The Power Of Lady Macbeth

In Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare has created a terrifying couple fuelled by the need for power, which causes them to commit treacherous acts. Given that Macbeth was first performed in 1606 shortly after the famous gunpowder plot to overthrow the monarchy, this play, which included regicide would have excited the Jacobean audiences. However, the message that the excessive ambition leads to terrible consequences is clear, as both Macbeth and his ‘Dearest Partner of Greatness’ suffer and die as a result of their heinous crimes. As the title would suggest, it is Macbeth’s rapid rise and great fall which ultimately drives this tragedy. However, it is the character of Lady Macbeth, with her single minded sense of purpose coupled with her ability to dominate Macbeth, who would have engaged the

This is intriguing because the audience has already been introduced to Macbeth as a heroic leader on the battlefield. Immediately after reading Macbeth’s letter in Act 1 Scene 5 she states that Macbeth is ‘too full of the milk of human kindness’. Milk has connotations of femininity, and this implies that Macbeth is not masculine enough. She repeatedly questions Macbeth’s masculinity when he expresses doubt. In Act 1 Scene 7, Lady Macbeth calls her husband’s faith ‘green and pale’, this suggests cowardice which ‘assaults’ Macbeth’s ‘manliness’, as shown in Christopher Mills’ essay on the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. She persuades Macbeth not to ‘live a coward’ because when he ‘durst do it then [he was] a man’. Calling Macbeth a coward, and repeatedly challenging his masculinity shows her dominance and superiority. In the Jacobean era, it wasn’t natural for a woman to be superior over her husband, and the fact that she had the power to persuade him to commit murder emphasises her power and reinforces the regicide of a good