What evidence from the text helps you to infer that Lady Macbeth feels guilty about her roles in the murder?

Discuss the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth with specific reference to Act II, Scene ii. How does their relationship change after the murder of Duncan?

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are first seen together in Act I, Scene v after Macbeth has received a prophecy from the witches claiming that he will become King of Scotland. Their mutual ambition to fulfill the witches' prophecy is a driving force of their relationship. However, while Macbeth is happy to wait for fate to take its course, Lady Macbeth has a clear fervour to usurp the crown; unfortunately, this ambition warps their relationship as both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change into completely different people. Macbeth goes from being a strong, well respected man to a cold, heartless, fearless murderer while Lady Macbeth goes from being strong willed and controlling to a scared, paranoid child.

These changes are the direct result of murdering Duncan. The King at the time (1605), was James VI who was fascinated by necromancy (a form of magic in which the practitioner attempts to summon the spirit of a deceased person either as an apparition or ghost, or to raise them bodily, for the purpose of divination), which may well have influenced Shakespeare; for example in Act 3 Scene 4 when Banquo's ghost appears to MacBeth at the banquet, after Macbeth suddenly becomes independent, enforcing the murder of Banquo without informing or consulting Lady MacBeth. Showing a change in the routine of their relationship as usually MacBeth would consult Lady MacBeth before taking any actions, and that the power that he has received has given him confidence to act alone.

In Act I, Scene ii Macbeth is described as being a 'brave' warrior, well respected by others including Duncan. However, when we see him with Lady Macbeth there is a subtle submission into a weaker man. Macbeth is easily controlled by Lady Macbeth; for example when Lady Macbeth learns of the witches' prophecy, she is clearly fixated by the possibility of usurping the crown to Scotland for instance when Lady MacBeth says "Come, you spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull, of direst cruelty" through the sexual natural of her speech, she tries to show more authority by becoming masculine.

In Act I, Scene v; when we first see them together, their individual greetings are very telling; Lady Macbeth says "Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor." praising Macbeth through his titles, suggesting she is attracted to the idea of more power. However, when Macbeth greets Lady Macbeth he says "My dearest love." using affectionate and loving words; there is a clear imbalance in terms of dependence within their relationship. In the beginning their relationship is seen to be quite strong, but it is also clear when they start discussing the prophecy that Lady Macbeth is very strong willed and has a compassion for controlling Macbeth, "My dearest partner of greatness". When they are discussing the witches' prophecy, they plan how they are going to make the prophecy come true; "Stars, hide your fires/Let not light see my black and deep desires."

Furthermore; Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan, by telling him "Look like th' innocent flower, But be the serpent under't." She wants Macbeth to win Duncan's affections so that when he is killed, Macbeth will not be implicated. When Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle, she enacts such a ploy, saying "For those of old, and the late dignities heaped up to them, we rest your hermits." This is then to highlight her ability to control Macbeth and his actions.

Lady Macbeth is also very critical of her husband's personal anxiety when she discovers his fears of murdering Duncan; she threatens him and forces him into action "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be, what thou art promised; yet do I fear thy nature, it is too full o' th' milk of human kindness." she criticises him for being unmanly and meek, due to his unwilling to usurp power from Duncan. "And live a coward in thine own esteem", "When durst do it, then you were a man". She makes Macbeth feel unworthy as a man and strips him of his masculinity.

In Act I, Scene vi; Lady Macbeth says "I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out, had I sworn, as you have done to this." This shows that she would do anything to commandeer the crown; it is easy to see that Lady Macbeth is just using Macbeth as a puppet in order so that she can control the throne. Lady Macbeth uses her power over MacBeth, to influence him to kill Duncan. The influence that Lady Macbeth transposes onto Macbeth shows a clear sign of ambition of power that even regicide is no obstacle.

In Act II, Scene ii, Lady Macbeth shows signs of anxiety following Duncan's murder. She suggests this when she says "It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman. I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry." This makes it clear that she is uneasy about the murder and the sounds she hears are ominous signs of death and punishment. Eventually Lady Macbeth's personal goading "Wouldst thou have that, which thou esteem 'st the ornament of life, and live a coward in thine own esteem..." having once again criticised his personality "When you durst do it, then you were a man..." she eventually gets her own way. The turning point in their relationship is when Lady Macbeth says (in Act II, Scene ii, 67-68) "My hands are of your colour, but I shame, To wear a heart so white", when Lady Macbeth criticizes her husband's apparent lack of composure and masculinity.

Shakespeare shows her lack of support for her husband as white is traditionally a pure colour, associated with innocence; these colour associations portray Macbeth as an image of weakness, dependence and cowardice. The concept of guilt is symbolised through the blood on Macbeth's hands and despite his wife's protestations he believes his hands and soul are forever stained with the guilt of Duncan's murder: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red."

