How Does Lady Macbeth Change Throughout The Play

Discuss the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. How does it change and why? To what extent is their relationship the engine that drives the tragedy?

“ The course of true love never did run smooth “ is what William Shakespeare said in (A midsummer night's dream 1.1.136). The aspects of relationships are illustrated through Shakespeare's famous tragedy Macbeth. The way Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship changes throughout the play showcases how fragile a relationship is. Throughout the play there is a change in Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's relationship: Lady Macbeth seems very supportive at first of her husband being Thane of Cawdor and king. Then their relationship succumbs to greed where they plan to kill king Duncan and then

As Macbeth is returning home from the battle Lady Macbeth receives a letter from Macbeth. The letter itself is very affectionate and loving as in the letter Macbeth calls Lady Macbeth, “ My dearest partner of greatness” (Macbeth 1.5.10-11). As seen in the letter we see love and equality in their relationship. In the letter, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth that he won the battle and has been announced as the new Thane of Cawdor. Then he tells her about his encounter with the witches, he shares how they referred to him with “ Hail, the king that shalt be!” After Lady Macbeth reads the letter she is filled with joy and pride for her husband. When Macbeth gets home they both meet face to face and Macbeth calls Lady Macbeth “ my dearest love “ (Macbeth 1.5.63), from this line we can see that whatever emotions Macbeth feels for Lady Macbeth were not fake and he truly loves her. During this we can also see the respect Lady Macbeth has for her husband she greets him by saying “ Great Glamis, worthy Cawdor '' (Macbeth 1.5.58), she is expressing how proud she is of her husband and how much he deserves that position. During their interactions, the reader can see that they have true feelings for each other and are living in an equal relationship. However, when the two face their first problem in the

The loving couple feels very guilty because they killed many innocent lives and they both get mentally ill which makes them both isolated. After Macbeth is announced king he comes face to face with Banquo and Banquo is already very suspicious of Macbeth because of the way his wife and him are acting. The way Banquo acted worries Macbeth and keeps on remembering the witches' prophecies that have said Banquo will not be king but his children will, the child of Banquo is Fleance so this worries Macbeth because they both are alive. Macbeth orders to kill them both so he gets killers and they kill Banquo but Fleance escapes. Later in the play, Macbeth finds out that Malcolm and Macduff are planning to have a battle against him so he plans to kill Macduff. Macbeth goes to Macduff's castle but Macduff is nowhere to be found so he kills his wife and child too. After killing many innocent lives Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are very guilty of all the murders they have done, a doctor and gentlewoman are observing Lady Macbeth's behaviors and they notice that she sleepwalks a lot, and opens her closet and takes a piece of paper and starts writing stuff on the paper and reading it. The doctor also notices a big thing about Lady Macbeth and that is that she washes her hands a lot for a quarter of an hour. Lady Macbeth shares her guilt by saying “ The Thane of Fife had