Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Plot The tragedy of ‘Macbeth’ follows the transformation of a ‘brave’ and ‘valiant' soldier,
ribbon a loyal defender of his king and country, into a fearful and tormented traitor who
commits the sinful act of regicide and becomes king. Furthermore, Shakespeare
also presents the fracturing relationship between Macbeth and his ‘dearest partner
in greatness’ – as the couple turn from being intimate and loving, to distant as a
result of their heinous crimes (although Lady Macbeth remains a loyal wife
throughout), to the extent when Macbeth has no reaction when he is told the news of
the death of his wife.
P 1. Act 1, Scene 5

Shakespeare uses Lady Macbeth’s first monologue (to Macbeth, in his absence) to
establish Lady Macbeth’s motivations and her intentions: having read the letter from
her husband (in which he calls her his 'dearest partner in greatness' - which
demonstrates their close and loving relationship at this moment in the play) and
learning of the witches’ prophecy (‘hail king that shalt be’) she asserts confidently
that he ‘shalt be what thou art promised’, and begins planning on how to convince
her husband to overcome his conscience and moral scruples which 'impedes [him]
from the golden round': ‘pour my spirits into thine ear’ and ‘chastise with the valour
of my tongue’.

This image of the personal pronoun ‘my’ suggests their sexually intimacy and the
power she holds over her husband – and evidently she is aware of her ability to
manipulate or corrupt him in order to fulfil the witches' prophecy, which is
undoubtedly immoral. Yet, Lady Macbeth is clearly a loving and dedicated wife as it
is only her husband’s interests and ambition that preoccupy her – she does not seek
power for herself, but Macbeth, to the extent where she is willing to call upon the
supernatural ('come, you spirits') and negate her feminine and nurturing side on his
behalf ('unsex me here'), giving up her female body for the 'purpose'.

Furthermore, Shakespeare uses the first dialogue between the couple to further
demonstrate their intimacy, as Macbeth addresses his wife as 'my dearest love'. Yet,
Lady Macbeth immediately instructs her husband to be duplicitous and 'look like th'
innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't'. This would have been a particularly
potent image for the Jacobean audiences of Shakespeare's play as this image
echoes the commemorative medal depicting the recently foiled Gunpowder plot of
1605, thus making a direct link for the contemporary audiences between the
planned murder of King Duncan and the treasonous plot to blow up the houses of
parliament and assassinate King James I .

Alternatively, the imagery could reflect the temptation story in the biblical book of
Genesis, where Eve was tempted to turn away from God by Satan, in the form of a
serpent, which may possibly reflect the idea that the act of regicide is an act against
God (due to the Jacobean belief in the divine right of kings), and suggest that
Macbeth and his wife will be punished for their sins, just as Adam and Eve were
when they were banished from the Garden of Eden.

Yet, as a result of her husband's reluctance ('we will speak further') Lady Macbeth
takes control of the plan: 'put this night's great buisness into my dispatch' and 'leave
all the rest to me', thus giving us the impression that at this moment, she holds the
 control in their relationship and is able to exert a powerful influence over her
husband.
P2. Act 2, Scene 2

The regicide is certainly a pivotal moment in the relationship of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth, and for their individual characters too, as Shakespeare uses their
immediate reactions to the brutal murder to elucidate the grave consequences of
the act of regicide. The murder itself takes place offstage, makes this scene more
dramatic for the audience, and also means that our sympathy, or at least
understanding, is still with Macbeth as we have not witnessed him committing the
brutal killing. Yet, the physical presence of blood on stage conveys the brutality of
the murder - the 'bloody daggers' Macbeth holds when he enters stage, and then
later in the scene, the blood covered hands of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

The couple's reactions to the blood greatly differ: Macbeth is filled with regret at the
sight of it, using the hyperbolic image of 'all Great Neptune's ocean' not being able
clean his hands, and refuses to return to the scene of the murder ('look on 't again I
dare not') when commanded by his wife to 'smear the sleeping grooms with blood'.
Yet, Lady Macbeth is far more practical stating that 'a little water clears [them] of
this deed' and scolds her husband ('infirm of purpose') before taking charge ('give
me the daggers') so as to prevent Macbeth from incriminating them. Perhaps it is the
blood, however, that drives the couple apart

Here, the mood between the couple is tense and anxious rather than triumphant,
illustrated by Shakespeare's use of stichomythia of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth as
soon as he enters stage. This atmosphere of confusion and anxiety is amplified by
Shakespeare's use of abrupt questions, exclamations and cues of noises off stage.

Yet, despite the violence, Lady Macbeth is arguably more villainous than Macbeth in
this scene, as she was instrumental in the planning of the regicide and unlike him,
she shows remorse - remonstrating him as 'foolish' for his feelings of regret ('a
foolish thought, to say a sorry sight' in response to 'this is a sorry sight').