Shakespeare's use of religious imagery "Amen", "God bless us" shows Macbeth's ambiguity after "the deed [he has done]", when Macbeth says "List'ning their fear, I could not say 'Amen'" this shows that Macbeth's false ambition has faltered because of the emotional consequences he begins to experience shortly after Duncan's murder.

Before Duncan's murder, Macbeth is affectionate and caring towards Lady Macbeth; however, towards the end of the play he transforms into a callous tyrant who shows no remorse or grief for her death, even though he is aware she had become an anxious, nervous childlike wreck.

To seize the thrown they needed to kill the old monarchy represented through King Duncan unfortunately this prophecy resulted in their respective deaths, suicide and execution.

In conclusion, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's relationship is especially complicated because they are both driven by power which eventually drives them mad; as she becomes Lady Macbeth's dominance in the relationship diminishes an anxious childlike figure, a major contrast from the character she was in the beginning of the play. Similarly Macbeth has become an eccentric, supremacy seeker. Through Shakespeare's use language it is clear that Shakespeare tries to convey Macbeth's change in personality by making him feel nothing but anger this is portrayed through his lack of empathy towards his wife's demise and eventual death; he acts as if his wife's death is immaterial.

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Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is to full o’ th’ milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou’ld’st have, great Glamis, That which cries “Thus thou must do,” if thou have it, And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishes should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem

To have thee crowned withal.

After reading her husband’s letter bringing news of his new title and the Witches’ prophecy, Lady Macbeth delivers this soliloquy in Act 1, Scene 5. She’s overjoyed that her husband will become king, but worried that Macbeth will prove to be too weak to murder Duncan himself. She urges him to hurry home so she can persuade him to do so, since fate seems to want him to become king.

The raven himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements. Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious vistings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, Whatever in your sightless substances You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,

To cry, ‘Hold, hold!’

Lady Macbeth gives this soliloquy in Act 1, scene 5, while waiting for King Duncan to arrive at her castle. She’s determined that Duncan must be murdered, and asks for help from the spirits to give her the courage she needs to kill him. The references she makes to being female reveal that she feels her natural womanhood may keep her from acting cruelly, so she demands that they be removed.

O, never Shall sun that morrow see! Your face, my thane, is as a book where men May read strange matters. To beguile the time, Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye, Your hand, your tongue. Look like th’ innocent flower, But be the serpent under ‘t. He that’s coming Must be provide for: and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch, Which shall to all our nights and days to come

Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.

In these lines, in Act 1, scene 5, Lady Macbeth tells her husband to leave everything to her: she’ll set up Duncan’s murder that evening. In the meantime, she tells Macbeth, he should try to look as innocent as possible. The lines show Lady Macbeth pushing her husband to kill Duncan. We can’t know if Macbeth would have decided to murder his king if his wife hadn’t encouraged him so strongly.

But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail. When Duncan is asleep – Whereto the rather shall his day’s hard journey Soundly invite him – his two chamberlains Will I with wine and wassail so convince That memory, the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A limbeck only: when in swinish sleep Their drenchèd natures lied as in a death, What cannot you and I perform upon The unguarded Duncan? What not put upon His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt

Of our great quell?

In Act 1, scene 7, Lady Macbeth dismisses her husband’s decision to let Duncan live, and promises him that if he can act with courage, their plan can’t fail. She tells Macbeth that once Duncan is asleep, she’ll get his servants so drunk that they pass out. Then she and Macbeth can kill Duncan and blame his servants for the killing. Lady Macbeth’s plan is good enough to convince Macbeth to change his mind and agree to kill Duncan.

I laid their daggers ready; He could not miss ‘em. Had he not resembled

My father as he slept, I had done’t.

This short speech from Lady Macbeth in Act 2, scene 2 reveals two important facts: first, that Lady Macbeth has not helped kill Duncan after all, and second, that Duncan’s resemblance to her father prevented her from killing him. Lady Macbeth will have a complex reaction to the murder throughout the rest of the play, at times appearing to feel more genuine remorse than her husband for their actions. Her remorse will eventually lead to her suicide. These lines are an early suggestion that Lady Macbeth might not be as coldblooded as she claims to be.

Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two, -- why, then ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? – Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

In Act 5, scene 1, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks through Macbeth’s castle on the eve of his battle against Macduff and Malcolm. She is completely undone by guilt and has lost her mind. Similar to her husband’s guilt-induced hallucinations, Lady Macbeth has started seeing things that aren’t there – namely, blood on her hands, a physical manifestation of her guilt over her part in Duncan’s murder.