Before he commits the murder of Duncan, Macbeth seems to realize something that Lady Macbeth does not. He says, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well / It were done quickly" (act 1, scene 7, lines 1–2). In other words, if he could simply become king, secure in his power and position, only by committing this one terrible act, then it wouldn't be so bad to just do it and get it over with so that he and his wife could begin this next chapter. However, Macbeth seems to understand that it will not be enough to just kill the king; more will ultimately be required of him and his wife in order to maintain their new privilege.
To be fair, Macbeth seems never to have told Lady Macbeth about the "weird sisters'" prophecy for Banquo, that he would father kings, and so she is, perhaps, unaware of any reason that Macbeth would feel the need to get rid of his one-time best friend. Later, still, Macbeth tells Lady Macbeth, "We are yet but young in deed" (act 3, scene 4, line 176). Lady Macbeth has long thought of her husband as somewhat weak, implying that he is not a man if he will not kill Duncan or if he cannot stop hallucinating. Thus, Macbeth arranging for the murder of Banquo, the attempted murder of Fleance, and the horrifyingly unnecessary murders of the wife and children of Macduff must come as a shock to her. She has helped to create a monster, so to speak, and the extent of the evil to which Macbeth is driven seems to weigh heavily on her conscience. When she sleepwalks in act 5, scene 1, she asks,
The Thane of Fife had a wife, Where is
she now?
—What, will these hands ne'er be clean?
(act 5, scene 1, lines 44–45)
Thus, she links the deaths Macbeth has caused to her own guilty conscience, and this seems to be a major factor in their changing relationship. She had evidently been prepared for one murder but not for multiple—and certainly not for the murders of a woman and children who had done nothing wrong.
Her developing understanding of the monster she created drives Lady Macbeth and Macbeth apart. He is prepared to go to much greater lengths than she is to retain their power, and his conscience is better able to support these crimes than hers is because he was more prescient than she was prior to the first one.
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Initially, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are the ultimate power couple. They are both committed to Duncan's murder—albeit with varying degrees of commitment—and see Macbeth's subsequent elevation to the throne of Scotland as fulfilling his destiny.
There is a sense that once Macbeth has achieved his wicked goals, Lady Macbeth will attain a position of equal power and authority within the kingdom, since without her, Macbeth would not have been able to rise so far and so fast. She was the main mover behind the plan to assassinate Duncan; she was the one who...
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constantly cajoled, bullied, and pleaded with Macbeth to go ahead with the murder when he seemed to be getting cold feet. It's not unreasonable, then, for Lady Macbeth to expect great power to come her way once her husband is safely ensconced on the throne.
But that's not what happens. Once Macbeth becomes king, his wife fades from the picture, marginalized and ignored by the man she whom helped to grab the biggest prize. As Macbeth descends deeper and deeper into outright tyranny, he finds that he no longer needs his wife—he can rule just as well without her, he thinks. The irony here is that it was Lady Macbeth's sheer bloody ruthlessness more than anything else that led to Macbeth's becoming king of Scotland. Yet now, as he develops into a blood-thirsty despot, he makes increasingly cruel, barbaric decisions on his own—decisions that (again, ironically) Lady Macbeth would almost certainly not have advised him to make.
Initially, Lady Macbeth seems to be the one to 'wear the pants' in the relationship. She is the one to first suggest that King Duncan die before leaving Macbeth's castle, and she calls on the spirits to 'unsex her' or take away her femininity so that she can play her part in the murderous scene. Macbeth is very unsure about murdering the king whereas Lady Macbeth is confident and zealous to accomplish the deed. She is the one who makes all the plans, and keeps them from Macbeth until the time is right.
After the murder is committed, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth begin to almost switch places. Macbeth keeps secrets from Lady Macbeth, such as Banquo's death. Lady Macbeth becomes the one who is unstable and unsure - to the point where she goes insane because she cannot handle what she has done. Macbeth becomes seemingly harsh and evil, confidently deciding to kill whoever might threaten his time on the throne.