Furthermore, Macbeth appears to want to distance himself from the 'deed', as he

refers to himself in the third person: 'Glamis hath murdered sleep' and 'Cawdor shall
sleep no more' which may remind the audience of the witches' prophesies from Act
1, Scene 3, suggesting that their words are still preying on and corrupting his mind.
Therefore, it may be possible that it is as a result of the witches and the supernatural
that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship falls apart, as they spark Macbeth's
'vaulting ambition', and give Lady Macbeth the power to organise the regicide, which
ultimately leads to their downfall.
P3. Act 3, Scene 2

In Act 3, Scene 2, after becoming king and queen, we begin to understand the
torment the couple faces as a result of their actions. Yet, despite Lady Macbeth
beginning to face the same torment as her husband, she keeps a resolute front
before him, and ironically advises Macbeth against her own actions, whereas when
alone on stage, in her short soliloquy, we see evidence of her worry and fear: she
reveals that her husband has got what he 'desired,' yet is not 'content,' and that it
would be 'safer' to be 'dead' than to live in their torment 'doubtful joy'.
 The use of the rhyming couplets in her soliloquy, which immediately shifts to a
different form of poetry when her husband enters, further suggests a divide between
them as it suggests that she does not speak of her worries and burdens to him, but
focuses on soothing his torment: 'what's done is done'. Yet, as Lady Macbeth
attempts to shield Macbeth from her own torment and doubts, it conveys that she
still greatly cares for her husband, despite their separation, which is further
demonstrated as she attempts to soothe his own worries.

The newfound divide between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth is also demonstrated by
Macbeth's choice to exclude his wife from the plans to murder his friend and fellow
soldier, Banquo, and his innocent son, Fleance (which he believes will cure him of
the 'scorpions in [his] mind'). While Lady Macbeth played a fundamental role in the
planning and carrying out of the regicide ('put this night's great business into my
dispatch' and 'give me the daggers'), when she questions her husband in Act 3,
Scene 2 ('what's to be done?'), he tells her to 'be innocent of the knowledge, dearest
chuck', which suggests that it is now Macbeth who holds the control in their
relationship, as he is no longer reliant on his wife's conviction and command.

Act 3, Scene 4

Nevertheless, the couple's closeness is further portrayed in the banquet scene (Act
3, Scene 4), as Lady Macbeth seeks to loyally protect her husband from humiliation
in front of the Lords and revealing the truth about their crimes ('my lord is often thus
and hath been from his youth'), when he sees the ghost of Banquo (in Jacobean
theatre, the presence of a ghost on stage signifies a soul that has been wrongfully
killed, and must be avenged) and expresses his panic through the repeated
imperatives he levies at the ghost, imploring that it 'avaunt' and 'quit' his 'sight',
conveying his anguish and desperation. Thus, here, Lady Macbeth's continuing
faithfulness to her husband is expressed, despite her evident displeasure as a result
of his outburst ('are you a man?').
P4. Act 5, Scene 1

Yet, by Act 5, Scene 1, it is evident that Lady Macbeth is now deeply tormented and
persecuted by her troubled conscience and guilt. In Act 2, Scene 2, Lady Macbeth
was resolute, pragmatic and in control, reassuring her husband that 'a little water
clears us of this deed', but now she is deeply disturbed by the memory and her guilt
(blood is a recurring motif in the play which symbolises remorse and guilt) - she
continuously wash the imaginary blood from her hands and appears appalled by the
'smell of blood still'.

Here, her statement that 'all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand'
echoes her husband's hyperbolic metaphor in Act 2, Scene 2: 'not all great
Neptune's ocean could wash' the blood from his hands - which may convey that at
this moment, she understands her husband's fear and remorse from earlier in the
play, which separated them, as she now experiences it herself.

Yet, even in her deranged state, she remains a loving wife to Macbeth and it seems
she is still trying to reassure him, as she has throughout the play: 'Come, come,
come, come. Give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone.'
 Her desperation to disconnect herself with the acts of violence. As emphasised
through the repeated imperatives ('Out damned spot'), conveys her desperation.
Lady Macbeth is presented in a frenzied state of mind as it is evident that she has
lost all sense of the present as she addresses her husband as a 'soldier', instead of
Lord or King. Perhaps Shakespeare is positioning us to understand that she
desperately longs for a time of stability, where she was united with her husband.
This is also conveyed in her final words, which suggest her longing to be reunited
with Macbeth once again: 'come, come, come, come, give me your hand', and 'to
bed, to bed, to bed'.
P5 Act 5, Scene 5

By Act 5, Scene 5, Macbeth, now a tyrant bolstered by the witches' false promises of
invincibility, is increasingly isolated but nevertheless pugnacious. In a change of
mood, Macbeth acknowledges how desensitised he has become 'I have supped full
with horrors', which conveys that he has internalised his heinous acts and we
understand they have debased his character, losing his humanity as a
consequence, which paves the way for his unemotional response to his once
'dearest partner of greatness' death.

His first indifferent response to hearing the news of her death is 'she should have
died hereafter' - the use of the conditional 'should' suggests that there could have
been a different outcome, which implies feelings of regret, but the shift in pronoun
here from 'my' to 'she' exemplifies his change in feelings to indifference and
detachment.