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   terridudley Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   As the play Macbeth begins, the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seems to be one of trust and commitment. Macbeth finds himself caught up in the predictions the witches make and he confides what he has learned from the witches in a letter to Lady Macbeth. She pridefully boasts and begins to allow her ideas of his possible power to spin out of control. She uses all of her womanly influence to manipulate him into killing his cousin, Duncan, to become king. She goes so far as to question his manhood if he does not kill him. She realizes that the sleeping Duncan reminds her of her father and cannot do this herself. As Macbeth gets deeper and deeper into  his plots of murder and power, he confides less and less in Lady Macbeth, which at this point she realizes that her influence is not as powerful over him and she becomes frightened of the ghosts that he begins to see. He does not tell her of his murderous exploits that drag him further and further towards total destruction as a character. He does orders killings of women and children, which seem our of character for the war hero that we meet in the beginning of the story. Murder and lies begat murder and lies. She realizes that she has lost control over Macbeth and her feelings of guilt over the murders leads her to hallucinate that she has blood, which represents her guilt, that she cannot wash away. This leads to her destruction and suicide.

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   Posted by terridudley on Tuesday October 27, 2009 at 7:50 AM