For both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, their greed, selfishness, and desire for the throne blind them to everything else and deteriorate their relationship to the point that upon Lady Macbeth's death, Macbeth barely seems to be concerned.
How does Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship change in Macbeth?
At first, the Macbeths are a power couple, with Lady Macbeth taking a dominant role in their partnership. It is she who constantly urges and cajoles her husband into taking the fateful decision to murder Duncan. But once the dirty deed has been committed, Macbeth marginalizes his wife, no longer paying heed to her advice. He becomes so obsessed with fulfilling the witches' prophecies that he develops into a full-blown tyrant, destroying anyone who might conceivably be a threat to his throne.
The murder of Duncan, though brutal and treacherous, did at least have a certain logic to it. But the killings that Macbeth commits after ascending to the throne are truly diabolical and would arguably not have happened had Macbeth continued to listen to his wife's advice. The power that Lady Macbeth sought to gain was purely of this earth, but Macbeth made a stand with the forces of darkness, and it is from there that he derives the sanction for his increasingly tyrannical rule.
How does Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship change in Macbeth?
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth grow more distant as time goes on. They no longer confide in each other. Their crime has damaged their relationship.
There is also a strong element of role reversal as the play goes on. Lady Macbeth starts out as the person who wants to kill all conscience and remorse and who berates Macbeth for his horror at a little blood. She initially and forcefully prods him to be a "man" and not have qualms about murder. She says he must keep to his resolution to kill Duncan, as she would keep a promise, even if it meant dashing her baby's brains out.
By the end of the play, however, Lady Macbeth is so overwhelmed with remorse that she routinely sleepwalks and tries to wash the blood of murder off her hands. She is not as hard and ruthless as she imagined herself when the play began. Her guilt becomes so unbearable that she, in fact, kills herself. Macbeth, on the other hand, who started off knowing he was doing a terrible thing that would lead to more and more bloodshed, becomes the one truly hardened and morally bankrupt by the end of the play.
How does Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's relationship change in Macbeth?
In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is very much the driving force in the marriage. Macbeth tells her about the prophecies, and she tells him that he needs to kill Duncan. He is reluctant, and she pushes him on. Lady Macbeth is annoyed. Why did he even bother to tell her about the witches if he wasn’t going to do anything about it?
What beast was't then
That made you break this enterprise to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man;(55)
And, to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. (Act I, Scene 7)
Lady Macbeth plans everything carefully, and makes sure Macbeth carries out her orders to the letter. She gets annoyed with him for feeling fear and doubt, and she scolds him for being a coward. Gradually, he begins to gain confidence. When Malcolm and Donalbain flee and he sees that the plan has worked, the tables turn. Now he begins to take control of the relationship. Fearing that she has created a monster, and Macbeth is no longer following her lead, she asks him what he is planning.
Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck,(50)
Till thou applaud the deed. (Act 3, Scene 2)
He shuts her out, and she no longer knows what is going on inside his head. His plans become more erratic, and more murderous. He has Banquo killed, and Macduff’s entire family. Soon he has become trapped, holed up in his castle with whoever is still loyal to him, while Malcolm’s army comes. At this point, Lady Macbeth can no longer bear the guilt she had in causing this. She kills herself.
When, why, and how do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth start growing apart?
In the beginning, Macbeth depended upon Lady Macbeth for his motivation. Macbeth had changed his mind about murdering King Duncan:
We will proceed no further in this business.He has recently honored me,
When Macbeth had changed his mind about the murdering of King Duncan, Lady Macbeth influenced him to follow through with the murder:
Are you afraidTo be the same man in realityAs the one you wish to be?
Macbeth agreed to follow through with the murder, claiming that Lady Macbeth had convinced him to proceed with the terrible event:
I’m convinced, and I commitEvery part of my body to this terrible event.
