aside her moral or emotional feelings about committing regicide
Later in the play, she is overwhelmed by her feelings of remorse, while Macbeth goes on to commit further murders
Lady Macbeth and the corruption of nature
Lady Macbeth may also been seen to represent the corruption of the proper, Christian order of things
She cannot maintain her authority over Macbeth
She cannot handle the consequences of regicide, and commits suicide as a result
Shakespeare may be presenting a moral message here to his Jacobean audience: disrupt the proper Christian order and prepare to face devastating consequences
The Jacobeans believed in the Great Chain of Being, which asserted a rightful hierarchy of all things in the universe, as set out by God
Kings were above men, and men were above women in this hierarchy
Because Lady Macbeth both plans to usurp the throne, and has the ability to control her husband, a man, she can be seen as disrupting this established order
For this she is punished
Shakespeare could also be comparing Lady Macbeth — as a woman — to the evil influence of the witches:
The witches also seek continually to disrupt the natural order of things by manipulating the weather, and human beings
She is ‘unnatural’, just like the witches are, because of her untypical attributes and dominance over Macbeth:
She also is childless, which would have marked her as an unnatural wife in the Jacobean era, having lost a child
Lady Macbeth’s use of language
The language Shakespeare uses for Lady Macbeth, from fiery blank verse to disjointed prose and spell-like soliloquies, reflects her complex and changing character:
Lady Macbeth often speaks in iambic pentameter which gives her speech a formal and elevated tone, reflecting her high status early in the play
Later in the play, Shakespeare uses disjointed prose and repetition to reflect her mental decline as Lady Macbeth becomes increasingly isolated and overwhelmed by guilt and remorse for her crimes
Her incoherent, fragmented speech towards the end of the play dramatically presents her fall and reveals her vulnerability, evoking feelings of pity in other characters (the Doctor and Gentlewoman) and the audience
In her famous "unsex me" soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5, Shakespeare deliberately echoes the language of spells and witchcraft, with repeated references to "spirits", to align her with the evil supernatural forces in the play
Her speech includes commanding imperatives such as "come" to reflect her power
For more on the development of Lady Macbeth’s character, see our video below:
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Answering a GCSE question on Lady Macbeth
In order to get top marks for your essay, it is very important that you know the format and requirements of the exam paper and the nature of the exam question. Start by:
Revising the plot of the play and Lady Macbeth's most important scenes
Revising some short key word quotations from different parts of the play:
This is challenging because the exam is "closed book”, meaning that you will not have access to a copy of the text
In the exam, always spend time planning your answer at GCSE, as examiners repeatedly report that the highest marks are awarded to those students who have clearly set aside time to plan their essays. You can find an example essay plan below.
Exam question
Starting with this extract, how does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman?
Write about:
how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman in this extract
how Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman in the play as a whole
Extract:
Act I, Scene VII
Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s unwillingness to follow through with their plan to murder King Duncan
LADY MACBETH
Was the hope drunk
Wherein you dress'd yourself? hath it slept since?
And wakes it now, to look so green and pale
At what it did so freely? From this time
Such I account thy love. Art thou afeard
To be the same in thine own act and valour
As thou art in desire? Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat i' the adage?
MACBETH
Prithee, peace:
I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more is none.
LADY MACBETH
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.
Lady Macbeth essay plan
Thesis statement: While Shakespeare initially presents Lady Macbeth as a powerful woman with agency over her husband and influence over others, later in the play she is shown to have lost her authority and ability to command. Shakespeare is perhaps suggesting that it is unnatural for a woman to hold such power, and that her character falls prey to the consequences of assuming such an uncharacteristic role as a woman. | ||
Topic sentence | Evidence from extract | Evidence from elsewhere in play |
Initially, Lady Macbeth is presented as subverting gender expectations of a woman: she has power over both her husband and her household | “When you durst do it, then you were a man” = questioning Macbeth’s masculinity | “My battlements” = she believes the castle of Dunsinane is hers |
Increasingly, however, Lady Macbeth loses hold on her power and is increasingly sidelined by her husband | Contrast the insults of “coward” and “green and pale” | Macbeth begins to keep secrets from her (assassinations); she is increasingly sidelined in terms of agency |
Ultimately, Lady Macbeth is presented as a feeble, powerless wife, a complete reversal of her character in Act I | Contrast the interrogatives and blank verse | Prose a reflection of the complete loss of control and power; death isn’t even on stage |
Shakespeare’s methods: Commanding language; characterisation across whole play | ||
Contextual factors: Jacobean expectations for women; societal norms |
Lady Macbeth essay: model paragraph
Below is a model paragraph for the exam question.
Lady Macbeth is certainly presented as perhaps the most powerful of all Shakespeare’s characters in Act I of Macbeth. However, as the play progresses, Lady Macbeth loses hold on her power, and is progressively sidelined by her husband. In this scene, the final scene of Act I, she assumes a dominant and controlling position in her marriage: in a manner thoroughly atypical of a Jacobean woman, she has the power to hurl insults at her cowed husband. She calls him a “coward” and “pale and green”: these adjectives denoting sickness suggesting that he is both weak physically, but also mentally. Here, Shakespeare shows her influence over Macbeth as she convinces him to commit regicide, despite the fact that he has just stated adamantly “we will proceed no further in this business”. As the play progresses, in the banquet scene, Shakespeare presents a desperate Lady Macbeth attempting to calm a visibly agitated Macbeth, who is hallucinating and vociferously ranting at a ‘ghost’. Unlike earlier in the play, Lady Macbeth is unable to have Macbeth bend to her will. She still uses the same insulting language (“shame”) and imperative verbs but, this time, to little or no effect. Moreover. from the point of the murder of Duncan, Macbeth begins to keep secrets from Lady Macbeth (such as the plans for assassinating Banquo and Fleance), which shows not only his increased agency, but also that the power dynamic in the relationship changing: gradually, he is becoming more powerful as Lady Macbeth’s power decreases and her influence wanes. This could be Shakespeare criticising what he saw as unnatural power dynamics in their marriage. It could be argued that Shakespeare is presenting the gender roles in a relationship (so unusual at the play’s outset) increasingly conforming to societal expectations, since the magnitude of the crime they have committed — the mortal sin of regicide — is assumed to be too much for a woman to handle.
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