In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth the reader is shown how to maintain a relationship and how to destroy it. True love is a hard thing to find, and yet Lady Macbeth and Macbeth found it together. When hard-driving forces came between their love, they were forced to choose between each other and their ambitions. Shakespeare shows how a relationship can turn from something healthy and beautiful to something ugly and toxic through Lady Macbeth’s treatment of her husband. Ambition is a healthy thing to have, but when Lady Macbeth held her hopes above the welfare of her marriage things went wrong. When they are faced with a confrontation of where their loyalties lie, the reader can see that challenging situations can either strengthen or weaken a …show more content…
The factor that determines successful manipulation is for the one being manipulated to not realize they are, which is what makes Lady Macbeth's manipulation take such a toll on their relationship, reducing the trust level and their closeness. The first time she manipulates him is when she wants Duncan to be killed. She says ‘From this time Such I account thy love.’ I,vii,41-42, putting a value on how much Macbeth loves her. When she uses his love for her as a motivating factor it becomes dangerous and is the start of the deterioration of their relationship. Using her love as a bargaining chip instead of something she unconditionally has for Macbeth is what changes their relationship from being healthy to becoming a manipulative, toxic, unhealthy marriage. Macbeth’s pushback against her manipulation is to do things without her consent. ‘Be innocent of the knowledge,’ III,ii,50. He kills Banquo for his security, something his wife would most likely approve of, but he wants to have control over something on his own without his wife’s input, trying to continue the image of himself at the beginning of the play where he is a strong, independent, brave warrior. When Lady Macbeth pushes to become more controlling over her husband and Macbeth pushes to gain more independence, they become incompatible and this throws their relationship off balance. The final effect of the instability of their relationship resulted in closed communication which led to the death of Lady