After the murder, Macbeth began to take charge. He no longer depended upon Lady Macbeth for courage. He began planning Banquo's murder without sharing his plans with Lady Macbeth. Although she knew he was planning something, she did not know exactly what Macbeth was planning. Macbeth talks in riddles of his fear of Banquo:
We have crushed the snake, but we haven’t killed it;She'll recover, and be herself, while our poor evil-doingRemains in danger of her poisonous bite.
Here, Macbeth is referring to Banquo. Since Banquo heard the witches' prophecies to Macbeth, Banquo is a threat. Here, Macbeth is contemplating the murder of Banquo. He does not seem to need Lady Macbeth's influence. Macbeth is taking charge of the situation without the influence of his dear wife.
Macbeth is in torment for what he has done. He and Lady Macbeth seem to be growing apart. Macbeth begins making decisions without her consent or approval. He has Macduff's wife and children killed of his own will. Lady Macbeth begins going down her own road toward insanity. She cannot wash the bloodstains from her hands:
Out, damned spot! Out, I say! One; two; why, then it istime to do it. Hell is murky! For shame, my lord, for shame! A soldier,and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can callour power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man tohave had so much blood in him?
The doctor cannot help Lady Macbeth. She is lost in her own guilt. While she struggles with sanity, Macbeth has gone on his own way, killing whoever gets in the way of his plan. He no longer needs Lady Macbeth for strength. He is stronger than ever it seems. Lady Macbeth has taken a turn for the worse. She is no longer capable of encouragement or influence. Truly, Macbeth has lost Lady Macbeth. She has crossed over into insanity. She is no longer capable of helping Macbeth. The two of them have grown apart.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, how do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change roles?
Immediately after Duncan's murder, Macbeth seems overwhelmed by his guilt, while Lady Macbeth seems immune to it. He begins to panic because he could not, physically, pronounce the word "Amen," and he interprets this as the result of his complete loss of God's blessing. She tells him, "These deeds must not be thought / After these ways; so, it will make us mad" (2.2.45-46). Lady Macbeth is afraid that if they dwell on the murder and all the possible repercussions, it will actually drive them insane. Likewise, Macbeth fears that he will never be able to sleep peacefully again because he murdered Duncan while the king was asleep. Finally, he claims that there is not enough water in the ocean to cleanse his hands of Duncan's blood: "this my hand will rather / The multitudinous seas incarnadine, / Making the green one red" (2.2.79-81). However, his wife claims that "A little water clears [them] of this deed" (2.2.86). She seems utterly without guilt over what they have done.
By the last act of the play, though, Lady Macbeth is seen sleepwalking as a result of her guilty conscience. Whereas Macbeth once thought that he would not be able to sleep peacefully, it is now she who cannot. She said then that she only needed a little water to put the deed behind her, but now she says that "All / the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little / hand" (5.1.53-55). She warned Macbeth not to dwell or else he would go crazy, and it becomes clear that she's been dwelling on the murder and it has driven her mad. She imagines that Duncan's blood is still on her hands and that she cannot get the "damned spot" out (5.1.37). Macbeth, on the other hand, has become as ruthless as Lady Macbeth once tried to be, even arranging for the murder of innocent women and children in a show of power.
In Macbeth, how do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change personality/character traits throughout the play?
Macbeth, the brutal warrior of Act I who is referred to a "Bellona's [the goddess of war]bridegroom" defeats Macdonaldwald and is awarded the title of Thane of Cawdor by the king for his bravery. Yet, knowing her husband, Lady Macbeth fears his nature:
It is too 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. (I,v,16-18)
So, in order for Macbeth to attain what Lady Macbeth can except for his trepidation, she continues,
And that which rather thou dost fear to doThan wishest 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 metaphsical aid doth seem/To have thee crowned withal. (I,v,24-29)
Thus, Lady Macbeth becomes the driving force for Macbeth's ambition to be king. She "unsexes" herself and goads him into killing Duncan when he visits their castle.
However, as the play progresses, it is Macbeth who surpresses conscience to desire, killing recklessly, while Lady Macbeth finds her conscience and, guilt-ridden, commits suicide.
In Macbeth, how do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change personality/character traits throughout the play?
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a good man, a nobleman, and a respected warrior. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is ruthless and ambitious. When Macbeth reveals the witches' prophesies to his wife, it is Lady Macbeth who wants to take things into their own hands to make them come true. She is excited that it has been foretold that her husband will be King, and wants it to happen right away. She plots to kill Duncan, the present King, so that Macbeth will ascend to the throne immediately, and is afraid only that Macbeth is too soft, "too full o' the milk of human kindness" (I,v,17) to take the direct route to fulfill their ambitions. She scorns her husband for not having the ruthlessness to kill Duncan so his own quick accession to the throne will be assured.
Macbeth is essentially goaded by his wife into killing Duncan, but once he has embarked on the road of immorality and murder, he continues with a vengeance, even though he is at times wracked by guilt. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, is tormented by remorse to the point that her sanity is threatened and eventually lost. As Macbeth arranges to have Duncan, Banquo, Fleance, Duncan's attendants, and Macduff's family murdered, Lady Macbeth descends into madness, sleepwalking in the night and envisioning blood on her hands. While Macbeth, driven now by ambition, arises to forcefully secures the throne, Lady Macbeth loses touch with reality and sinks to the point to where she finally kills herself.
In Macbeth, how do Macbeth and Lady Macbeth change personality/character traits throughout the play?
At the beginning of the play MacBeth is a soldier who listens to the advice and suggestions of Lady MacBeth, his figurative "general." At first MacBeth is indecisive and cannot see the larger battefield that is their lives. He meets with the weird sisters and is baffled by their prophecies. It is Lady MacBeth who urges MacBeth to "screw his courage to the sticking place" and literally make the prophecies come true. When her husband leaves the murdered Duncan, she returns the daggers to the scene of the crime and smears the guards with blood. Lady MacBeth is at her bloodiest and most cruel. She has prayed to the dark powers to take her milk for gall and fill her up with the "direst cruelty."
Later in the play, (after the psychological festering of their guilt) each of the characters become what the other is not. MacBeth becomes hollow and without feeling and Lady MacBeth becomes disturbed, weak, and ends up killing herself. How does MacBeth react to this? He offers one of the most nihilistic speeches in Shakespeare--his "tomorrow and tomorrow and tommorrow" speech. MacBeth has changed from the passionate soldier into an unfeeling empty shell of a man.
Why does Lady Macbeth's character change?
It seems that Lady Macbeth's character undergoes a change when her guilty conscience becomes too much for her to bear. In Act 5, Scene 1, the sleepwalking scene, she is clearly reliving the night of Duncan's murder, except now she imagines that her hands are still stained with his blood. At the time, she'd said, "a little water clears us of this deed" (2.2.86); now, however, she says that "All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand" (5.1.52-55).
Further, it was Macbeth who initially feared that he would not be able to sleep anymore because he murdered Duncan while he was sleeping; now, it is Lady Macbeth who cannot sleep due to guilt. She remembers chastising Macbeth for what she perceived as weakness and cowardice, and she repeats many of these phrases, but they are peppered with references to Duncan's blood, Macduff's family, and her inability to wash the blood from her hands. In Macbeth, she's created a monster who will do anything to hold on to the power that he is taken by force, including things she never planned on, like when he orders the murders of Macduff's wife and small children. While she sleepwalks, she says, "The Thane of Fife had a wife. Where is she now?" (5.1.44-45). It seems that she she bears some of the guilt for these deaths as well, because it was she who coerced Macbeth to commit the first murder.
Also notable is the fact that Lady Macbeth no longer speaks in verse, as she has always done in the past. Shakespeare typically reserves verse for nobility, but he also sometimes has characters speak in prose to indicate some kind of mental break. (For example, Ophelia, in Hamlet, speaks in prose after she's gone mad, and Hamlet speaks in prose when he wants others to believe that he's gone mad.) Now, Lady Macbeth speaks in prose, and this gives us some clue as to just how guilty she feels, so guilty that it has driven her insane.